《Cerise》


 Chapter 1: Grotto of Ascension

    <blockquote>


    Today I take my turn before the grotto of ascension. It''s such a strange name, "ascension". Nobody actually goes anywhere, at least not that I ever saw. Also, why is our ascension place a "grotto"? I get that it''s in a cave, but Mykhal says that they had an ascension tree in the village they used to live in, before the village died.


    And what a strange thing to call it when all the villagers -- villains? -- No, villagers? Well, when they all leave. Mykhal says monsters got into the fields and our Lord, Cyr Wendynhelm, may-we-be-blessed-that-he-live-forever, decided it was just easier to "kill" the village by moving all the villagers to new places.


    Mykhal thinks that our cave is niftier, but I say a tree would be amazing. Also, I think an ascension tree would give out more animal and plant centered classes than a grotto. We get a lot of [Miners] and [Masons] and sometimes an [Assayer], but only rarely get a [Farmer] or [Herdsman]. You need something animal focused to get the [Beast Healer] [Tamer] type class, though I guess I wouldn''t mind being a [Healing Novice]. I''ve done what I can to get that class from the grotto. I''ve practiced making bandages and putting them on anyone who will stand still long enough, and I''ve maxed out my Basic Cooking, Basic Cleaning, Basic Herbalism, Basic Tailoring, and Basic Leather Craft. I have the Basic Blade skill almost to Max, and Basic Butchering is halfway there. I had to mostly practice on mice and rats that I caught, and this last year mother let me start cutting up the roosters we''ve cooked.


    Mykhal snuck me the paper for my journal and showed me how to make ink from fine char. That got me a skill in Basic Scribing, and then he taught me letters and how they mean sounds that make up our words. I nearly wanted to become a [Scribe], but Mykhal said they''re all servants to nobles or merchants and I would have to learn "soft manners". Mother says "soft manners" means "bed-warming", and the way she says it I think it may be as bad as when Mykhal''s dad comes home from the mines and Dad and the other neighbor fathers have to drag him off to the stocks to "cool his head". The day after, Mykhal gets quiet and when he does talk, he says a lot of things about running away and joining the Free Lancers.


    Well, today I go to the grotto and tomorrow Mykhal does. Maybe it''ll be like he says and I''ll be a [Healer Novice] and he''ll be a [Warrior Novice] and we can find a [Scout Novice] to join us and head off to join the Free Lancers. Mykhal won''t make me learn "soft manners". He was as squinty-eyed about it as Mama.


    </blockquote>


    <hr>


    Cerise carefully set down her writing stick. She couldn''t afford a metal nub, but she could carve pretty well. Half the reason she hadn''t maxed her Basic Blade skill was because she split most of her skill experience with other skills like Basic Woodworking and Basic Butchering. Oddly, carving the softer stone that she found around her village gave her Woodworking experience. Her parents thought she was joking, but that was the truth.


    Cerise had learned to make paper, and sacrificed some of her best made gauze to the form frames. When her mother learned that all she had made came from Cerise''s own gather, from the ground wool and linen she mixed to spin the threads to the frames that she carved, and even the grinding rocks she had found to use for pulping the waste parts of her herbal gatherers, Mama had thrown up her hands and said, "Fine! Children! Don''t waste money!"


    Mykhal knew a lot of fun things, like how to make paper, and read and write, and how to play games with numbers. His mother was from a merchant house. When their village died, she went back to her mother''s house, but her marriage vows meant Mykhal stayed with his father. He told Cerise his dad was nicer before his mom had to leave. Cerise thought, only in the privacy of her mind, that maybe Mykhal''s dad had just been nicer to Mykhal and mean to his mother.


    After the ink had a chance to dry, she put her journal page in her book box, along with all the other pages she had written since starting her journal, two years back.


    That seen to, she did the stretches Mykhal showed her that one of the guardsmen who helped his old village relocate had shown Mykhal. They were supposed to be [Warrior] training, but Cerise found them relaxing, and she was nervous. She didn''t want to admit it, but this was a very big day in anyone''s life.


    Gaining her first class would set the course of her life. She would have to level this class for 20 levels before she could gain another, and all of her options were based on the skills she had worked on before her ascension.


    She was lucky she lived in the nation of Druerjan and that here every citizen, no matter their birth, had the right to enter the holy places. Even the Xylines that had fled from Fashriyan. The elves in the Arltare archipelago only allowed other elves to enter their holy places, and the Osmurgians were rumored to tax all access to the holy places so heavily that only wealthy merchants and nobles could use them.


    Cerise dressed carefully. This was not a day for her good tunic. Many people, especially the new [Miner Novices], returned from the grotto as dirty as they would be from a day of laboring at their new class.


    No, this was not a day for her good clothes.


    Cerise donned her rougher set of clothes. She only had three sets, and her good ones were fresh made this last winter. Her rougher set was not her oldest, either, but the set she had made herself to raise her Tailoring skill.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    She packed up the bandages she had made and the packets of herbs she had prepared into a leather sack she had made from the rat skins she had tanned. She added some trail loaves she had made, encased in wax from the wild beehives she had found at the end of the growing season. She had only taken half of one after smoking off the bees, and her mother had praised her find.


    People said you did not need proof of your skills. The holy places knew. Still, Cerise felt better for having these things coming along with her.


    On impulse, she added her book box and the jar of char ink she had made, along with both of her writing sticks.


    Now, she just had to wait for her mother and father to return from their own ritual preparations.


    <hr>


    Cerise''s mother hugged her and kissed her cheek, then handed her over to her father, who smiled a blubbering big smile, tears spilling over his cheeks.


    "My baby''s almost all grown up!" He wailed with joyful melancholy, hugging her close enough to squeeze the air from her lungs.


    "Dad!" She wailed back, embarrassed. "I''m thirteen! I have to reach level twenty before I''m an adult. Stop this!"


    He laughed and ruffled her hair, releasing his squeezing hug. Like always, as soon as Cerise started blushing, her father relaxed. "You will be fine! Whatever happens, we will love you no matter what."


    Cerise''s shoulders slumped and she turned flat, dead eyes to her parent. In a voice to match her expression, she said, "Oh. Thanks for your confidence."


    Tears still leaking from the outside corners of his eyes, Cerise''s father just grinned at her.


    Mykhal stood a few steps back from them, shifting from foot to foot. He waved an encouraging hand her way and Cerise waved back.


    Then, it was time. She straightened, slung her bag made from rat leather over her shoulder, and entered the tunnel that led to the holy place, the grotto of ascension.


    Cerise needed no torch or rush light to make her way, even past the edge of the light shining in from the tunnel entrance. Veins of luminescent rock lined the tunnel, casting dim light that was sufficient to illuminate the path tread by thousands of feet before Cerise.


    She wanted to stop, to study the walls, but she knew her parents were still watching. They would snark at her, if nothing else, and probably tease her about being afraid if she stopped where they could see. With that in mind, Cerise waited until she reached a curve in the tunnel before glancing to see if she could still be seen from the entrance. She couldn''t so Cerise took a careful extra step deeper into the tunnels before she turned to the walls.


    [Basic Stealth] advances to Beginner-9.


    The notice surprised Cerise. She must have been right on the cusp for her simple deceit to tip the scale over to maximum.


    Before gaining a class, a person''s soul could only handle Basic skills up to the top of the Beginner skill rank. Each skill rank had ten divisions, starting from zero (0) and ending at nine (9).


    After she got her class, each level of her class would strengthen Cerise''s soul, allowing her to handle another rank division. That is, until her next full rank level was in reach. That would require five class levels. So, she would be able to become Practiced in her skills up to class level 10. After class level 15, she would be able to gain Intermediate skill ranks. A lot of people waited until they were class level 25 to take their next class just so they would be at Intermediate-9 in their primary skills and hopefully able to unlock better second class choices.


    Cerise pushed thoughts of skills and levels from her mind. To everything there came its time, and now was Cerise''s time to study the walls of this tunnel and the blue tracings illuminating her path.


    She ran her hands over the rocky walls, flakes of gem-bright dust clinging to her fingertips. The walls were unlike regular rocks. There were no striations, no veins of mixed in minerals. If anything, these walls appeared made from rock dust that had been compressed down to an ever more solid form. The organic seeming veins of light were odd in that they seemed like they should have been no different from the rest of the walls, and yet they glowed.


    No matter how hard she looked, Cerise could not figure out what caused the glow to happen at all, let alone in the places it showed up. The puzzle frustrated Cerise enough that she stalled even longer, until out of frustration she tried what she did when hunting rats for her skill practice. She quieted her body and unfocused her gaze. She sank into a waiting stillness, turning her thoughts toward her senses.


    [Basic Hunting] advances to Beginner-5.


    An odd mist moved just over the light veins. In the brief moment before the Voice of the World echoed in her mind, Cerise saw the mist and wondered, "Is that mana?"


    [Mana Sensing] learned! Comprehension assessed at Beginner-0.


    That was utterly unexpected, and for a few moments Cerise seriously considered leaving now and returning after she maxed out this new skill.


    But, then she thought about all the opportunities she would not have to advance the rank of the skill. There just wasn''t a lot of mana to sense in her village, and so Cerise decided to continue forward, while attempting to return to that mind space as she walked. It was difficult, and she mostly got nothing, but a couple of times she saw the mist again. The second time came just at the cusp of the grotto of ascension, earning her an advancement to Beginner-1. Cerise decided that meant walking and sensing were very, very difficult things if a mere two successes, and fleeting ones at that, made such a difference.


    She paused on the threshold and tried to sense mana while standing still. She wasn''t sure how long she had delayed already, but this was important. Surely her parents would understand!


    [Mana Sensing] advances to Beginner-3.


    The number was wrong, and that jolted Cerise out of her trance. She just gotten to Beginner-1. Where had Beginner-2 gone?


    She was also very thirsty, and that made Cerise guess she had trained through the notice of skilling up to Beginner-2.


    Which meant she had been in here for a significant length of time. She sucked in a steadying breath and stepped into the grotto.


    From the threshold it had looked like a cave room perhaps as wide as two tall men laying head to toe, and about as tall of a ceiling. The oddly uniform rock walls of the tunnel became more natural rocks with the coarse grains of granites, only mixed with a lot of quartz bits. The blue light-ways all converged to a central point in the ceiling, a quartz spike about as wide as her spread hand and twice that long extending from the brown-tinted granite ceiling.


    Once she stepped over the threshold, though, she wasn''t Cerise anymore.

 Chapter 2: Bad Memories

    Two bodies huddled in the dark as rage-filled screaming carried down the hall and through the walls. The smaller child clung to the older one, not recognizing then how thin the arms encircling her were, or how much her older brother clung to his little sister. She only knew he tried to make them both safe from the screaming demons that had taken over their parents.


    The family hamster died not long ago, and the very concept of death had struck her hard. She flinched into her brother when something broke with the tinkling sound of glass.


    "What if Mommy kills Daddy?" she asked.


    "She won''t," her brother told her.


    "But what if she does?" she insisted, shivering.


    "She won''t," he insisted. "He''s got his own temper. He''ll fight back. And if either one of them kills the other, the police will take them away. I don''t know what happens to us after that. But it''s not that bad of a fight." Yet.


    Her brother patted her shoulder and stroked his hand up and down her back. It soothed her.


    "What if they kill us?" The question slipped out.


    Her brother''s voice grew rough in the dark. "Then we''re dead. And we''re not hamsters. I don''t think we go to hamster Heaven. I don''t know what kind of place we go to, but we''ll go together."


    "But what if they only kill one of us?"


    "Then whoever dies first will wait for the other, and we''ll go figure it out together." The tone of his voice left no room for more what-ifs or are-you-sures.


    "If I die first, I don''t want to be buried. I don''t want my body forever stuck in the dark," she whispered. "What about you?"


    "I don''t care. If I die, I won''t be in my body no more. I''ll be watching out for you." Again, he said that with the kind of conviction that left no room for doubts.


    More breaking sounds accompanied more screaming.


    Then a door slammed shut, the weighty *bang* indicating that was the front door.


    "And don''t come back!" their mother screamed.


    They stayed, hidden and huddled, in the closet, older brother guarding little sister.


    <hr>


    Many years later, the same brother and sister pair sat at a caf�� table at a chain store coffee shop.


    "How''s the program going?" her brother asked.


    She shrugged. "I don''t think most of my classmates are going to make it through."


    "Hey! A grade of C still passes!" he reminded her.


    "And I have a lot of classmates who are wasting their money because they won''t get that," she sighed. "Seriously, there''s this one guy, if he gets anywhere near a patient, he''s going to kill them. He''s so convinced more is better that he''ll overdose a patient and, bam! They won''t need a doctor anymore! They''ll need a mortician!"


    "Aw, it can''t be that bad!" he laughed.


    She set down her cup and locked gazes with her brother.


    He snorted. "Seriously?"


    She just kept looking.


    He blew out a breath. "Damn! That''s ... kind of scary to think about."


    She relaxed and sipped at her latte again, then, more casually, returned the cup to the table. "Yeah. I''m just stuck praying he doesn''t make it through, because he might be arrogant, but he at least knows the difference between anterior and posterior. There is a lot of stuff we have to memorize, and it''s not the easiest, but, you sit on your posterior."


    Her brother snorted, but managed to suppress his laughter. "Sorry your--. Classmates are ... not up to your standards."


    "Hey! This is the future of nursing! It''s not a laughing matter! We''re the people who are going to handle your daily care if you do end up hospitalized!"


    "No, no! I''m taking this seriously. But--. You have a foam mustache. It''s kind of funny."


    "Ugh!" she groaned and licked her upper lip. "Seriously! What if you end up dead because of one of these guys?"


    He shrugged. "I''ve told you a few times. I''ll wait for you and we''ll figure out whatever happens after life together."


    "Still don''t care what happens to your body?"


    "Nah. Flesh is just the cloak of the soul." He fell into the cadence of long repetition. "Funerals are for the living, for people to have a ceremony that helps them anchor their grief. And if, for some gods awful reason, Mom ends up in charge of my death rites, let her spend however much of her own money on it as she wants, do whatever ostentatious thing pleases her. I''m just as happy with the idea of being dumped in the ocean as buried or burned up to ash. Hell, feed the buzzards; I don''t care."


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    He leaned forward and bopped a finger onto her nose. "Alive or dead, I''m always your big brother."


    She rolled her eyes.


    <hr>


    "I should have gone for vet tech," she grumbled in her heart, but kept her mouth shut.


    "Do you have any idea the liability you''ve exposed us to?" the admin mouth piece continued on.


    She kept her mouth shut. It wasn''t liability the administrator was wailing over; it was profit, pure and simple. Oh, they''d pretend, but it wasn''t like she hadn''t told the poor family anything wrong when she told them about the general procedures, surgical and non, to deal with back pain. She also hadn''t told them what to do, or what would work for them. She had just answered general questions.


    It wasn''t her job, but she also hadn''t been working. She had been riding the bus.


    The mouth piece just kept talking and talking, and she sighed. She was done. She opened her mouth and let years of resentments she had just kept bottled up pour out in five simple words. "I''m not dealing with this," she said, interrupting the man''s harangue. "You want me to quit? Fine. I quit. Do you want me to finish out my severance period?"


    "Quit!? You can''t quit!"


    "I''m giving you notice. This whole place, the way you micromanage every minute of my life, I''m not letting you do that to me anymore. So. I. Quit."


    "You''ll never work in another hospital again!"


    "Like I would want to! If I''m going to work for money sucking scumbags, I''ll go be a paralegal or something!"


    <hr>


    "You quit, huh?"


    "I haven''t even said anything!" she exclaimed, flopping into the chair next to her brother at the caf�� they met up at every Thursday.


    "It''s in the glow. You''ve really hated working at that place. Tell you what, I''m buying today."


    "Too late. I mobile ordered," she said, smiling. Then she sighed. "I''m stuck working through my notice period, but I gotta figure out what I''m going to do next."


    "No plan, huh? How''s your lease looking?"


    "End of the year." She grimaced. "I''m not even sure I want to work in nursing again, the business office burned me so bad."


    "What happened?"


    "I talked to a nice couple on the bus about what happens when you''re getting checked out for back pain, and they told the doctor about it, which ended up getting over to admin, who decided to warn me about trying to treat patients. Did they ask for my side of the story? No. They just assumed, and went into C.Y.A. lecture mode. And it''s far from the first time that they just assumed stuff without fact checking."


    "That''s a reason to leave the hospital, but to leave nursing?"


    "I keep in touch with classmates, and all of them get the same ''shut up and pretend you''re a rug'' treatment. Not from the doctors, but from the business offices. Some of them even do it to the doctors."


    He nodded. "Tell you what. Move in with me and sub-lease. Take the guest room. If you want a career change, go back to school, become a paralegal. I can set you up with a starting job, and you''ll make enough to be debt free before forty. You were worrying about that with your nursing pay, right?"


    She absently nodded while she considered it.


    <hr>


    Gaily dressed mourners collected their champagne glasses at the door.


    "For the farewell toast," the ushers told them, and many of them smiled as they cried. "It''s so him!" they said.


    Only a few sticklers, the family that never really bothered to know him, and some professional acquaintances attending out of a sense of obligation, failed to understand.


    She made it through to the final eulogy, which she stood up to give.


    "My brother was always there for me. He sat through three commencement ceremonies when our parents couldn''t even make it to one. He encouraged me to be better everyday than the day before it. When we were kids, and our hamster died, he promised if anything happened, he''d wait for me. And then he reminded me of that promise for the next twenty, thirty years. However long it''s been."


    More memories tripped off her tongue, words she didn''t remember after she spoke them, though his friends told her they were beautiful. She reached the end and raised her glass. The other mourners raised theirs with her, and they shouted, "Salut!" before downing the purple fruit juice.


    <hr>


    She had a car, but she still took the bus to get to and from work. She was on the bus when the earth shook and the building around them began to sway and topple. She hadn''t been a nurse for decades, but the impetus to help never left.


    The bus, like all the rest of the traffic around them, braked to a stop. They waited until the shaking stopped, braced against it. She knew cell service would be out, so she didn''t bother with that.


    "Driver! First Aid kit! Where is it?" she ordered, taking charge. Someone had to.


    He sputtered, but she just demanded again, "Where is the kit?" and he pointed to the drawer under his seat. She opened it, took charge of the kit and went through the bus passengers first. A few bumps and scrapes, but they were mostly more shocked than frightened.


    Then she took the kit and went out among the other cars, treating people who needed the care and getting some other level headed people to create a triage zone, and to start organizing rescue digs. When she ran out of bandages, she improvised.


    Then they needed people to assess who could be pulled from the wreckage and who needed to wait and hope for the professionals to arrive in time, so she went.


    She was helping to get an older man out of rubble when an aftershock hit. The rubble closed in over them, and she had enough time to think, not for the first time, "I should have been a vet tech."


    <hr>


    Foreign soul detected. Soul is compatible with mana conditioning system. Foreign soul accepted. Applying divine boon: [Second Childhood]. Beginning acclamation process.


    Welcome, Traveler, to your new life. You will be reborn into a compatible species and granted a period of time to acclimate to your new world without the preconceptions you may carry over from your prior life(s).


    Once you receive a class under the World Mana Conditioning and Control System, you may experience flashbacks to particularly significant events in your prior lives. This is normal and indicates your soul is repairing whatever damage you sustained in the journey between worlds.


    Welcome to your new life, may it be long and prosperous.


    <hr>


    Cerise, maybe four, maybe five years old, danced to satyr songs, the equine-bottomed men crowning her with flowers -- red, red flowers. Her older sister, eyes wide with fright, danced, too, grimacing more than smiling, and reaching down to a fallen man, who lay beside their parents. Sunlight flashed off the blade of the sword she pulled back.


    "In Solaris'' name!" invoked the older sister that Cerise now barely remembered. More sunlight filled the meadow, which was strange because it was night time, a full moon in the sky.


    The satyr song stopped, and Cerise collapsed, exhausted. The last sight she had of her sister was the older girl chasing the braying satyrs into a fey ring.

 Chapter 3: Classy

    Soul repair unlocks the following skills:


    Logic, Intermediate-3


    Oration, Practiced-7


    Research, Advanced-4


    Cyphers, Beginner-7


    Acting, Intermediate-9


    Alchemy, Beginner-4


    Natural Weapon Combat, Practiced-2


    Drawing, Practiced-4


    Basic Scribing advances to Scribing, Advanced-8


    Basic Cooking advances to Cooking, Intermediate-3


    Basic Identify advances to Appraise, Beginner-9


    Warning! Skill proficiencies exceed soul structure reinforcement. Skill proficiencies will be reduced to current maximum rating for the supplicant''s soul structure until supplicant raises soul structure above assessed ratings. Experience with skills may be negatively impacted during this time.


    Assessing supplicant status for assignment of initial soul structure reinforcement ...


    The following classes have been identified as significant matches to existing soul structure. Please indicate preference.


    [Arcane Scout Novice]


    [Arcane Healer Novice]


    [Spy Novice]


    Cerise felt like her head was stuffed full of too many thoughts. Worse, she had to make a choice -- the Voice of the World was demanding it, and right now!


    She did not want to be a spy, Cerise knew that. For one, who would she spy for? For another, there were a lot of people who would kill her faster for having that class than the [Thief] or even the [Rogue] classes. Nope, she did not need those problems!


    And she would rather be a healer than a scout.


    Class preference noted. Applying class.


    Evaluating experience ...


    Assessing current skills ...


    Identifying skill unlocks ...


    Congratulations! You are now an [Arcane Healer Novice], level 6. The following skills will be advanced:


    Basic Butchering advances to General Anatomy, Beginner-5


    Basic Leather Craft, Basic Tailoring, Basic Woodworking, and Basic Tinkering combined advanced to General Craft, Practiced-6 (8)


    Basic Herbalism, Alchemy combined advanced to Potion Brewing, Practiced-2


    Please review your unlocked skills from your profile to fill your class specific skills slots.


    Cerise felt the pressure to decide release her, only to be replaced by a nausea inducing shift somehow both inside her and all around her. She stumbled, fell to her knees, and then staggered upright.


    Some sense, some pressure to go urged her to weave and stagger her way out of the grotto, down the long tunnel, and out the entrance. The sun was lower on the horizon, and considering she had entered during the morning, Cerise really had been a while in the grotto.


    Mykhal was the first to reach her. He was a full head height taller than herself, but Cerise was curled up in on herself from the nausea, and he had to stoop to get a supporting arm around her.


    "What happened to you?" He asked, his voice breaking as it had begun doing just recently.


    Cerise wet her lips and groaned. "Memories? In my head? Skills, level 6 ..." She mumbled.


    "I told you to ease up on all that bandaging practice!" Her mother scolded, moving the both of them to the side, where grass made for a more comfortable seat than the cobblestone pathway.


    Holy places withered when people built around them, and faster if people tried to live right next to them, but adding small adornments to the sites could strengthen them. The cobblestone path led from the village''s gate to the grotto, and each class-less supplicant laid a stone or fixed one back down, a symbolic rite of gratitude to the world for the granting of a class and the hope for a long and prosperous life.


    The phrase jarred Cerise''s mind, and she gave into the nausea, turning her head in time to avoid splattering anyone with her vomit. She didn''t have much to throw up, but the heaving did help to calm her body. When she finished, her stomach felt fine and her headache eased from splitting down to irritating.


    Mykhal pressed his water bag at her, and she took care not to put her lips to the pour spout. She rinsed, spat, and then drank, feeling even better yet afterward. She handed back his water bag with a smile and scooted away from her vomit.


    They followed, her parents and Mykhal. Her mother fixed Cerise with a no-nonsense look and said, "Tell us about your class, now."


    Cerise grinned. "[Arcane Healing Novice]," she intoned, emphasizing each word with a slight pause. Her parents'' jaws dropped.


    Mykhal asked, "How?"


    "Remember how Cord taught us to stalk pests? Do that while you''re looking at the lights in the tunnel, and that''s how I got [Mana Sensing]. Go. Do it now. You have until tomorrow. Don''t go into the grotto, but I got up to 3 in there from 0. You can do better."


    Mykhal glanced at her parents. His dad wouldn''t be back from the mines for another three days, and Cerise''s parents were going to stand in for his family.


    Cerise''s parents exchanged considering looks before nodding. "You can overnight. When Cerise has her legs under her, she can go fetch us food and blankets."


    He grinned and looked at a recovering Cerise with joy. "Alright!" He said, and went in just far enough to start examining the light veins.


    "If we get too distracting, go around the corner," Cerise called out, getting a hand wave of acknowledgment from her friend.


    "Now, tell us everything," her mother urged.


    Cerise omitted her stealth skill up and being offered the [Spy] class path. She glossed over the skills she gained from her soul repair, and she did a terrible job trying to describe the world she vaguely remembered. Compassion and the desire to keep her parents from worrying for her kept her vague about the memory of dying, and the grieving she remembered for a sibling born to other parents in another life. Cerise could remember her mother miscarrying twice, and she vaguely recalled an older sister who left one day and never came home.


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    When she was done, her parents exchanged speaking looks again.


    Her father, his voice and tone unnaturally grave, said, "Don''t tell anyone that you have a traveling soul. No one! At least, not until you have twenty levels over the king himself!"


    Cerise started to ask why, but some part of herself that she hadn''t heard before answered first. This world is violent, and knowledge is power. People in power kill those they cannot control. "Yes, father," she said, distracted by the dismay of that recognition.


    "I mean this," he said.


    Cerise focused her gaze on him, meeting his eyes. "I know. I won''t even burden Mykhal with my secret, and I''m sorry I''ve endangered you by saying anything."


    Her mother pulled her into a hug. "Don''t be silly! We''re your parents! Of course you did right by telling us!"


    Cerise hugged her back, and did not speak for a bit.


    After a few minutes of silence, her father asked, "What are your skill choices? Don''t take any yet! But, what are your choices?"


    Cerise projected her desire for her profile and the Voice of the World responded. She took a moment to get familiar with the changes, then skimmed over to her class skill choices.


    "Mana Sensing is still a general skill that I can tier up into the class skill if I choose Sight, Hearing, Scent, or ... Proprioception." She sounded out the last word. Without prompting she said, "That''s some kind of internal feeling thing, like how you can feel your heart beating in your chest, I think."


    Her father frowned in thought. "Hmm ... I don''t think anyone in the village knows about--."


    "I got it!" Mykhal yelled, excited. "I got Mana Sensing! It''s Beginner-0!"


    Cerise laughed. "Good!" She yelled back. "Keep it up! You should get at least to four before morning!"


    "Ha! Yes!" He crowed back, settling into his new skill practice with ferocity.


    Her parents looked at each other. Her father, quiet seriousness, said, "We''re going to wait until Mykhal classes before telling anyone what you discovered. That way, no one can stop him, or take his time in the grotto."


    "If anyone asks, he''s just eager and we''re being happy to stand for him," Cerise said, smiling beatifically.


    "Don''t hold still long enough to be Identified," her mother said.


    "I''ll get things for tonight now then, while most people are working," Cerise said, getting her parents'' nod to the decision.


    Cerise hurried down the trail. No one actually guarded the gates. They were there more as openings in the palisade that protected the village from random monster incursions. She tried to be stealthy, and made it all the way home without being hailed.


    It took only a few moments for Cerise to gather blankets and the pottage left warming by the hearth. A quick moment longer to put bowls for four and spoons into a coarse linen sack, along with some apples and onions and another full water bag, and Cerise was off again. She was most of the way back up the trail when she got the notice.


    [Basic Stealth] advances to [Stealth], Practiced-0.


    Cerise grinned, and kept the Stealth up all the way to the grotto. A bit of wisdom suggested she not show off that skill around her mother.


    "You''re back fast," her father said.


    "I didn''t run into anyone," Cerise said, setting down the blankets, pottage pot, and sack of foodstuffs.


    The speculative look her parents shot Cerise made her question just what skills they had when it came to sneaking and finding out things. However, they declined to comment. Her father got them back to reviewing Cerise''s possible class skills.


    "Triage is a skill for identifying who I can and cannot help, and how badly they are hurt. It''s got both active and passive uses.


    "Diagnose looks similar, but it takes longer to use, but it tells me a lot more about the person I use it on, at least what''s wrong with them.


    "Stabilize looks good -- it''s an active that helps people survive ''shocking wounds''.


    "Greater Cleanse? Oh! If I get that up to Practiced I''ll have a Cleansing Aura that will help fight off infections!


    "Lend Vitality... I''m not sure about that one. It looks like I take on some of the person''s wounds somehow. That sounds like a dangerous skill to take.


    "Ah! Here are the [Healer] skills! Heal Wounds, Heal Toxins, and Heal Diseases! They''re all combination skills, some passive intuitions and active Stamina use to apply mana to speed healing in the target person.


    "I think I need to raise my Mana Sensing before I see any actual spell-skills."


    They discussed Cerise''s options and the situations where she could expect to use the different skills. The Heal skills were givens that she would take. At level six, she had six of her ten skill slots per class available to fill. The questions they debated centered on whether she should pick up both Triage and Diagnose. If she did, then Cerise would have to pick between Stabilize and Greater Cleanse. If not, she might still pick up whichever of the two she did not choose at this level.


    And that did not broach what to do about any arcane skills waiting for the prerequisite rank in Mana Sensing.


    "We have to stay out here," her mother said when she grew tired of the debate. "What''s stopping you from holding vigil with Mykhal and working on your own sensing skills?"


    "I got pushed out when I was classed," Cerise said.


    "So sit at the entrance and sense," her father said.


    Cerise bonked head into her palm. "Okay," she said and took her blanket off to the entrance. She settled herself into the "hunter''s trance" as Cord called it. After a bit, she could feel more than see the mana misting about the tunnels, somehow released from the veins of light in the walls.


    The first few skill up notices broke her concentration, but around Beginner-6 Cerise found herself relying less and less on the trance to notice the mana. The sun had set and the moon was rising by then. At some point in her distraction, her mother had placed a bowl full of pottage stew beside her and handed a similar bowl to Mykhal. Cerise ate the cold stew and considered how to push her senses to grow.


    Mana was a legendary thing, at least to the common person in Druerjan. Arcane classes appeared every now and again, but [Mages] were rare, and mostly from noble houses. But, what if mana was like air? What if it was mostly unseen, but everywhere? What if it was just the knowing of how to see it that was rare?


    Cerise finished her stew, and thought about taking the Heal Wounds skill. The sense of the skill was an intuition, one that came from the Voice of the World. What if the skills themselves were gifts of mana?


    She opened herself up to her Mana Sensing skill and opened her profile. Normally, viewing one''s profile overwhelmed one senses, like a big sign shoved in one''s face, but that was precisely why Cerise decided to experiment thusly. She could feel as much as see the misty mana in her own body respond to her desire.


    Mana Sensing advances to Mana Proprioception, Beginner-8.


    General skill unlocked: Mana Sight, Mana Scent, Mana Hearing.


    Cerise blinked. Her profile altered before her gaze as the general skill Mana Sensing was replaced with Mana Proprioception and bumped up two divisions.


    She immediately looked at her class skill options. A new one appeared: Arcane Healing. It was a purely passive skill that allowed her to combine her Stamina and Mana Pools, to use them interchangeably, for all active skills. It also reduced the strain of infusing mana when using her Heal skills.


    A headache slammed into the back of her brain. She glimpsed four skills writing themselves onto her class skill list. Apparently, her reflexive want reaction was enough to select the skills.


    Well, if she was doing this, she might as well do this all at once. Triage and Stabilize soon followed. She would pick up Diagnose and Greater Cleanse during her class level ups, but if a mine collapse happened before then, those two would be the more useful.


    Cerise adjusted the blanket around her shoulders, settled herself into a recline against the grotto''s entrance, and let sleep claim her, worn out by the day''s events.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 6


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Moderate


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (6)


    Arcane Healing: B-0


    Heal Wounds: B-0


    Heal Toxins: B-0


    Heal Diseases: B-0


    Triage: B-0


    Stabilize: B-0


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 0


    Acting: P-6 (I-9)


    Appraise: P-0


    Blades, Basic: B-8


    Cleaning, Basic *: B-9


    Cooking: P-6 (I-3}


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-6 (8)


    Hunting, Basic: B-5


    Logic: P-6 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-8


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-6 (P-7)


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Research: P-6 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-6 (A-8)


    Stealth: P-0


    General Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing

 Chapter 4: Miner Rebellion

    A heavy body slumped into her, waking Cerise. The back of Mykhal''s head slid off her shoulder and landed in her lap.


    Her Triage skill activated without her conscious decision. "Dehydration and mana soreness. Water and rest," came back to her.


    She dug out her water bag and trickled the last drops into his mouth. He grinned up at her, his lids heavy and sleep already tugging him under.


    "What''s your class?" She asked, but he was already unconscious.


    So Cerise tried out her upgraded Basic Identify. She wasn''t sure what differed between that and Appraise, but maybe she could see class names?


    Mykhal of Trall Mining Village, class type [Scout], grade Rare, rank Novice. Commoner, Freeman.


    Appraise advances to Practiced-0.


    Cerise wanted to see what the difference between a Beginner-9 and Practiced-0 skill was so she re-Appraised her friend.


    Name: Mykhal of Trall Mining Village


    Class: [Scout], Rare, Novice


    Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Conditions: Dehydrated, Mana Soreness, Exhausted


    Health: Low, Full


    That looked like an abbreviated profile. She got the sense that her Triage skill was synergizing with her Appraise skill to provide the conditions and Mykhal''s health rank and state. The attributes on one''s profile varied by the classes one possessed, but almost everyone had Health.


    Her own Health Pool was ranked Low now, too, up from Poor from before she gained her class. Somehow, Vitality played into the rating of one''s Health Pool, but Vitality was a hidden attribute, only referenced by skills and condition warnings. At least, as far as Cerise knew.


    Cerise now had a Stamina and Mana Pool, and a Focus rating. All her Pools were rated Low, and her Focus Moderate. Attributes could be rated from Horrible to Excellent, with most humans rarely exceeding a rating of High. There were rumors about higher ratings, but those belonged to mythic beings like ancient dragons -- not to be confused with the bestial Drakes that settled in high mana zones -- places few humans ventured.


    A giggle of amusement made Cerise look around. Her mother had a teasing grin on her face, and her father was smirking.


    "That boy!" Her mother laughed at the confused look Cerise turned to her.


    "Yeah?" Cerise asked, not understanding what was funny about Mykhal passing out. Without the reassurance of her skills, Cerise would''ve been quite upset and worried by now.


    Her father shook his head, his smirk growing, even as her mother fell into peels of laughter.


    "What?" Cerise asked.


    Her father said, "You''ll understand when you want to. We''ll let Mykhal rest for a bit before we rouse him to go home."


    "Okay," Cerise said, and relaxed back against the rocky entrance, dozing off once more.


    <hr>


    The sun hadn''t moved that much when Mykhal''s movements roused Cerise. She poked him to get him to stop drooling on her pants leg. He stretched like a cat, and caught her by the waist when his arms relaxed, rolling to bury his face in her belly.


    "Hey, now! None of that!" Her father barked, prompting Mykhal to poke his head up and groggily look around.


    His face went from slumber pale to dark embarrassment as he realized just how he and Cerise were now entangled.


    Cerise did not understand why he flung himself away from her, clapping his hands over his eyes and mumbling apologies. It was a funny reaction so she laughed, but a part of her wondered if she was somehow revolting to him. She didn''t really think so. They were friends after all, but there also weren''t a lot of children to be friends with in their village.


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    While there were about two hundred adults on the village rolls, only a little over fifty of them were women. Not all were mothers, and those who did have children were often the younger women, or the much older women whose children were all grown or dead. There were four others gaining their first class this year, and three of them would have their day after Cerise and Mykhal.


    And thinking of that, Cerise started packing up. She shared out some of her travel loaves to tide them over till they got home. There would be a stream along the way were they could refill their water bags.


    As she packed up, her parents started, too, and Mykhal calmed down enough to join them.


    "So what class did you get?" Her father asked.


    "[Arcane Hunter Novice]," Mykhal said. "It''s a [Scout] type, but with some crossover to the [Warrior] types. I''ve got Might and Endurance attributes, and a Mana and Stamina Pool. I had some skills combine, too, so now I have Forage, Track, and Camouflage. I''m only at level 2, so for class skills I picked up Land Stride and Navigation. Land Stride uses Stamina to let me move through underbrush without slowing down and Navigation has a passive where I always know were a fixed landmark is from where ever I am. I have to concentrate to change where, but it has an active where I can use mana to find the path from where I am to where I want to be.


    "Now, I just need to make myself a bow or a crossbow! I''ll get the Bow skill and that should open up some of the Magic Shot skills!"


    They chatted happily for the half-hour or so it took to reach the stream, and they paused there to drink their fill and let the water settle before heading off for the next half of their hike.


    Mykhal abruptly shut up when they were ten minutes from the palisade walls. Even as Cerise asked, "What is it?" she began to smell the smoke.


    The wind was blowing at an angle, between them and the village, and they were in the foothills of the Sartalg Mountains. Sounds traveled oddly in the hills, and the village was situated so that its sounds did not reach the grotto of ascension.


    It was enough to calm their chatter and instill a bit of worry, but not yet a cause for alarm. Still, they quickened their steps until they grew close enough to see the smoke through the trees.


    Cerise was yanked back, not even realizing that she''d started to run.


    "Stop!" Mykhal ordered, making the whole family freeze. "There could be bandits about or a goblin raid! You are not going to help anyone if you get yourself killed by not thinking! Do you hear me?"


    This Mykhal was a more forceful presence than Cerise was used to, but he made sense. She nodded. "I hear you. So, we sneak up close, see what the situation is. Monsters or bandits, we regroup and figure something out. Otherwise, we go in and look for how to help?"


    Mykhal nodded, and then turned to Cerise''s parents. "Do you have any Stealth skills?"


    Cerise''s mother nodded. "Basic, Beginner, but yes."


    "Basic, Practiced," her father said.


    Mykhal looked to Cerise. "I got up to Practiced yesterday," she said. "You?"


    "Camouflage took it and set me to Practiced," he said, rolling his eyes.


    Cerise bumped him with her shoulder. "Be that way," she teased over the roiling of her gut.


    They slipped into the woods, away from the cobbled path, and approached the village. There were dead bodies -- dead human bodies -- beside the palisade, but three men Cerise recognized were moving about, poking the bodies with spears before leaning in to slash their throats. She almost moved up to them before she really looked beyond the corpse-state of the dead bodies to see their faces, faces she also recognized.


    One of the spearman was a [Miner], one of the corpses Mykhal''s father.


    Horror and nerves made her ears ring and her belly knot up. She looked around, but she could not spot Mykhal or her parents. Then her hearing cleared some, and she heard the [Miners] talking.


    "How long before the cyr''s men get here, do you think?" The first spearman, Abel?, asked.


    The man holding the dagger was Abel''s brother, but she couldn''t remember his name. Something with a growly sound. "How the Abyss should I know?" The brother said. "Depends if anyone got word out. All we have to do is get the ore out and over to the draycons. They''ll claim this mountain right fast for Drakeblood ore and that bastard of a noble will burn. I can''t believe anyone here was loyal to that little dung heap of a mobby waving cows backside!"


    The third man spat to the side, poked another corpse, and used the blade of his spear to slice the corpse''s throat.


    They moved along, and Cerise crept closer to the corpses. She activated her Triage skill, saddened, but not surprised, that she could do nothing to heal the dead men.


    She slipped back into the woods and headed to the last place she saw her parents. She was almost there when familiar hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into Mykhal''s chest.


    "I''m so sorry!" Cerise said, turning to hug him.


    His only response was to hug her closer.


    Cerise''s parents ghosted next to them a few moments later.


    Her father said, "Either we try for the cyr''s estate to warn him of what''s happened, or we run."


    Her mother waved her hand and said, "No-no-no-no-no! We''re running! Did you not hear them? They found Drakeblood ore! No matter what happens now, the cyr has lost this land, and if we''re the ones to tell him, he''ll put all our heads on a pike!"


    "He''s our liege, Bergin!" Her father protested.


    "And we are not serfs! We are Freeman, but if the cyr gets his hands on us now, we''re dead men! I''m. Not. Risking. Cerise!"


    Her father glanced her way, and his expression shifted, then firmed. "Well, it won''t be the first time we have had to start with nothing. Where should we go, my love?"


    "Not to the draycons! I''ve always had a hankering to see the sea, and I do like the taste of fish."


    Mykhal said, "The last caravan through, there was talk of a new dungeon found in the Velton Hirselland. That''s toward the coast, they said."


    "What''s your Navigation skills say is the way?" Cerise''s mother asked.


    Mykhal''s gaze grew distant for a moment, then he said, "That way," and pointed down to the road caravaneers used to haul away the cyr''s ore loads.


    Her father''s lips twisted and twitched, but he just said, "Let''s be off."

 Chapter 5: [Blasphemy]

    Cyr Wendynhelm sat on his horse in the middle of the now desolate village of Trall. The hovels that had not burned during the traitor''s betrayal had been ransacked, mostly stripped of food, and what peasant villagers would have used for weapons. His [Hunt Master] returned from investigating the village and stood to attention, awaiting his liege''s permission to speak. The cyr gave it with a flick of his fingers


    "The people have all been fled or dead for a fortnight. I found a papermaking frame at one of the standing hovels, and signs of someone making char ink, but nothing more suspicious than that. That house even still had a full larder, looked like enough for four put away."


    The [Hunt Master] held up the logbook. "I did find the village rolls. That house had one child, due to go to their classing place about when the village got sacked. Appears they have a cobble walkway to their ... grotto of ascension? Maybe some Solarian priest influence?"


    The Cyr extended his hand and the [Hunt Master] respectfully laid the book on the open palm. He held his silence while the cyr flipped through the rolls.


    "Josef, mark stick," the cyr ordered. An aide quickly produced a stick stuffed with compressed graphite and held it out to his cyr.


    The cyr used the mark stick to line through the names his skill informed him were dead. He circled the names of his subjects that his skills told him yet lived. Five names remained untouched at the end.


    "Locate these people. Either they gave false names, or they know how to break a liege covenant. Put out warrants for those with circled names, unless they came to warn us of this betrayal."


    "Yes, my liege," the [Hunt Master] said, receiving the book back with a submissive bow.


    "I will inspect the classing place, and then we will inspect the mine site."


    Cyr Wendynhelm suited actions to words, and turned his horse to locate this cobble way.


    It was a pleasant ride that ended at an odd crack in the hill face. The cyr pushed through the weak barrier of repulsion and noted the heavy mana density in the cave.


    Once the cyr pushed in, his three knight attendants were able to follow. He allowed Sir Leon to take point. Pausing only briefly to confirm the composition of the walls, they soon entered the cave the villagers called the grotto of ascension. Cyr Wendynhelm narrowed his gaze on spotting the location of the crystal.


    "Break it," he ordered.


    Sir Leon nodded and turned to the two other knights. "Either of you at Good Might?"


    "Aye, Sir Leon," the broader of the two said.


    "Good. I''ll stand on his shoulders and you brace me." Sir Leon left his sword sheathed and left his shield on the ground. Instead, after scaling his fellow knight and confirming the other was properly bracing him, he drew his mace, took a few careful test swings, and then drew back for his attack.


    As he let loose for the actual strike, all the lights in the grotto fled. The quartz in the crystal shattered, and the Voice of the World rang in the minds of all present with the same grim announcement.


    Sir Leon fell with a clatter to the ground and lay still.


    Your actions have earned you the curse of [Blasphemy]. The title of [Blasphemer] will appear to all [Basic Identify] or better checks. You cannot benefit from divine healing or benedictions, and divine damage spells and skills do aggravated damage against you. This curse can only be lifted through the successful completion of a Quest of Atonement.


    Cyr Wendynhelm''s jaw flexed, and anger filled his gaze. His knights cussed.


    "It would seem," he drawled, "that the gods are liars."


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    "Or you''re just an idiot, Wendy." A woman''s voice answered from the dark.


    Then light spilled back into the grotto, cast by a glowing figure. Aside from a generally female humanoid body shape, the woman''s radiance prevented distinguishing any of her features.


    "Who, pray tell, are you?" The cyr asked.


    "Your quest giver. You do want that curse removed, don''t you?"


    "I do not submit to extortionists," he spat out.


    "I did not make you break the Class Stone. I''m merely offering you a means to repay your debt so that you are in a position to negotiate a new contract to replace the one you. Just. Broke."


    "That was a Dungeon Stone!" He snapped out.


    "That was a Class Stone," she snapped back. "One, I might add, that has existed in this location for millennia. Even were it a Dungeon Stone, it would have been exempt. Oh, and you would''ve been cursed as a [Dungeon Slayer], not a [Blasphemer]. Your Atonement Quest is getting more difficult the more you argue."


    "Please, my Lady, what can I do to atone?" The knight that Sir Leon had stood on asked.


    "Silence!" Cyr Wendynhelm roared.


    The glowing woman ignored him. She made an ancient gesture, the fingers of her right hand splayed but for her middle and ring fingers, which pressed against themselves. With her hands so arranged, she drew a circle in the air, and bisected it with a horizontal line ending before her heart. It was an old Solarian blessing gesture, and it apparently was also the signal of a Quest being given out.


    The young knight sputtered and began to sob. He took off his sword belt, and laid it down, and then began to remove his armor. When he stood in only his gambeson and britches, he said, choking on every word, "I renounce my classes. I forfeit my skills. I atone for the evils of my actions."


    Blue mist spilled out of him. He fell, crying, to his knees. The mist coalesced into a small crystal and fell among the shards of the class stone.


    The knight with Might swallowed visibly, then said, "How may I atone?"


    The glowing woman made the same gesture, and the mighty knight, too, stripped off the accoutrements of his class. Tears fell from his face as he repeated the same words, though his voice did not shake. When the blue mist spilled out from him, he, too, fell to his knees, and another crystal joined with the shards.


    Cyr Wendynhelm turned to Sir Leon, ready to snarl an order to ignore the woman. It died in his throat as he looked at the twisted shape of his retainer, the man''s vacant gaze no longer bound to the mortal world. "Leon?"


    The woman, her voice bored, said, "Sadly for him, he shall not have the opportunity to atone in life. Noq-el already has him, and he will have to plead for Nam-am''s intercession. You are wearing out my Lady''s patience, Wendynhelm. Will you accept your Quest of Atonement?"


    "Damn you!" He yelled, clawing at his sword. "Damn you!" He yelled again as he drew it. "Damn you!" He repeated, like a chant, a cadence as he swung and hacked at the glowing woman. He was too lost to rage to care that his sword simply passed through her with less effect than trying to carve sunbeams. At least swinging at sunbeams cast a shadow.


    When his Stamina fell to zero, he fell to his knees, though rage kept his spine stiff. "Damn you and all the deceitful, bastard gods! Abyss take you all!"


    [Blasphemer] advances to [Profaner]. Every divine champion will know you for an enemy on sight. Anyone who knows you for a [Profaner] and shelters or aids you anyhow will be cursed with [Blasphemy].


    "You really like digging your hole deep, don''t you?" The woman said, shaking her head. She turned her gaze to the former knights. "Wendynhelm is now a [Profaner] and all who help him shall be cursed with [Blasphemy]. Warn your companions that they need not suffer as you have. You may seek out another Class Stone and begin once more, but the skills and classes you forfeited are forever locked to you.


    "Now go."


    The two men who had atoned left.


    It was probably wise. The cyr was enraged enough to kill them, prevented only by his lack of stamina.


    The woman left him in the dark, with the cooling corpse of his faithful knight retainer.


    When he finally recovered enough to stagger out of the cave, he found only his [Hunt Master] awaiting him. He felt the invasion of an Inspect skill, and then his [Hunt Master] removed the badge of his house and dropped it on the ground. The [Hunt Master] said nothing, merely turned and walked away from his cyr.


    <hr>


    King Ahrahm of Druerjan was holding court when he raised his hand, cutting off the current petitioner mid-word. He glowed with the use of several skills, which made the petitioner sweat, and drew interest from the courtiers. After the glow of the last skill faded, he stood.


    "Arlthane Kwellan of House Nagister, approach."


    The arlthane''s graying eyebrows rose, but he moved swiftly to heed his king''s command. "Your Majesty," he intoned as he bowed.


    "The Voice of the World has just informed me that a cyr under your authority, one Wendynhelm of House Kelm, has broken the divine covenant that limits the growth of dungeons within our lands, and in the dooming became a [Profaner].


    "I hereby strip Wendynhelm of House Kelm of his nobility. Bring me his head, detached from his body, and the living members of his House that I may judge for myself how far the rot has spread."


    "Your will be done, your Majesty," the elderly arlthane said. Knowing a dismissal when he heard it, he backed away to an acceptable distance, then turned and left.


    King Ahrahm looked at the petitioner. "We will reschedule your hearing for another time. Seneschal, dismiss court and summon the Council of God Speakers. We have a new covenant to negotiate."


    "Your will be done, your Majesty," the seneschal intoned.

 Chapter 6: Knowing When To Use It

    "Skill ranks aren''t just about how to use a skill. They''re about knowing when to use it and what your skills are." Cerise''s father made this observation one evening a few weeks after they had abandoned the village of Trall.


    They had roughly followed the road, and skirted a farming village, Endak-on-Road. By the next village they spotted, though, Cerise''s father had convinced her mother to at least stop long enough to give warning to their cyr and register, all official like, that they removed themselves from the roster of his citizens.


    The village head at Kell-on-Brook had wanted to detain them, but her parents had said the cyr had failed to uphold his duty as a liege by letting Trall Mining Village fall to "rebellious elements". A liege had a responsibility to his freemen, and by failing in that duty Cyr Wendynhelm was no longer their liege, nor they his citizens. They had no intention of remaining on his lands, and provided notice only as a matter of courtesy. Cerise and Mykhal quickly agreed, and they left before the headman could rally some of the more [Warrior] focused village men to keep them.


    Another day of travel saw them out of the Kelm cyrlands. They waited until out of the next two cyrlands before openly traveling along any roads.


    Mykhal''s Forage skill got a lot of work, more than his Navigation skill, even with the help from Cerise and her parents. They avoided hunting, and were lucky to be traveling in the start of the hot season. Berries and nuts were plentiful, and all their Identify skills were able to warn about which ones were toxic.


    Cerise had taken to using her Triage skill as a kind of detection skill. Every living being she could see she could use Triage on, whether she realized she could see the being or not, so she constantly scanned around them, pinging her skill just enough to keep its use below her regeneration. That, in turn, led to the notice she got today.


    Skill mutation identified for [Triage]. Active-passive aura available now. Refer to profile for more information.


    Cerise barely had the presence of mind to tell her mother before opening her profile.


    An active-passive aura turned out to mean that Cerise could choose to use her skill as an aura effect -- right now out to a distance of four bow lengths -- by sacrificing some of her mana regeneration. She could go back into her profile to cancel the aura and regain her mana regeneration.


    Naturally, she immediately turned it on.


    Now, at the end of the day, as they sat together at another cold camp, her father decided to impart some wisdoms on the nature of skills


    "The more you use a skill on Purpose -- not just you choosing to use it, but within the purpose of the skill -- the faster you will gain skill experience. Skill mutations are little tricks people find while using their skills that help them to use the skill on Purpose.


    "Cerise, what is the grade of your mutation? You should get a feel for it from your profile."


    Cerise checked. "I think Common," she said.


    Her father nodded. "Good. Being a Common mutation means a lot of other skill holders have triggered it, which also means that the skill has changed to treat that as an on Purpose skill use. Passive experience gains are harder to manage, but they do constantly grow. This is good."


    The conversation meandered from there as the two youths speculated on different types of skill mutations they might be able to unlock, with her parents weighing in every now and again.


    <hr>


    A few nights later, at another cold camp, Cerise broached a topic she was more than a little nervous about. She started off a bit round-about. "When we get to this new dungeon''s town, what are you two going to do? For a living, I mean."


    Cerise''s father smiled. "A lot of that will depend on what''s there. If it''s an ore bearing dungeon and the floors between are tamed enough, I''ll hire on as a [Miner]. If not, I have a [Carpenter] class to fall back on, even if I prefer rocks to wood."


    Her mother smiled. "As a [Generalist], I can fill in for low leveled work just about anywhere. If we are free to gather as we want, I might even get to open my own food hall."


    For once, when her mother mentioned a food hall, an odd idea that she picked up from a caravaneer some years back, Cerise did not feel the need to roll her eyes. "We have the pot still, at least," she agreed. "I''ll try to find seeds from now on. That way, if we find some good herbs for flavor, you can grow them when we settle down."


    Her father, with a resigned look, said, "You''re planning on following Mykhal into the Free Lancers Guild, aren''t you."


    Cerise nodded. "Yes. We just need a [Warrior] to fill out a triad."


    Her parents got pinched looks on their faces, and her mother surprised Cerise. "Well, we can thank Fortuna at least that the pair of you had your knives with you. We''ll cut branches in the morning for staves and start spending time training for the skill. It will be good for all of us, I expect."


    So in the morning they went looking and found four straight saplings. It took most of the morning to cut them down and trim off the branches. Her father insisted they follow some woodsman''s ritual before putting blade to tree.


    "For any guardians of these woods, know that we are passers-by, and take from your wood only that which we need. We will treat with respect what we take. As proof of this, we give you some of our blood." They said the words together and sliced a shallow cut along the backs of their forearms. Each let at least three drops of blood fall to the forest floor before Cerise was allowed to use her Heal Wounds skill on them.


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    Mykhal mentioned that they had done similar rites before opening a new field at his old village, and there had been the land god''s portion given in the harvest feast. That reminded Cerise of something she had wondered about. "Land gods aren''t the same as the gods, are they?"


    "I''m no priestly type," her father began, getting an eye roll from her mother. "But no, they aren''t. There are some as say that land gods are the children of El-Ahrand and Am-Nahar, He of the Wood and She of the Field, and some as say they are seeds of the El-Am-Shaq, Solaris preserve us.


    "There are gods and there are gods, just as there are nobles and nobles. It matters not if a cyr or a king orders us hanged; in their domain a noble''s word is law. So too the ways of gods and their domains. In either case, it''s best to be respectful of them as you go about your business. After all, the crowing rooster finds the pot."


    Mykhal saved a few trimmed branches to experiment with making his own bow and arrows. Cerise donated some of her gauze to use to bundle the lengths of wood, and they used their new staves at first as walking sticks.


    As they resumed their traveling, Cerise asked, "Why do we offer a prayer before taking the saplings but not the berries?"


    Her mother said, "Berries, grasses, sticks on the ground, they come and they go. Trees, however, make the forest."


    <hr>


    That evening, her father used one of his carpentry skills to season the wood. He claimed Cerise''s knife to make some small adjustments, and they talked of gods and of gods. At one point, her father asked her, "How much of the healing part of your class do you want? You talked about becoming a [Tamer] and a [Beast Healer], so I''m not sure how much of your wanting is to work with animals and how much is the healing."


    "I like it more than I thought I would," she admitted. "I''m still more interested in helping animals than people, but it felt good, right, to use Heal Wounds today, and to move the soreness out of our bodies."


    He nodded. In a considering tone, he said, "Few people need to dedicate themselves to a patron, but for those drawn to a god''s domain there can be benefits. Just remember the gods are jealous of their dedicants. If you find yourself drawn to Lunaria''s Healing and Am-Nahar''s Herds, you''ll need to pick one or the other, or neither. Don''t try to be a dedicate of both or you''ll end up cursed by both."


    Cerise and Mykhal nodded together.


    <hr>


    The next morning, they began their staff practice. The staff felt heavy after only a few swings, and her father wasn''t letting them swing at each other just yet.


    Every adult in their village had been expected to have at least one weapon skill. Monsters could attack at any time, and you needed to be able to defend yourself. Blades was second only to Clubs as the skill of choice just due to how easy it was to gain the skill. However, the Blade skill had more non-combat uses, and that was why her mother had started Cerise with that skill.


    Her father, though, had the Clubs skill. It synergized with his [Miner] class to help him use his pickax as a weapon. He would be leading their practice, at least until one of the rest of them gained either Basic Clubs or Basic Staves.


    The specificity of skills was an interesting conundrum. At lower ranks, a broader skill was not as useful as a more specific one. Clubs, for instance, would provide some insight in how to swing a club-shaped thing without losing control of it and from there how to hit harder with less effort. The Staves skill did the same for staff shaped clubs, but also acted as a prerequisite skill for more active skills like Heavy Blow and Quick Thrust at a lower rank. Cerise had heard of those skills unlocking with Staves skill at Practiced-0, but her father had his Clubs skill at Intermediate-3 without either skill unlocked.


    People rarely wanted to amass a lot of skills, despite how useful they were, due to how classes leveled. If the skill was on your class list, whether in a class skill slot or a general skill slot, the experience you earned toward the skills increase your level. With each class level one gained the room in one''s soul to gain more skill experience. There was a difference between class skill slots and general skill slots when it came to earning experience for your class, and that mattered more at higher levels. It was rumored to also play into which classes one could take when one was eligible for a new class.


    After finishing one''s first twenty levels, one could visit a holy place to adjust which skills were in one''s class or general skill slots. Also, one gained a bonus general skill slot for every five levels. One could still learn general skills by getting the knowledge or physical proficiency of the Beginner-0 rank while wanting the skill. The slots were used when you merely had the prerequisites.


    But, again, spending your time ranking up skills not on your class list just meant time not spent raising your maximum rank.


    Cerise''s mother, with her [Generalist] class was one of the odd-ball exceptions. All skills could be [Generalist] skills, but the trade-off was that she leveled much slower, and even worse with more specific skills.


    People rarely talked about the specifics of their profile. Class types were polite enough to ask about, but not class names. Level ranges, polite. Exact levels, rude.


    Classes at levels between 1 and 20 tended to have "novice" in their names, so were called Novice rank classes. From 20 to 40 were the "Initiates", while "Adepts" showed up from 40 to 60. Very few people made it over level 60, at least in villages, so Cerise had never met an "Expert", and the "Masters" of level 80 and beyond were legendary.


    Going from level 1 to 20 was possible for a very hard-working, and lucky, person to do in a year''s time. That was especially true if they, like Cerise, had worked hard to max out their skills before ascending to their first class. A more normal person would need closer to five years, and ten was not unheard of if you weren''t able to make a living with your class skills.


    The first few levels of a second class were not difficult, but most people had a hard time taking their total level from 30 to 40. If someone was particularly unlucky, they might have to renounce an ill-suited class and incur class-change penalties for the first 5 levels of their new class. On the other hand, they might be very lucky and find a class synergy that made leveling much easier.


    It took Cerise a week of her father''s instruction to learn the Staves skill at Beginner-0.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 6


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Moderate


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (6)


    Arcane Healing: B-0


    Heal Wounds: B-1


    Heal Toxins: B-0


    Heal Diseases: B-0


    Triage: B-3


    Stabilize: B-0


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 0


    Acting: P-6 (I-9)


    Appraise: P-1


    Blades: B-9


    Cleaning, Basic *: B-9


    Cooking: P-6 (I-3}


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-6 (8)


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-6 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-9


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-6 (P-7)


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-6 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-6 (A-8)


    Staves: B-0


    Stealth: P-0


    General Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing

 Chapter 7: Looking is Free

    A few days after Cerise gained her Staves skill, they spotted a merchant train on the road. The wagons all looked very similar and the men and women with weapons on their belts walking beside the wagons had a sameness to their kit and clothes that suggested they were part of a more prosperous guild or company. They might even be guards belonging to a consortium. The wagons were headed in the same direction as they were, so it surprised Cerise that they caught up to a professional looking caravan.


    When she said as much, her father gave her a wry look. "We were very much in a hurry to be away from the cyrlands, and we all got the Quick Stepping skill. I doubt they all have that skill, or something like it, and who knows what difference it makes to have their cattle pulling those loads. Don''t go assuming what you have is common to all, even if the skill is a Common grade skill."


    Cerise took the gentle chastisement in stride. As they neared, though, one of the armed guards headed toward them.


    "Hail, travelers!" He called out. Cerise felt a press of mana wash over her


    Her mother stepped up. "Hail to you and yours. We''re passing by and want no trouble."


    "Two [Laborers], a [Healer], and a [Scout]? What troubles have you traveling together?" The guard asked, looking nervous.


    "We are a family. We would be traveling with more to our name, but disaster struck our village and now it is no more. We decided that as we need to move anyhow, we may as well head down to the new dungeon in the Velton Hirselland." Cerise''s mother stuck to the truth as they knew it. She had warned Cerise before that there were skills to detect lies.


    The guard did not look any less concerned. "What village was this?"


    "None near here. We''ve been traveling, what, three or four seven-days now?" Cerise''s father nodded to confirm her mother''s guess.


    That did make the guard relax. He turned his gaze to Cerise. "So you''re a Novice rank [Healer]? Do you have any Treat skills yet?"


    Instead of answering the rude question, Cerise asked, "Do you have someone hurt?"


    "One of my men took a fall, and his arm has been sore since. You can look at him for the experience, if you can use it yet," the guard said, his expression bland.


    Cerise smiled. "Looking is free, but anything that costs me in Pool use I''ll take payment in travel food, and jerky preferred. We lost our larder and though the forage has been good, I miss the taste of meat."


    A trace of sympathy crossed the guard''s face. He nodded. "Fair enough. The fellow''s this way." He waved them to follow. As they got closer to the caravan, Cerise''s Triage Aura began feeding her information.


    They passed the rear wagon, and Cerise called over to the [Wagoneer], "There''s a small stone in your lead ox''s left forefoot. If you get it now, he''ll have his full Health back by evening."


    Again, she felt oppressive mana move over her. She guessed it was an Identify type skill. The [Wagoneer] mumbled something, but stopped and jumped down. The guard paused them to watch. They saw the [Wagoneer] lift the ox''s indicated hoof and pick out a stone about the size of Cerise''s pinky''s end-joint.


    "Grateful to you, Missy," the [Wagoneer] said, getting back onto his driving bench.


    The guard seemed more confident as he resumed leading them up the side of the wagon train. "You have a detection skill, then?"


    "Triage Aura," Cerise agreed. "I''m not sure if I''ll get Diagnose at the next level or something that can prevent infections. The more I rank up Triage, the stronger sense I get that Diagnose will be a good synergy with it. Triage tells me the broad strokes of what''s wrong, but I get the sense that Diagnose will be able to help me learn how to tend to ailments that I haven''t seen before. If I can get that added to my Triage Aura then if there are a lot of people to help, I can direct helpers in how to stabilize people while I heal the worst that I can help."


    The guard smiled at her. "You have a good head on your shoulders, Miss. Infections can be treated with boiled saltwater and alchemical potions, but what you don''t know is always more trouble than what you don''t have. Just a thought from a graybeard caravan guard."


    Cerise nodded, then said, "But I don''t see any gray in your beard, Mister Guard."


    He laughed. Before he could explain, Mykhal said, "It means he''s been a guard for over ten years, not that he''s actually old. Just experienced."


    The guard shot a look to Mykhal. "I see someone likes to talk to caravaneers."


    "Yes, Mister," he said, managing to bite back the eager words brightening his gaze.


    "Jens! Over here!" The guard abruptly yelled.


    A pale faced man at the end of his last growth spurt trotted over, holding his arm close to his belly. "Yes, guard sergeant!" he said.


    Cerise instantly frowned when he entered her aura. "Dislocated wrist, a lot of swelling. I don''t know if I have the Might to pull it back into place, but I can reduce the swelling to make it easier, and then Heal it, but that will take most of my Pool."


    The guard sergeant nodded. "You do that, and I can pull enough for you to align the bones back in place. If it all works out, I''ll see if the caravan master will let you travel with us, meals provided. At least, I''ll send you off with four panniers of trail food. Agreed?"


    Cerise looked to her parents. They nodded. Her mother added, "We would, of course, be happy to pitch in where ever needed if we travel with you."


    "Okay," said Cerise said. She extended her hand toward Guard Jens. "May I use my Heal Wounds skill on you?"


    His eyes rounded, and he said, "Please!"


    Cerise concentrated and activated Heal Wounds. Her eyes shone with a pale blue sheen, and her skill directed her in where to move her fingers to most directly, and efficiently, apply her mana. The guard''s wrist shrunk back down to its normal proportions, save for the displaced bone. The guard sergeant took hold of Jens''s hand and called another guard over to brace Jens against his pull. Jens screamed, and Cerise reflexively activated Stabilize to help him with the pain shock even as her fingers moved to guide the dislocation back to its proper alignment.


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    "Release!" She ordered as soon as it was ready, and then she pushed more of her Mana Pool into healing the abused tendons and cartilage. When her skill released her, Cerise was drenched in sweat and swaying where she stood.


    [Heal Wounds] advances to Beginner-2.


    [Arcane Healer Novice] levels to 7.


    Mykhal caught her and guided her to sit down at the side of the road. Jens was laughing with relief while the guard sergeant examined his newly healed hand.


    The guard sergeant smiled at Cerise when he finished his examination. "I''ll go talk to the caravan master. When you''re ready, just start walking with Jens here." Turning to Jens, he said, "You stick with them until I get back."


    "Yes, Sergeant," Jens agreed, still beaming at his fixed hand.


    "Oh! And what are your names?" The guard sergeant asked "I''m Gohren."


    <hr>


    Gohren had been a guard sergeant for the Nykimopia Consortium for three years now, and had been a guardsman for them five years before that, with a bit more time as a guardsman for a smaller cooperative. He knew the value of a [Healer], even a Novice ranked one, and one with a Heal skill -- not just Treat, but Heal -- was several tiers greater. If he could get one to join them for the price of eight meals a day, he would pay that from his own pocket.


    Fortuna smiled on him, however, because the caravan master was also aware of that value.


    "Miss Sanyel! Good news!" he said on approaching the caravan master''s wagon.


    She nodded her chin at him in greeting. "Has to do with the quartet you walked by me just now, I would guess. What''s the Novice pair doing with the [Laborers]?"


    "Family, traveling to Velton''s new dungeon. They''ve been a month on the road already, survived the death of their village, but lost even their larder. If we feed them, they''ll travel with us. The girl''s got a Triage Aura skill, she called it, picks up on broad problems. She prevented Tamrin''s lead ox going lame by catching on to a stone in his shoe before the beast was limping. And she has a Heal skill. She fixed Jens''s wrist as if he never fell on it. They don''t know her worth and volunteered to lend a hand where needed for the travel spot with meals. It''s your caravan."


    Miss Sanyel laughed. "I''m no fool! Kit them out from spares. Use your best judgment. They walk; I won''t risk the cargo. If you can use the [Scout Novice], he can earn half pay. They may not know how valuable a [Healer] is now, but they will learn, and I would rather be on good terms with her then."


    That kind of thinking was what kept Gohren loyal.


    <hr>


    Cerise recovered enough to walk at the wagons'' pace within a few minutes, and they soon come back up to the trailing teams. Jens''s pallor receded quickly once he no longer had to contend with the pain of his injury, and he flirted with her in a cheerful way that earned him glares from both Mykhal and her father.


    Cerise didn''t care, but it made her laugh to see her father pouting.


    Her mother, with a roll of her eyes, stepped in and turned the conversation to the matters of the caravan. They learned it was a consortium caravan. They had not heard of the Nykimopia Consortium in the Kelm cyrlands, but Cerise''s family had known they were on the border with little but ore to trade. The Nykimopians dealt more in alchemical goods and spices.


    That immediately turned the conversation to Cerise''s mother''s favorite subject. "Do they sell to food halls then? Or just nobles? The spices, I mean," her mother asked.


    Jens grinned. "Food halls? Are those like restaurants, or taverns, or inns? Because yes to all of those, though most of the fancier spices go to the noble houses still."


    "I heard a food hall was a place where people came to buy hot meals or ones ready to be eaten later in the day," her mother said.


    "Ah!" Jens nodded in recognition. "You can do that at restaurants and taverns. Inns will often have a tavern attached, but they mostly sell to the people staying in their rooms. Restaurants are posher places, and have menus, and the food is cooked after the order is placed. Taverns mostly sell alcohols and food to go with it, so pot-lucks and carved roasts with breads. In the cities, there are also food stalls that sell street food, quick-cook foods, often mostly grease and char. Few food stall owners add aught but salt to their fare as they mostly sell to low level [Laborers], so not a lot of ready coin to be had."


    "Dreaming of other people''s cooking?" Gohren the guard sergeant asked as he approached them, wearing a broad smile on his face.


    Cerise''s belly rumbled, which made her blush and the sergeant laugh. He handed her a pouch. "I thought you''d be hungry. There''s enough for four to tide you all over to our stop tonight.


    "The caravan master, Miss Sanyel, says you can walk and camp with us, and share the guards'' cook pot. We didn''t budget for a [Healer], but if you''re willing to help out like you did for Tamrin''s ox we can cobble together a kit for you out of our spares."


    He turned to Mykhal. "If you''re willing, I can pair you with one of our [Scouts] for an evaluation. If that works out, I can hire you on as a temporary guard, kit and half pay."


    "I''m in!" Mykhal said, eyes gleaming.


    The sergeant chuckled, and turned to Cerise''s parents. "Miss Cerise''s help is more than enough reason for us to help you all, but if you want to work, we can always use help setting up camp and tearing it down. And, as Jens just reminded me, if you have a cooking skill above Practiced, we can use the improvement."


    Cerise''s mother smirked. "It''s Advanced, actually."


    Gohren and Jens both grinned with anticipation, as if glimpsing the heavens.


    <hr>


    There was still an hour of daylight when they stopped for the night. Gohren took them all to the Quartermaster for the caravan. Cerise''s mother left them to sort out the kits while she began her duties as a Cook''s Aide. Gohren was bluntly up-front about the fact they were being under paid, and the reason being that the caravan wasn''t budgeted to hire them, but that they were happy to pay what they could squeeze out from the budget they had to afford the very valuable skills Cerise and her mother brought with them.


    While her mother was cooking, Gohren took Mykhal to meet his evaluator, and Jens showed Cerise and her father where to set up the two pup tents they were assigned. Those went up quickly, and they helped set up the tents for guards that were currently on duty.


    They still had day light left, so Cerise dug into the kit they had been given. Pants, shirt, knife, needle, thread, water bag. Belt and pockets (with flaps), whet stone and a small oil bladder. Small slice of bar soap and a wash rag. A few more odds and ends, but the soap made Cerise smile. They had sweat and travel dirt on them, but less than the caravaneers. Her family had stopped at streams to wash themselves and their clothes, and used soap roots or flowers as they found them.


    Honestly, the main reason Cerise wanted Greater Cleanse was that it was an arcane cleaning skill, and she hated that itchy feel of dried sweat on her skin. If she could just magic dirt and grime away, that would make Cerise very happy.


    Thinking thusly made her wonder. She had a general skill slot. Why not take Greater Cleanse as a general skill? She would take Diagnose first and then try it, she decided, impulsively opening her profile and triggering the skill selection. Then she triggered her general skill slot selection.


    [Basic Cleaning] advances to [Greater Cleanse], Beginner-2.


    Her head hurt, but not as bad as when she took her first six class skills at once.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 7


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Moderate


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (7)


    Arcane Healing: B-0


    Heal Wounds: B-2


    Heal Toxins: B-0


    Heal Diseases: B-0


    Triage: B-3


    Stabilize: B-0


    Diagnose: B-0


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 1


    Acting: P-6 (I-9)


    Appraise: P-1


    Blades: B-9


    Cleanse, Greater *?: B-2


    Cooking: P-6 (I-3}


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-6 (8)


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-6 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-9


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-6 (P-7)


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-6 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-6 (A-8)


    Staves: B-0


    Stealth: P-0


    General Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing

 Chapter 8: and then he ate everything

    After the meal that evening, the guards sang her mother''s praises. Even some of the women asked her to marry them. Cerise''s mother laughed the proposals off and joked back that they really had her husband to thank for her cooking as he went out of his way to find her challenges to help her favorite skill to grow.


    Cerise smiled along with the laughter, but she was nursing a worse headache. She didn''t know if you couldn''t Heal the ache from learning new skills, or if it had more to do with using her Pools as deeply as she had. The Stamina cost hadn''t been bad, but her Mana Pool had emptied and then started into her Stamina.


    While she pondered her skills, an older woman as tall as her father walked over to the guards'' part of the camp. She had on travel robes, more of a long jacket over relaxed fitting trousers, tucked into calf-high boots. Her steps had that knocking sound of wooden soles, a sign of a [Cobblers] handiwork.


    Cerise had thought it strange to hear tell of people who made their living solely by making shoes, of all things. It didn''t take much to sew up a pair of soft leather legs, and barely any more frustration to sew up a double layer sole to attach, or replace worn soles.


    She had tried putting wooden slats between the leather of her sole soon after seeing a caravaneer in the village with his fancy boots, but she quickly took them out again. They made walking feel funny, all stiff and hard.


    Gohren called a happy greeting to the woman, and quickly introduced her to Cerise''s family and Mykhal. Caravan Master Sanyel had sharp eyes and a ready smile. The guards were respectful of her in a relaxed manner that spoke of good relationships. Her eyebrows rose when several of the guards thanked her for hiring on a gods-sent cook.


    Gohren cleared his throat at the inquiring look Miss Sanyel sent his way. "She''s Advanced in cooking and you said I had discretion, so I''m paying her from discretionary funds."


    Several of the older guards looked startled, and some smiled while others looked thoughtfully approving.


    Miss Sanyel looked somewhat skeptical, but before she said anything, Gohren continued, asking, "Have you eaten yet?"


    "No," Miss Sanyel said, drawing out the word.


    "Kip, a bowl for our master!" Gohren called.


    The guardswoman caught dishing herself up a second helping nodded and grabbed one of the spare bowls to fill up, too.


    The caravan master accepted the bowl with grace and spent a moment examining the food and inhaling its scent before she took out a spoon from her belt pouch and began eating. She ate slowly, considering each bite, and it seemed to be some kind of spectacle for the guards, who quieted as they watched, keeping any commentary to low murmurs that barely reached their neighbors.


    When she finished, Miss Sanyel said, "I''ll be joining you for meals it seems, and if you find the [Wagoneers] heading over, too, I would not be surprised. Do make them bring over rations for the pot. And keep receipts for your spending. The accountants will want that."


    "Yes, Miss Sanyel," Gohren said, grinning, even as his guards cheered.


    Sanyel turned to Cerise''s father. "So, we found a [Healer], a [Cooking Adept], and a [Scout] among your troop. Tell me, Rhene, are you a hidden master, too?"


    He shook his head and smiled bashfully. "Oh no! Someone has to be the ordinary one among us!"


    Cerise''s mother laughed. "The ''ordinary'' one who makes it all possible! Why, back when I told my scrape grace over here that I wanted to be the best cook in the land, do you know what he did?"


    Miss Sanyel arched an amused eyebrow and dipped her head to better hear the tale.


    "He goes off into the woods and gathers up every plant he can find for me to try cooking, and then he ate everything I cooked! Even tree roots! The smoke from baking with Apple or Maplewood adds a faint sweetness, especially to meat, but you either have to be that darling of mine or starving to eat wood!" Her mother laughed. "That''s just the man he is. You want something, and he''ll find a way to make it happen, and then he''ll hold you to the doing."


    Cerise''s father tried to hide how he puffed up with pride at her mother''s loving look. Tried, but failed. "Bergin, dear, I think the good caravan master was politely asking what I can contribute to the caravan."


    Miss Sanyel nodded in affable agreement.


    Her father said, "I have a [Carpenter] and a [Miner] class, and I can take up a third yet. My Expert skills have to do with rocks, but I am bordering Advanced with some of my carpentry skills, and Wood Sense feels like it''ll jump ranks with just a small push."


    That got an interested nod from Miss Sanyel, and she asked, "You found a synergy with [Miner] and [Carpenter]?"


    Her father shrugged. "Tunnels need to be braced somehow. It''s not a synergy so much as a situation where both skill sets are useful."


    "That''s sensible. If you have any skill to bend wood that won''t cost a day''s layover, we have some spare wheels in need of maintenance. It''s piecework, and usually handled by Novices when we stop at one of our houses, but I have coppers in my budget for that, and coin is coin."


    "That it is," Cerise''s father agreed. "I have no better tools to work with than my daughter''s knife, so I would have to see what you need to say if I can do aught for you."


    "We have tools for emergency repairs you can use. Check with the Quartermaster in the morning -- after breakfast."


    <hr>


    Cerise''s dreams were strange that night, and all jumbled up. She dreamed of using sticks to make woolly, hole-riddled cloth, and coloring fine paper to glue into books that she wrote in with pens filled with inks that became fluid when passed over flames. She dreamed of building shelving from beautifully planed boards and "screws", threaded nails that were twisted into wood instead of hammered.


    She dreamed of books as far as her eyes could see, and "screens" filled with words that changed at the tap of her fingers. Fragments of magical stories played out before her on yet more "screens", the characters speaking in their own voices as moving drawings or actors showed what the characters did or suffered done to them.


    When she awoke it took her a moment to shake off the fog of her dreams. Her head still felt tender, but not quite so much, and she thought to turn her Diagnose skill on herself.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Mana sore: souls can handle only so much mana at a time. When that amount is exceeded, the overflow into the body causes fine tremors in the muscles or circulatory systems, resulting in possibly unnoticed tremors, head pains, and minor swelling of the extremities. If mana continues to be pushed through a soul beyond soreness, Mana Sickness may result, bringing with it risk of cardiopulmonary failure: stroke or heart attack.


    Treatment: rest for 1 to 2 days, avoid mana use during rest.


    Extreme cases may require Soul Surgery.


    Cerise blinked, then went into her profile and turned off her Triage Aura.


    Some of the words that came to her from her Diagnose skill were vaguely familiar. She knew what they meant even if she could not recall hearing or reading them before.


    She fumbled out of her blankets and crawled out of the tent she shared with her mother. She saw the barest hint of light on the horizon, giving her just enough illumination to spot her mother giving the cauldron from the night before a quick clean before she started making the breakfast meal. She headed over and said, "Mama, I''m going to empty my bladder, then look for wash water. Want me back sooner?"


    "No, you''re fine," her mother said. "Find a guard to point you to the spore hole."


    Cerise nodded and rubbed her face. She did as her mother suggested and returned, passing the same guard.


    "Are we near water? I''d like to fill my water bag," she said.


    "Quartermaster has barrels with water gather runes. Around here they fill back up fast, so just fill from the spigot. Those barrels are strapped to the sides of the supplies wagon," the guard said.


    "Thanks!" Cerise waved, her eyes bright with the idea of magic items. Maybe she could practice sensing the mana near them?


    She had noticed that Mana Proprioception was focused on her own mana, which seemed to synergize with her Heal skills. However, she hadn''t felt any mana outside of herself with that skill. At the worst, she knew how to relist Mana Sensing. She wasn''t sure if she would have to lose Mana Proprioception, but she really liked the idea of finding magic in the world. Also, having two closely related, even overlapping, skills would either synergize and make them grow quicker or impede and slow experience gain for both.


    She gathered up the water bags from her and her mother''s tent, and then from the tent Mykhal and her father were sharing. Both men gave her half sleeping grunts. "Oh hush!" She said, "I''m filling the water bags!"


    Mykhal pulled the blanket back over his head, but her father started rousing.


    The Quartermaster frowned when he saw her head over. Keeping her voice lowered, she relayed what the guard told her, getting a nod and accepting wave. "Just odd to see a [Healer] at common chores," he said.


    Cerise shrugged. "Chores need doing. I''ve got two good legs, and two good hands, and two good eyes. That''s more than enough to put the work in, yeah?"


    That got a grin. "And a youth that likes to work! Will wonders never cease!"


    Cerise giggled as she started into filling up the water bags. "Oh, I don''t like it, but my parents taught me that what you put off grows. And it''s easier to enjoy things when you don''t have something dreadful waiting, so twice as much reason to put off fun and be done with chores sooner, you see?"


    "Your mother cooks and raises saints? Your father is a very lucky man!" The quartermaster said.


    "You know, he tells everyone the very same thing. He says that''s why he works as hard as he does for us. Only fools bask in Fortuna''s grace, and all."


    They chatted amiably while the Quartermaster filled boxes with foodstuffs. Cerise worked in her question about how the runes on the barrels worked.


    "Ah, I''m no [Rune Smith] to tell you the details. What I do know is that they pull moisture from the air, the kind that makes for muggy days. It helps keep molds from growing in our foodstuffs, and when it rains, I have to open the pour spouts to keep the lids from floating off."


    "Would you mind if I spent some time looking at them? I have a low rank Mana Sensing skill and only got that from the holy place where I got my class," Cerise asked.


    The Quartermaster''s eyebrows shot up and with a grave face, he said, "Don''t go bandying that skill about, young Miss! Slavers pay good money for Mana Sensors in the Novice ranks, and you never know who will take their coin! But if you''re going to look, now is probably the best time. The emptier the barrels the harder the runes work."


    Cerise nodded, white faced at the warning rebuke. It took her a bit longer than normal to slip into the hunters trance, but she quickly got the notice she had hoped for.


    [Mana Sensing] relisted at Beginner-6.


    She kept up her concentration until she felt the push of mana ease. She also noticed that her head felt a little less sore.


    Her mother came over while she was staring at the barrels, their own cook pot in hand. She filled it from the barrels, and asked Cerise to help her bring the food for the morning meal back to the cook site.


    Cerise nodded, grabbing the water bags and the cook pot from her mother, and ducked her head in a respectful way to the Quartermaster.


    He nodded back to her, and smiled. "I put my portion in your box, Miss Bergin, and I hear your husband may be able to help me with some of my wheels that need a look over and repair. I''ll see you at the breakfast."


    "We''ll be happy to have you," her mother said before leading the way back to the guards'' cook site.


    When they were farther away, enough that the Quartermaster would not hear, her mother asked, "What made him so serious at you?"


    Cerise wet her lips. She picked her words with care, cognizant of the potential for being overheard. "He''s a good man, I think, and I said something about my skills he thought was my saying too much. When we''re sure we''re private, we can talk more."


    "How many about?" Her mother asked, far quieter still.


    Also soft voice, Cerise said, "I had to turn off my Aura. I used too much too fast, and I need to rest without spending from my pools. I''ll check again at the first stop."


    "Make sure the Sergeant knows. He needs to plan around things like that."


    "Yes, Mama," Cerise said.


    Back at the cook site, she sat down their water-filled cook pot and handed her mother one of the water bags. "I''m going to wipe down and change into the kit clothes. Should I pack up? Or will you want to chance to do the same?"


    "Pack up. I wiped down when I rose."


    After leaving the water bags for Mykhal and her father, she went back into the tent she had shared with her mother. She was cautious about using too much soap without a stream to rinse off nearby, and it proved to be pretty potent stuff. She changed quickly, and used a bit more soap and water to wash her panties. She looked at the remains of soap on the garments and decided to risk using her new Greater Cleanse skill. The water already in the damp cloth slowly beaded up, carrying soapsuds and fine dirt with it. She listened to her intuition of the skill and poured on more water, at which point the cleansing happened much faster. The water deposited itself in a clear spot of grass near the back of the tent, and Cerise''s head hurt a little more, but she had softly clean panties. That were dry, too!


    She smiled while she dressed. It didn''t feel like that took her too much mana at all. She shook out the blankets before folding them and packed her new things into her rat skin pack. The kit pack was little more than canvas and rope, but it was more than her mother had had to carry things with before.


    With everything packed up, it was the work of mere minutes to tear down her tent. She didn''t know if all the tents needed to go back to the supply wagon together, so she left it at her tent site and brought their packs over to her mother. Without needing to be told, she took her knife out and started slicing up onions.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 7


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Moderate


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (7)


    Arcane Healing: B-0


    Heal Wounds: B-2


    Heal Toxins: B-0


    Heal Diseases: B-0


    Triage: B-3


    Stabilize: B-0


    Diagnose: B-0


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 1


    Acting: P-6 (I-9)


    Appraise: P-1


    Blades: B-9


    Cleanse, Greater *?: B-2


    Cooking: P-6 (I-3}


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-6 (8)


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-6 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-9


    Mana Sensing *: B-6


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-6 (P-7)


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-6 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-6 (A-8)


    Staves: B-0


    Stealth: P-0


    General Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing

 Chapter 9: are you the negotiator

    Traveling with the caravan fell into a routine easily enough. Guard Sergeant Gohren thanked Cerise for sharing her limits. Then he watched her family all work on their Staves skill, and he added them to his training roster.


    "If you''re going to train, you''re going to do it right, and that means making sure my guards know what you can and cannot handle. Besides, the more I can pay you in knowledge, the less of an ox''s back-end I feel that we cannot pay you in good coin," Gohren said, and so her father had accepted.


    Mykhal was accepted as a temporary guard, and his training was a little different. The [Scout] who had been tasked with his evaluation, Elar, was given rein to train Mykhal. Gohren said it was in part for Elar''s benefit, as the [Scout] was hoping to promote to sergeant himself but needed a teaching skill up to Practiced before his application would be considered.


    Elar had Mykhal running laps around the caravan before breakfast and dinner, "to work his pools", and he had sword practice while Cerise and her parents drilled with staves. During the day, Elar had Mykhal drilling his archery, and by week''s end, her best friend began killing rabbits and ground fowl to add to the guards'' cook pot.


    When they overnighted in towns, Mykhal always had night watch. He would get some coppers for his half pay, which he turned over to Cerise''s mother to add to the coppers her father made for his odd jobs about the caravan.


    During the conversations over meals, more of their story came out, but they had all agreed not to say that the men they had spotted cutting their neighbors'' throats had been yet other neighbors, and no one pressed them for more details, especially when it came out that Mykhal was orphaned now, and was Cerise''s best friend, not her brother.


    At first, a few of the younger guardsmen flirted with Cerise. She was polite, but she did not try to hide her disinterest. A couple grumbled about her being a cold fish. When one of the more disgruntled said it at the dinner meal, Mykhal asked, "How old do you think we are?"


    "She''s hardly a bare Novice. She''s got to be sixteen at least, probably closer to twenty," the grumbler said.


    "Thirteen. She will be four and ten this harvest," Cerise''s mother said.


    "Oh," the grumbler said, seeing the cook responsible for their recent upgrade in food quality angry at him. Then his eyes rounded as her meaning caught up to him. "Oh! Oh, I''m sorry, little sister!" He turned a bit green at his mistake.


    The churches took a dim view of pedophilia, which for humans meant one person being under fifteen. Some people barely tolerated that, holding that the true age of adults, the Age of Responsibility, should be twenty for humans. Beastmen, or Xylines they were called properly, were held to a similar standard, while draycons were supposed to still be youths at thirty. Elves and gnomes, Cerise had heard, took longer still.


    Cerise was as polite in accepting his contrition as she had been with his flirting. It wasn''t that she didn''t understand what happened. She didn''t care. As she saw it, he had not flirted because he liked her. It was a game to him, and when he failed, he had proven himself a sore loser. His contrition was not for how he treated her; it was over his mistake in thinking she was old enough to play his flirting games with.


    There had been enough [Miners] in Trall like that for Cerise to learn there was no good for those weak enough to be pushed around in calling out such poor minded people. Let word get around, and the respectable, stronger people would take care of things.


    In Trall, that had been people like her father. In the caravan, it was the guard sergeant and the caravan master.


    Gohren said, "Miss Cerise, my apologies. I, too, thought you were of age. Had I thought otherwise, none of my guards would have bothered you that way. Mykhal, you''re under age, too?"


    He said, "I''ll be fourteen at mid-summer, sergeant, and I''m a classed orphan. My word to a contract binds me."


    Gohren nodded. "That it does."


    <hr>


    Just as Elar worked Mykhal to "grow his pools" by constantly draining and refilling his stamina, so too did Cerise work her own pools.


    She was more conservative with her mana, in part because she needed it to Heal and more because mana soreness really sucked. She took to running laps with Mykhal, and then using her Greater Cleanse to take the sweat off them.


    When her mother discovered the cleaning magic her daughter now possessed, Cerise became her chief dishwasher.


    That left Cerise only the time during the two caravan breaks during the day to pester the [Wagoneers] for tips on how to gain Animal Handling skills. It took her a week of enthusiastic helping to unlock the general skill and another of learning the individual beasts to actually learn the skill itself.


    Once Cerise had recovered from her first bout of mana soreness, she put her Triage Aura back up and walked up and down the length of the caravan. She also used that time to continue her foraging, this time focused on healing plants and grasses that she could weave into cordage as she walked.


    Triage and Diagnose did synergize, and when one of the oxen started to develop colic, she knew when she could treat them with some Calm Root and when they needed her to Heal Toxins or Heal Diseases, and by the distinction just how long it had been since they ate whatever disagreed with them.


    There were the occasional showings of monsters. Most were smaller, and obviously monsterized natural beasts, dire beasts. A dire cat stalked them for a few days before the guards managed to trap it. Cerise''s mother made the monster meat palatable, and everyone who ate the meals prepared with dire cat flesh gained a bit toward their next levels. It wasn''t actual experience, but it was a small thing that made skill gains, especially with physical skills, easier.


    Cerise''s mother tanned the hide for more coppers, and the guards all got a bonus of a full silver for the pelt, bones, and the mana cryst.


    After that experience, Mykhal wrangled permission from Elar to switch to quick hunts in place of his evening run. As often as he came back empty-handed, he also returned with dire foxes, almiraj, and once a tusked deer.


    All the beasts he brought back had mana crysts, though small ones, and while the meat was a welcome addition, it was nowhere near as beneficial as the dire cat''s had been. They still added coppers, and a silver for the tusked deer, to their family''s coin purse.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    In the towns where they overnighted, they slowly began to acquire the tools and other goods they would need for their new life.


    When Cerise''s Animal Handling reached Beginner-4, Tamrin, the [Wagoneer] she helped that first day, returned her help by going with her to offer his advice on selecting a draft beast for their own.


    "Oxen are favored by caravaneers because they have Good to High Might and quick Stamina recovery. They can sprint for short distances with rest afterward, and their Health Pools are between Moderate and Good. Horses have Moderate Might for the most part, but also Moderate Endurance, which lets them run for longer, but they also need more rest. For both, a wise caravaneers carries grains to supplement their grazing, between one and two fists worth per day.


    "Now, if there are mules to be had, they''re more like to go monster, being naturally sterile as they are, and depending on their temper that can be good or bad.


    "Horses are stupid, and if one turns dire, they''re still easy enough for someone at Practiced Handling to control. Mules, though, are not long eared horses. They''re smarter and they remember. If you''re ham-handed with a mule, they''ll hate you even after you learn better, and if you''re at all timid with them, they''ll have no respect for you.


    "But! Treat a mule right, pay attention to their instincts, and don''t let them bully you, and you will find far fewer better guard cattle than a mule. Maybe, maybe, a caracasas, but those birds do better more to the south, and they''re really only good mounts for a gnome."


    Cerise drank in Tamrin''s lecture all the way to the town stockyards. She still wasn''t comfortable with the big settlements with so many streets and buildings, and the press of people. There had to be at least five villages worth of people in the smallest of the towns they passed through!


    The wide-eyed looks she and Mykhal gave the first few towns the caravan stopped at had brought friendly teasing from the caravaneers. Some had fondly reminisced about their own first experiences with seeing a settlement where you could not learn everyone''s name, and others warned about how much bigger the cities were.


    Most towns were built around the ruling noble''s estate and were named after that noble''s House. Depending on how old the noble''s House was, or how long they had held the land, the towns gained either a prefix of Va'' or Sa'', or a suffix of -holm or -seat, and if a branch House held distinct lands, the newer acquisition would be the new title-seat.


    They were currently in Alsthir Cyrseat, of the Daarong Hirselland. They had passed through an Alsthirholm a few weeks back. The Cyrseat sat close enough to the river Orm to have docks, which give it more trade options and reason to be bigger than the -holm.


    Which meant Tamrin had time to explain the vices of donkeys and draft goats, and to praise the utility of mountain camels, despite their disgusting habit of spitting.


    At the stockyards, Cerise saw a centaur for the first time. A small group of them were doing chores while another spoke to a neatly dressed man with a fine over robe, like Miss Sanyel wore.


    "Ah! What luck! Looks like we have some members of the Long Horn tribe in town! We''ll talk to them first as their [Herd Masters] are all at least Adepts, and have been managing their bloodlines for Elven generations. Even their culls are good stock, and they''ll barter a bit of service for a discount, especially to someone that will take care of the beasties."


    They waited long enough for the fancy dressed man to depart, then hailed the centaur''s spokesman.


    "Pardon, please, are you the negotiator for your squad?" Tamrin asked.


    The centaur, male to go by his voice and flat chest, turned to them. He wore a robe that ended at his knees, laying along his equine back until it split for his tail. That back was closer in height to a pony''s, maybe twelve hands tall, and the man half of him would have been appropriate for a human between sixteen and eighteen hands in height. That still put him two heads taller than Cerise, and a head taller than Tamrin.


    "I am," the centaur said. "To whom have I the pleasure of speaking?"


    "I''m Tamrin, a [Wagoneer], here to give the young Miss [Healer] Cerise some advice on the selection of her first draft beast. She''s traveling with our caravan, for the Nykimopia Consortium, but the beast will be for her family''s use."


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, then. I am Fa''Lin Swifthoof. Do you need your beast to pull or carry its load, and what is the skill rank of the one who will care for it?"


    Cameron nodded to Cerise, and she said, "Carry for now. We might get a cart later, but none of us have a Driving skill, and my Animal Handling is halfway through Beginner. But, the caravan master said it will be another month before our paths go different ways, and I''m hoping to gain more divisions from what the [Wagoneers] have been teaching me."


    She grinned as she added, "I''m hoping my initiate class will be a [Beast Healer] or at least a [Tamer] type!"


    Fa''Lin''s expression did not change, staying politely affable, but he seemed to be considering somewhat. "Will you allow me to test your skills as I show you our available stock?"


    Cerise nodded. "Okay."


    Fa''Lin led her to where the other centaurs were, and pointed out the horses and oxen. "Co''Rant, Emma, we have a buyer to test!" He called out. The whole group looked their way, and two waved then began separating out some of their cattle.


    "For the first test, point out the best of these beasts." Fa''Lin challenged. He added to Tamrin, "No helping, please."


    "Well, best for what?" Cerise asked. "And, may I get closer?"


    "Best for you, and yes," Fa''Lin answered.


    Cerise moved with calm deliberation into the corral. She avoided facing any of the cattle directly as she approached, trusting to her side-eyed glances to keep track of the beasts.


    When they were in range of her Triage Aura, she paused. One of them needed a deworming tonic. Another had bruises on his flanks like he kept getting nipped. Another had a bad tooth that was bordering between diseased and wounded.


    It was an effort to keep her lips closed, but if she gave her service before negotiating a price she might not be able to pay the asking price for the sturdy mare that she took an instant liking to.


    She sidled closer to the mare, still taking an oblique approach, and stopped when the mare tossed her head. Cerise ostensibly looked around, as if she were a part of the herd and reacting to the mare''s unease.


    The mare took a few steps closer to Cerise, and Cerise sidestepped in place, edging just a little closer. When the mare was close enough to sniff her, she made a show of sniffing the mare back.


    With small, calm movements, she soon had an arm over the mare''s shoulders and had her moving toward Fa''Lin and Tamron.


    "Beginner rank Animal Handling?" Fa''Lin asked, looking skeptical.


    Cerise shrugged. "It is a broad skill, and I haven''t had a lot of practice with it yet."


    "And why did you pick the mare?" He asked.


    "She has good conformation, she''s alert, and the other cattle were happy to be near her. Unlike a few of them, she doesn''t have any nipping bruises, either. Those bruises show you have a biter in the herd. That the ones bitten act like they''re safe around her shows she is not the one who does the biting, and that she doesn''t have those bruises shows that she will not be bullied. She''s also one of the calmer ones, and listened well when the herds were being separated."


    [Animal Handling] advances to Beginner-5.


    Fa''Lin narrowed his gaze. "What is it?"


    "I just got another division in my Animal Handling skill," Cerise said with a smile.


    She paid out a silver coin for the mare and common grade pack tack, along with her services triaging and treating their herd.


    The mare she named Daisy.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 7


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Moderate


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (7)


    Arcane Healing: B-6


    Heal Wounds: B-3


    Heal Toxins: B-2


    Heal Diseases: B-1


    Triage: B-8


    Stabilize: B-2


    Diagnose: B-4


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 1


    Acting: P-6 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: B-5


    Appraise: P-1


    Blades: B-9


    Cleanse, Greater *?: B-3


    Cooking: P-6 (I-3)


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-6 (8)


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-6 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-9


    Mana Sensing *: B-6


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-6 (P-7)


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-6 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-6 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    General Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing

 Chapter 10: clod-stomping Thunder Hoof

    The mare looked around with more confident interest than Cerise felt as they rejoined the caravan. Miss Sanyel stopped by to inspect Cerise''s pick and pronounced Daisy a "good beast, good stock," and listened with interest as Cerise chattered about meeting the centaurs and showing them how she could manage all the tack and the care of the mare herself.


    Her mother had gone out with the Quartermaster to resupply their fresh vegetables and get an introduction to the feed sellers. She had not purchased grains for the draft beast they hoped Cerise would buy as much because they hadn''t known what kind of beast Cerise would find as not knowing how much the beast would cost.


    Ten small coppers made one large copper, and ten large coppers made up a grand copper. The smalls were just called coppers, with large and grand used for the other denominations. A silver was a silver leaf, the equal of 10 grands. Five silver made a branch (also a kind of silver coin), and five branches were the equal of a golden tree, usually just called a gold. Traveling with the caravan, Cerise heard of coins beyond that, but her mind simply boggled at the value.


    The coins were found in dungeons, and the ones used for currency had rune marks showing the dungeon they came from. Once the coin was tampered with, the rune broke. It could still be sold for the metal, but the [Assayer] would take a cut for valuing the material, and the metal had to be smelted into refined ore to be useful for any crafter that wanted to make gear a person could use their active skills with.


    Miss Sanyel said they expected to lose the runes on one in every thousand coins just from traveling, and that had prompted her mother to wrap the coins they gained individually, just to be safe. For the caravan, it wasn''t worth the bother for the copper denominations, but they did keep silvers and branches in a special chest.


    Cerise handed the coins she had not had to spend to her mother and relayed Tamrin''s and the centaur''s recommendations for the mare''s travel kit needs.


    Her father had already made combs and brush bodies for the caravan to replace gear that got damaged along the way. Some of the plants Cerise gathered were good bristle material for very stiff brushes, the kind not to be used against short fur or skin. The [Wagoneers] told Cerise that ox ear hairs could be trimmed for a good face cleaning brush, but it took the trim from about twenty oxen to make a palm sized round brush. Horsehair, Tamrin told her on the way back, made decent bristles for a horse brush. Use the trim from neatening up Daisy''s mane for her face brush and from her tail for her body brush, he suggested. A good soft gauze or felted glove would help shine her coat, too, he promised.


    They would need glue and a glue pot to secure the bristles, but her father needed that anyway for his carpentry kit.


    The wooden hoof picks he made her wore out quickly and he was already planning to find a [Smith] about some of the metal parts he needed for the tools he wanted for himself. Cerise would use the hoof pick in her patrol of the oxen, anyhow, so it made sense for him to just get that seen to.


    In all honesty, Cerise worried that getting a draft beast now was an extravagance, but her parents agreed that they none of them could work and carry the things they needed to acquire at the same time. The weight was less of a problem than the bulk.


    Mykhal almost danced in glee when he got to see Daisy. He happily sliced up the apple he had gotten for a snack to share with the mare, and that was about all that Daisy needed to think quite highly of him.


    "Did she come with a name?" He asked.


    "No, and I''m calling her Daisy," Cerise said.


    "What? No! She''s a Thunder Hoof for sure! Maybe a Wind Chaser!" he squawked in protest.


    "She''s a Daisy, beautiful and hardy," Cerise countered. "She is not some clod-stomping Thunder Hoof, and if she chooses to run, she won''t be chasing the wind!"


    They bickered good-naturedly, but in the end Mykhal was more interested in teasing Cerise than in getting his way, and they both knew it. Her mother returned, carrying a cloth bundle and hauling a pannier of grain over both shoulders. They looked to be of a common size, cylindrical baskets one arm tall and two hands wide.


    "I got two types of cloth, some thread, and a better needle, along with an awl and wax for the thread. Setting up proper pack pads will be good practice for your needlework, and if Mykhal can shoot us a few more rabbits, I can cure them as hides this time, and we can use them for extra cushioning."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Mykhal laughed, his chest pushing up. "Aye, Mama!" He said, making Cerise''s mother smile broadly.


    "Scamp!" She called them.


    <hr>


    They were a week on the road to the next town, and Cerise managed to complete a new pack blanket for Daisy. Her mother had some divisions in the Beginner rank of Animal Handling, too, and took over leading their mare while Cerise made her rounds. Her father finished up the grooming brushes before they departed Alsthir Cyrseat, and had enough left over from Daisy''s trimmings to make two more brush sets, as well as some brushes for his own use.


    Even as he whittled out useful things from the wood he found along the roadside, he kept a weather eye out for good forage, and often enough brought back interesting additions for the guards'' cook pot.


    Mykhal took the hunting challenge her mother had set him to heart, and they had at least one rabbit to add to the pot each night. He also found an entire pack of dire foxes during one of his evening hunts, though "only" two of the six he culled had crysts.


    And he found spawn eggs. Elar prevented him from saying where.


    Cerise''s Triage Aura announced his find first, informing her that they needed to be warmed immediately to stay viable.


    "Are monster eggs better for eating or hatching?" She asked, cutting off Mykhal as he sputtered at his superior. Her serious tone captured their attention.


    Gohren said, "Viable, but not hatched is best. [Tamers] buy the eggs because they have skills to bind them right away. Hatched is next best. The [Tamers] pay less, and at worst we can harvest reagents from juveniles."


    "Then they need to be warmed now, before the dire fox kits die in the egg. And, what''s an alarune?"


    Mykhal hurried over to the cook fire, fumbling his string of dead dire foxes. Her father picked them up and brought them over to what had become the customary place for processing the carcasses of his kills.


    Cerise stopped Mykhal from just setting them next to the fire pit. "Wash up and get my blanket for my tent. Wait!" She used Greater Cleanse, not trusting her excited friend to wash properly in his haste.


    While he was off on his errand, she used Stabilize on all the eggs and moved them back a bow''s length from the stones ringing the fire. She sat on the ground and examined them.


    There were four eggs in total, all about the size of an infant''s head. Each had different patterns, but colors were harder to make out in the fading light. Three of the eggs belonged to dire fox kits, and with her casting of Stabilize, and the relocation to a warmer spot, they seemed to be doing better now. The alarune egg, however, seem to need something more.


    Cerise used her diagnose skill.


    Nutrient Deficient: monstrous plants require mana enriched soil to properly grow. If they are unable to acquire mana from their soil, they will seek ways to acquire mana more directly, usually by seeking the readily available mana found in blood.


    Treatment: plant in mana rich soil. If not available, enrich soil with blood. Start with blood from non-monstrous beasts to avoid inducing monstrous frenzy. Gradually increase potency until nutritional needs are met.


    That disturbed Cerise, a lot.


    Gohren squatted beside her. "Is that the alarune?"


    She nodded.


    "Something wrong with it?" He asked.


    She licked her lips. "Yeah. It''s in need of mana rich soil, and the treatment part of my skill suggests a ... disturbing way to enrich soil."


    "Well, if you can keep it viable for another day, we will be at one of the towns with a Free Lancers Guild outpost. They will happily buy up the eggs, and it won''t be your problem. And don''t worry about the disturbing solution your skill is telling you about. I''m guessing it''s to add blood to the soil?"


    Cerise nodded.


    Gohren grimaced quickly before resuming his neutral expression. "That''s an emergency measure. Alchemists learn better ways while in their Novice rank. After all, at least half their ingredients need the same thing."


    Cerise relaxed. "Maybe I should learn some Alchemy."


    Mykhal returned, thrusting the blanket at Cerise. She arranged the eggs in her lap before laying the blanket over top of them.


    "How are they?" He asked.


    "Stable. I''ll keep them with me tomorrow and make sure they stay that way, if you don''t mind. They are your gather, after all," Cerise said.


    "No, that''s fine! Sergeant, how much do you think they''ll sell for?"


    Gohren chuckled. "I don''t know, but I doubt you''ll see less than two grand per egg. If the alarune can be hatched, it''s worth silver, I''d guess. Maybe even a branch. Miss Sanyel will have a better idea."


    "I''ll have a better idea of what?" The caravan master asked.


    She was brought up to speed on Mykhal''s find and then shown the eggs themselves. She took a moment to consider the bounty before speaking. "If you will consent to let me take a broker''s fee on the caravan''s behalf, I think I can get you at least a golden tree for all four eggs, if Miss Cerise can keep the alarune viable. And if your skills can tell you how to hatch it, that will only increase the value. Now, Mykhal, have you told anyone yet where you found the eggs?"


    "No, Miss Sanyel, but it was--"


    "Stop! Don''t tell anyone! Draw a map if you need the memory aid, but there are rewards for finding spawn points. We''ll reach Hosthelholm tomorrow afternoon. Will you let me act as your broker?"


    "Yes, Miss!" Mykhal said, grinning.


    She smacked his shoulder. "Stupid boy! You ask what my fee is first!"


    He laughed, but asked, "Well, what is your fee?"


    "One-tenth the sale price for the eggs and the spawn point location."


    "I would be most honored--"


    She smacked Mykhal''s shoulder again. "Stupid boy! Negotiate!"

 Chapter 11: A single manly tear

    Cerise slept with the eggs tucked up in her body heat and made a nursing sling from the canvas bag Gohren gave her for her kit. She padded them with her rough pants, and moved carefully while she made her rounds.


    Using her Stabilize skill on the eggs when her Triage Aura warned her they were fading seem to be just what they needed. She used her Mana Sensing to see if her hunch was right, and the eggs were soaking in the traces of mana her skill imparted.


    There were more than a few of the oxen, not to mention Daisy, that waffled at the eggs any time she was near. Tamrin''s ox was not one of them, so she paused longer with him.


    "Eh. They may be near turning dire, they may be, if they''re interested in the mana of your eggs. Not a bad thing, that, but you''ll need to hustle up your skill growth if your mare''s close," he opined.


    <hr>


    Cerise felt relief to see the town walls come into view. Mykhal found her just a few minutes later. "Miss Sanyel wants us to go ahead with her!" He said. "How are the eggs?"


    "Fine. Let''s go," Cerise said, giving Mykhal a strained smile. The odd attention from the beasts was unnerving. Her strain made him fuss at her, which she waved off, hurrying to meet up with the caravan master.


    Miss Sanyel proved to have something like the Quick Step skill. They made short work of entering the town, and Miss Sanyel didn''t even need to ask where the Free Lancers Compound was.


    A bustling building fronted a walled off yard, with a few rooftops visible beyond. Miss Sanyel commented as they approached, "The red door at all the Free Lancers Compounds are for the people who are not members of their Company, Guild, or Consortium. If you''re not a member, the other doors don''t matter."


    She entered through the red door, also the closest door to the street, sending Mykhal in first, Cerise next, and herself last, but inside she took the lead again. There were two clerks behind a counter style bar. One set under a sign reading "Requests" and the other under a sign for "Appraisals". Miss Sanyel led them to the bored looking appraiser.


    "We request a confidential appraisal," Miss Sanyel stated.


    The appraiser gave her a pained smile. "I''m sure it''s not--."


    Miss Sanyel cut him off, repeating herself with the disapproving authority she had learned to convey by tone alone as a caravan master dripping from every word. "We request a confidential appraisal."


    The appraiser pursed his lips, and Cerise felt his mana wash over them. The pursed lips disappeared. He pulled a placard from behind the counter, set it at his position, and said, "Please follow me, Misses, Mister."


    He led the way to the side door, then down a hallway and into a small, fully enclosed room. The room had cabinets along the back wall and a table in the center. Light came from runes on the ceiling.


    Miss Sanyel cleared her throat when the appraiser closed the door, and glanced meaningfully at the plate of metal by the door.


    Based on his initial attitude, Cerise rather expected the man to roll his eyes, but instead he seemed intrigued, and slid the plate over the door gap, making contact with a similar plate held fixed in place on the door. The room became encased in mana, cutting off Cerise''s Mana Sensing at the walls, as well as the sounds from the corridor.


    "For your information, activating the Privacy Rune Ward does alert the officers, and there will be an escort waiting for the door to open," the appraiser said.


    "Good," Miss Sanyel replied. "Miss Cerise, please show the Mister what Mister Mykhal found."


    Cerise nodded, and carefully set down her improvised egg sling on the table. She rearranged the folds of fabric to display the eggs. In the better light, the dire fox kit eggs were a mottled brown, tinted red. The alarune egg was more speckled browns over pale green.


    The appraiser looked eager for a moment, eyes brightening, then a touch sad, and then his mana washed by Cerise again, and he grinned with delight. "They''re all still alive! And in good condition, too!" He looked up sharply, asking Miss Sanyel, "Do you know where they came from, or how to hatch them?"


    Miss Sanyel tapped Mykhal''s shoulder. "Yes to the first. Cerise?"


    She was watching the eggs suck in the ambient mana, and said, "I have an idea, but I can tell you how to keep them alive."


    "Oh, we have stasis runes for that," the appraiser said. "In fact, let me just get them--," he started to say.


    "What''s your offer first? We don''t need your runes if we can''t agree on a price."


    "Well, the contract price --" he began.


    Miss Sanyel arched her brow.


    He faltered as he finished, "-- is a silver leaf an egg."


    "We are not Free Lancers. We have signed no contracts, and we can hatch these ourselves. My consortium does not supply [Tamers], but we do supply [Alchemists], and we can make more profit from their parts than that. So, what is your real offer?"


    "We don''t need you to tell us where the spawn point is," he said.


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    "Am-Nahar''s Temple offers a reward for showing their champions where to find spawn points. We don''t need your reward, either, or the confidentiality contract that comes with it." Miss Sanyel managed to say that with a pleasant neutrality.


    "Let me get an officer," the appraiser said, waiting for Miss Sanyel''s, "Please do," before he broke the contact between the plates and opened the door.


    As he''d warned, an armed and armored woman waited outside.


    "I need the Purser," the appraiser said, smiling. Then his smile turned pained. "And Master Cafriel."


    The woman widened her eyes a bit before she nodded and departed.


    Within minutes a lanky man with slightly pointed ears and brightly curious brown eyes showed up. He wore a fancy robe that seemed heavier, by the drape of the stiff fabric, than anything Cerise had seen before. Another man, also wearing a fancy, but significantly lighter, robe hurried after him.


    The second man was heavyset with a bit of a paunch. "Hello!" He greeted Miss Sanyel before looking to the appraiser. "Phan, what seems to be the problem?"


    "The clients have asked for confidentiality," the appraiser, Phan apparently, said by way of a non-answer.


    The lankier man had already looked in the doorway. His eyes fixated on the alarune egg. In a surprisingly deep voice, he said, "Let''s go in."


    The room felt quite crowded once all six people were inside and the Privacy Rune Ward was re-invoked.


    Introductions were made, and the lanky man turned out to be the Guild Master for this compound, an [Alchemist] and [Scout] type. The heavyset fellow was the Compound''s Purser, a Mister Tymens.


    Guild Master Cafriel gently lifted the alarune egg and studied it throughout the negotiations, haggling really, ongoing between Miss Sanyel and Purser Tymens. At an appropriate point, he interjected, "Do you know how to hatch this egg?"


    Miss Sanyel looked at Cerise. "I won''t make any promises, but I can tell you what my Diagnose skill tells me the eggs need," Cerise said.


    Cafriel''s eyebrows shot up. "Diagnose? Have you considered joining a team with our guild?"


    "Hey!" Miss Sanyel squawked. "Have the grace to recruit my employees behind my back!"


    That broke some of the tension Cerise was feeling, and the haggling continued on.


    They settled on a price of one branch for each dire fox kit egg and two branches for the alarune, with a bonus of a silver leaf if Cerise''s information helped the eggs hatch. The Free Lancers paid another two silver leaves for their silence about the spawn point location, and Mykhal''s map to locate it, once the location was verified.


    Only after the contract was signed did Miss Sanyel allow Cerise and Mykhal to turn over their knowledge.


    Cafriel left and returned with a large planting pot filled with mana-bright soil. Cerise stopped him before he could get the pot near the egg. "That''s too rich! It''ll poison the egg!"


    He set the pot on the ground, looking with interest at Cerise. "Really?" He asked.


    "Really!" She snapped. "You can''t just go throwing mana around and hope it makes everything better! Bodies can only handle so much at a time! What do you think mana sickness is?"


    Cafriel''s expression slackened as if he just got smacked in the face with an epiphany. After a moment with his gaze unfocused, he snapped back to the present and ran out of the room. He returned even quicker this time with a pot of regular soil and an empty pot.


    "Guide me in the mixing," he ordered, and Cerise did. Then he made everyone but Cerise leave the room, asking her to remain hovering in the doorway as he planted the alarune''s egg.


    Even through the clay pots, Cerise could feel the egg sucking in the mana in the soil, until it reached an equilibrium point a few minutes later.


    Cafriel was frowning, somewhat concerned, Cerise thought. "Okay. Now start sprinkling the mana soaked soil over top. Sprinkle! Don''t dump it!"


    Cafriel glanced sharply at her, but some of that concerned tension turned into concentration as he followed her instructions. She guided him in when to add more and when to pause for the egg to catch up.


    After ten minutes or so of the careful additions, she heard a *CRACK* from the pot and the bit of life her Triage Aura reported on changed names in her Appraise skill from alarune egg to alarune sprout.


    Cafriel''s face went pale on hearing the crack, his expression all horrified dismay. And then he sagged in relief, before flushing with joy. "Yes!" He yelled, jumping and punching the air. "YES!" He cackled with delight as he peered into the pot, his entire body vibrating with manic glee.


    And he then stilled. His body slackened and his face filled with reverent wonder. A single manly tear trickled down the side of his face, ran down the line of his jaw, and dropped gently from his chin into the pot. "Thassia. What a beauty you are," he whispered.


    Watching the scene play out before her, Cerise could only feel her own desire to become a [Tamer] increase.


    <hr>


    They met back up with the caravan, and handed over the two silver leaves and eight grand coppers that was Miss Sanyel''s broker fee. As great a windfall as the sale of the eggs were, they were concerned about the envy it would draw. It cost them five silvers and a few grands to buy a cart and complete equipping themselves with the tools and goods they would need to start a new life.


    The rest they decided to share equally with the caravaneers. When some of them tried to refuse, Cerise and her family insisted, saying different versions of the same thing.


    "Everyone among you helped us when we had nothing but our legs, our hands, and our heads. Consider this our way of making it easier to help out the next time you find someone like we were before you helped us."


    If anyone grumbled that they hadn''t shared more, Cerise never heard it.


    <hr>


    When Cerise checked her profile that evening, she discovered to her surprise that she had leveled, and her Focus had improved to Good, along with her Mana and Stamina Pools reaching Moderate ratings.


    For her eighth level skill slot, she had new options, but only one that stood out. Pain Block won out over Dull Pain, Paralyze, Lend Vitality, and Sense Life. She was ambivalent about the Surgery skill. Cutting into someone to heal them seemed counterintuitive, and she spent some time trying to imagine when it would be more useful than just using one of her Heal skills.


    When she saw that she had unlocked [Tame Monster], she regretted spending her general skill slot on Greater Cleanse.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 7


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Low


    Stamina: Low


    Mana: Low


    Attributes:


    Focus: Good


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (8)


    Arcane Healing: B-6


    Heal Wounds: B-3


    Heal Toxins: B-2


    Heal Diseases: B-1


    Triage: B-8


    Stabilize: B-2


    Diagnose: B-4


    Pain Block: B-0


    General Skills


    Slots: 1, Used: 1


    Acting: P-8 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: B-5


    Appraise: P-1


    Blades: B-9


    Cleanse, Greater *?: B-3


    Cooking: P-8 (I-3)


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: B-5


    General Craft *: P-8


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-8 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: B-9


    Mana Sensing *: B-6


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-7


    Potion Brewing *: P-2


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-8 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-8 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Tame Monster


    Dull Pain *


    Paralyze *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *


    Surgery *

 Chapter 12: Good for you. Now go to sleep

    Cerise and Mykhal barely had time to talk the way they had before joining the caravan. She wasn''t quite to the point of complaining, per se, but she was missing her friend, and hoping for some time to just pal around together again.


    He, sadly, was just as busy as she was, and often at different times. The caravan stopped a few fingers before high noon and a few fingers after to let the oxen recover their Stamina. After purchasing Daisy, Cerise had the task of caring for her at these breaks so her mother could dress the kills the guards brought back.


    Mykhal''s enthusiasm for hunting had spread, and Miss Sanyel had decided that if the guards wanted to barter their kills to the caravan, she would pay for Cerise''s mother to dismantle the corpses for whatever reagents they could salvage, and the leather or hides that could be preserved for sale.


    Her father helped Cerise when his own crafting allowed, but a lot of the [Wagoneers] were enjoying having the services of a skilled [Carpenter] available to them on the road, and one that did not charge them a "caravaneer''s tax". Cerise asked what that was, and got an amused, frustrated shrug from Tamrin.


    "Caravans mean merchants, and ones passing through. Folks we don''t see on the regular, they''re happy enough to charge a Master''s price for a Novice''s work, or claim a job that takes an hour will take much longer, and charge us to hurry it up. In all honesty, it''s more of a way to gouge strangers. Caravaneers just get it a bit more consistently. It''s why we form cooperatives and consortiums. Having people who stay in one place, Factors they''re called, handling the trading means people are less likely to consider us strangers."


    It was an interesting idea, and one that resonated with some of the odd fragments of memory Cerise gained when she leveled. She had a sense, though, that the consortiums of the world she so hazily remembered had grown to a size where it was simpler to just charge one price, without regard to the residency of the person making the purchase.


    Cerise''s skills were making modest advances, and a few nights after their stop in Hosthelholm and the sale of the eggs, she lay in her blankets, on the edge of sleep. She had her profile open to look over any new unlocks she may have gained throughout the day. When she was busy doing things, Cerise sometimes didn''t notice the Voice of the World speaking to her, so reviewing her profile at night became something of a habit.


    Some skills were arguably better than others. Pain Block, for instance, could do everything Dull Pain did, but better. She needed to work on how to graduate the amount of pain she blocked because when using Greater Cleanse to flush out infections, for instance, she had to be careful not to scour the flesh too harshly. By the same token, the process was painful, and worse for the beasts who did not understand why she had to lance some of the faster swelling boils.


    As she thought on that particular topic, her profile open, and her focus partly on the Surgery skill, Cerise came to a minor epiphany. If Surgery meant cutting into someone to more effectively apply her skills, as she had been doing with following the treatment recommendations from Diagnose with the boil-fly blisters several of the oxen and caravaneers had developed, well, wasn''t that surgery?


    [Surgery] learned! Comprehension assessed at Beginner-2.


    "Eh! Wha-? What?" She squawked, spluttering at the notice.


    "What is it?" Her mother asked, grumbling sleepily on the other side of the tent.


    After several starts and stops, Cerise said, "I just learned the Surgery skill and I don''t know why! And it started at Beginner-2!"


    "You had a breakthrough. Good for you. Now go to sleep," her mother groused.


    Cerise could not just go to sleep, but she did shut up. She fussed at why she got the skill now. She had wondered when she lanced the first few boils if that was Surgery, so if it had to do with linking one with the other, she should learned the skill then, but she didn''t.


    Was it time for the idea to sink in? A hidden prerequisite? A moment of focused contemplation? The closeness of the World''s Voice while she viewed her profile? Cerise didn''t know, nor did she have any ideas on how she, right now, could test any of those theories.


    <hr>


    Cerise was slow to wake in the morning, thanks to the poor sleep her churning mind inflicted upon her, which left her feeling rushed through the breaking of camp. Staves practice with the guards saw her healing her own bruises afterward as her weariness made her stumble into strikes she should have been able to dodge. Running laps with Mykhal at least helped her to feel awake enough to accept the day.


    The caravan had pulled off the road for the first break when a group of armored riders came up the road. It was not an uncommon sight. The Hirsels of most domains sponsored guards or guard companies to maintain the safety of the trade roads. What was uncommon where the wounded among them.


    One of the lead [Scouts] for the Hirsel''s men hailed them, and spoke with guard sergeant Gohren. The guard sergeant sent one of the nearby caravan guards to get Cerise, who had been giving Daisy a quick groom. She turned over the brush to her father and followed Kip.


    "Miss Cerise, this is Warrick, a forerunner for Hirsel Treborant''s Highway Patrol. He asked about [Healers] among us. Mister Warrick, Miss Cerise is newly classed and under age, but she has a skill that helps her to treat wounds that exceed most Novices'' capabilities." Gohren''s introduction felt like high praise, but Cerise was more worried about why the forerunner was asking for [Healers].


    "You have wounded?" She asked.


    Warrick''s jaw twitched, but he nodded. "Aye, ran into a surprise goblin migration. We have a handful tied to their saddles, and most the rest of us are wounded. Fortuna smiled on me and so I''m riding scout."


    Cerise frowned. "But you''ve got a slow bleed in your skull! If you rest, you will heal, but only with at least a night''s sleep for your natural health regeneration. Elsewise, you''re risking a concussive aneurysm!"


    He blinked at her. "A what?" He asked.


    "When you bleed and the blood clots, only inside your skull, cutting off the pathways your blood normally flows through your brain. Depending how bad it gets, you might end up crippled or dead." Cerise was frowning at the man, full of [Healer''s] wrath.


    He paled, then glared. "And how much will your healing cost?"


    "Nothing because if we have that many wounded heading our way I cannot spare the mana on something that simple rest will fix," Cerise snapped. "Now, is there some phrase one of our guards could use to relay that we''re readying for treating your wounded, a token? Because I mean rest!"


    Gohren frowned at Cerise''s tone, but she did not care. He was good at reading people, though, so all he said was, "It is not our place to order the Hirsel''s men, Miss Cerise, no matter how our classes drive us."


    Turning to Warrick, he said, "When it comes to healing, Miss Cerise has proven herself quite dependable. I will confirm with our caravan master, but our consortium has a contract to supply the Hirsel''s [Alchemists]. If we have useful healing reagents, Miss Sanyel will know, and the price will have already been negotiated beforehand. All we will need is your commanding officer''s signature on a receipt of goods.


    "Should you heed Miss Cerise''s diagnosis, I can send a guard pair to your company."


    Warrick declined and returned to the way he had come quickly after.


    Cerise went with Gohren to inform Miss Sanyel. She needed to know what the caravan would be willing to provide in aid to the highway patrollers.


    The Quartermaster turned out to be a low level [Alchemist]. It had been his first class, but he enjoyed traveling more than being stuck at a lab, and had wrangled his way into the Nykimopia Consortium as a fact checker and field reagent appraiser.


    With Miss Sanyel''s permission, he enlisted Cerise''s mother to help him begin mixing up some quick -- and thus minor -- healing potions.


    Cerise and her father started setting up a treatment area away enough from the caravan that the beasts would not be a bother to the incoming patients. That involved taking their cook pot and a fist''s worth of salt, adding water, and boiling to start making saltwater. She appropriated the new cook pot her mother had recently bought, but had yet to treat for cooking, and set to making Numbing Salve from mashed Calm Root leaves, Dullard''s Friend stalks, and Weeping Ma''alas bark. Some powdered oats thickened the salve to a thin paste without lessening the efficacy of the numbing agents.


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    The battered patrollers arrived before she had a chance to do more.


    Cerise swept into them with barely any heed to rank, and let her aura guide her. However, before she could lose herself to the needs of the ailing, a voice from her phantom prior life brought her up short.


    She looked and spotted the most important seeming person amongst the patrollers. She strode up to the man with the shiniest armor and a bound arm, and asked, "Are you the commander?"


    His eyes narrowed at her tone, but he said, "I am."


    Cerise pointed to the men strapped to their horses. "I have limited Pools. If I start with them, I can bring them to the level of damage the rest of your patrollers are at, and switch to bandaging and bone setting for the rest. Or I can get most of your men to the point a good nights rest will see them hale again, and stabilize the worst injured for transport to a better [Healer], or at least one with more time to treat them. What do you need?"


    He arched a brow. "I need my men hale," he said. "But that unconscious man is our troop''s [Healer]. Get him conscious first, then treat the rest."


    Cerise nodded. "Yes, Sir," she said, deciding if he was not a knight, flattering him with the assumption would not be a bad thing.


    He did not correct her, and Cerise went to the other [Healer]. She followed the prompting of her newly gained Surgery skill, having the man brought down from his horse and laid out. Greater Cleanse prepared her needle and the site of the bruising around his ear. She lanced the bruise, using the saline water as her reagent for the Greater Cleanse to flush the dangerous buildup of blood on this other [Healers] brain. When she had done as much as her Surgery skill made her capable of, she forced her Heal Wounds skill to take all from her Stamina Pool. That she could more easily recover. She did not attempt to Heal any other of his wounds.


    Instead, she instructed one of the patrollers assisting her to notify her if he had not roused after a count of one thousand. Then she moved on to the most injured patroller she could restore to good health. By the time she finished, she had not been called over yet, so she moved on to the next patroller, and on to the next one after that.


    Cerise was as parsimonious with her Pools as she could manage, but she needed to rest after the fifth patroller. By then, her mother was bringing over the healing potion that the Quartermaster had made. Curious, Cerise appraised it.


    Minor Healing Potion


    Grade: Common


    More of an intuition of what the potion would do than any true knowledge came through, but it was enough for her skills to adapt. Cerise pointed out the patrollers who would benefit most from the potion without a [Healer] directing its application.


    She also took a freshly cleansed water bag and filled it with the potion, staggering up to go rest by applying the potion to those who did not need her to use her surgical needle for the application. Then she returned to the patrollers [Healer]. He was talking, his words slurred and slow, with the commander.


    "Beg pardon, Sir, Mister [Healer]. We''ve got potion now to aid recovery, so I can do more to help with Mister [Healer''s] concussion. Should I come back? Or proceed?"


    "Proceed," the commander said.


    Cerise''s Greater Cleanse casting raised wrinkles of surprise on both men''s foreheads, and her application of Pain Block turned the [Healer''s] face goofy.


    "Hold still," she muttered, lancing more problem spots to apply the potion. Her Stamina had recovered enough by then for Cerise to draw on that Pool to apply another Heal Wounds to the patrol''s [Healer].


    Looking to the commander, she said, "He''ll be slurring his words for another day or so, and it will probably be an hour or three before he can stand with help. His confusion should start to ease in a few minutes, but he probably has lost some memories. Some will return as he recovers, and others may simply be gone. It does not feel like his class or skills have been harmed."


    "Warrick said you''re a Novice. Are you waiting for Intermediate rank to select your Initiate class?" the commander asked.


    Cerise frowned at his arm, distracted by things her Triage Aura was telling her. Moving at the behest of her skills, she maneuvered him to sit and began undoing his sling and armor. "I need to get to your shoulder to apply the healing potion where it will do you any good," she said. "How do I get the shoulder and back pieces off?"


    "Heral!" The commander bellowed, startling Cerise.


    A somewhat less shiny young man close to Cerise in age ran up. "Yes, Sir Fenrick?"


    "Get me out of the top of my armor for Miss [Healer]," he ordered.


    Cerise cast a distracted glance over the boy Heral. He was one of the ones her mother had treated with potion, and it was working through his injuries already. He had just some bruising and pulled muscles that were already mending.


    Her Triage Aura acknowledged, she caught the knight saying, "Skills riding you?"


    "Hm?" She asked.


    "Show respect!" Heral snapped.


    The commander-knight, Sir Fenrick, waved the boy down. "She''s a [Healer] with wounded above her skill rank around her. It is not disrespect, Heral. Not yet. Miss Cerise, can you focus on what I''m saying?"


    She frowned. "My apologies, Sir, but I am tracking who I can heal, which changes as my mother applies the potion and my Pools drain and refill. It is very distracting, and all the wounded, well it''s hard, Sir."


    Heral at least had not paused in the complicated task of undoing the correct buckles in the right order to get the rune-scribed metal bits off his commander.


    Cerise could not use the Numbing Salve on the site of her needle surgery without Greater Cleanse removing the paste, but it was being used on the more colorful bruises her mother was treating. That meant Cerise was using her Pain Block skill to ease poking holes down to the worst of the internal injuries.


    "You said your mother is one of the people applying the potions? You are not from a House?" The commander asked.


    Cerise used Diagnose on the commander, but she found no sign of mental impairment. "Why would you ask that? Sir?"


    "You''re casting spells," he said.


    Cerise shook her head. "I''m just using skills. Spells, aren''t those all about chants and making runes in the air and all that?"


    "Perhaps," the commander agreed.


    "Hold your arm out," she instructed, her tone distracted.


    Heral glared at her, and Cerise might have cared at some other point, but that was not this point. She repeated her localized Greater Cleanse, Pain Block, and Surgery in the muscle just under Sir Fenrick''s arm, and then to a couple spots around his ribs.


    Once the pinpick wounds were closed, she said, "If you''re still sore after Block Pain wears off in a minute, Mama can put some Numb Salve on the sore spots."


    Then she stood, swayed, and sat again. Heral was looking between Cerise and his commander as if he was seeing something that utterly confounded him.


    "Miss [Healer], how old are you?" The commander asked.


    "Thirteen," she answered.


    "And when did you receive your class?" Sir Fenrick asked.


    "Start of the hot season."


    "What level are you?"


    Cerise was too tired to react to the rudeness of that question, simply stating, "Eight."


    "How are you sustaining the expenditures of your Pools?" The commander asked.


    "Arcane Healing let''s me use Stamina for Mana."


    "How close are you to mana exhaustion?" The patroller''s [Healer] asked, his words barely intelligible.


    "I''m resting my Stamina a lot, and Mana is only down to half. Hard to keep Stamina over a third, though," she answered. Then she looked over the [Healer]. "How are you doing? Triage Aura isn''t as specific as Diagnose, but the prognosis is showing good odds of recovery with adequate rest."


    "I feel like I got run over by a goblin horde on their way to a faerie den. I''m not in any shape to start Triaging anyone. You have the aura? What Hall did you train in?"


    Cerise shook her head. "Just constant scanning while pinging enough to stay under my mana recovery rate. I don''t know about any halls. Our village was killed while Mykhal and I were getting our classes, and there were people going through, cursing our cyr while they cut the throats of our neighbors. This was up on the border with the draycons. Our cyr failed to uphold a lord''s covenant, so we decided to head to Velton''s new dungeon.


    "We''ve been walking south pretty much since classing up, and the number of people in the flatlands is just ... I don''t know, but it''s a lot."


    Heral''s frown grew fierce in his jaw jutted out. "So you just left? What about your duty to your liege?"


    Cerise blinked at the boy. "We''re Freeman. Why should we give our labor to a noble that cannot keep the covenant? Why would we enrich someone who cannot protect us? We kept our part of the covenant. When he broke faith with us, he ceased to be our liege."


    "You''re a peasant! How could you know what your liege was or was not doing to protect you?" Heral snapped.


    "I witnessed men slitting the throat of my best friend''s father. Results speak loudest. The covenant between Freeman and Nobles does not say how a noble keeps a Freeman and his family safe, only that the noble do so. Even still, breaches can be forgiven if the noble is more effective than not, and the liens and levies laid upon us still let us prosper as Fortuna moves her favor over us. The man who was our liege failed that duty, twice over for Mykhal, and gave us no reason to forgive his failure."


    She held up a forestalling hand, finishing with, "Do not mistake me for speaking ill of all nobles. These lands are well-managed, and you are proof your liege takes his duties up with the somberness due the Freeman''s covenant. The cyr we left did not."


    With an obvious afterthought, Cerise tacked on, "And even under the best of lords, it is a Freeman''s right to leave for where he thinks to prosper. We. Are. Not. Slaves."


    Before Heral could continue chastising Cerise, the commander said, "My sympathies for your grief. It would seem there are more troubles with our border nobles then we in the more settled parts of Druerjan had thought, what with Wendynhelm of Kelm the [Profaner] and --. Was he the cyr you left?"


    Cerise''s body flushed cold and then hot with shock to hear her former liege''s name and that title. [Profaners] desecrated the holy places and brought down the wrath of the gods. They were monsters in human skin, leaving devastation in their wake.


    "What did he do? Was it the blessings he forced people to mouth? Or the holy places he abandoned to the monsters? Did he actually--? No. No, not even he--! But, [Profaner]? It must have happened after we left. There was talk he wanted to make all Freeman into serfs, but nothing about him going so far as to anger the gods!"


    Heral suddenly looked like he wanted to take back every word he had said in defense of a liege''s prerogatives.


    The commander said, "All that was said in Court was that he broke the covenant that limits dungeons within Druerjan. The last word from the capital was that the king is still seeking to establish a new covenant. Fortunately, the dungeons already here have not made any changes that we can see, but we don''t know where new dungeons will appear, or what dangers they will present. How the elves can abide the wild dungeons of the archipelagoes baffles me.


    "As for Wendynhelm, he was stripped of his nobility, and his arlthane was charged with bringing back his head."

 Chapter 13: Should you survive your arrogance

    Sir Fenrick watched the young [Healer] get back up and go do the job his patrol squad''s [Healer], Ethrick, currently could not do. He held up his hand with a casually raised finger to keep Heral''s mouth shut for the moment. When he was sure the young miss was no longer in hearing range, he turned to Ethrick. "As a dedicate of Lunaria, what is your read of her?"


    "My lady wants her dedication," Ethrick said. "She is acting like every moment could be decisive, which may well have been her experience up on the border. She went through genuine shock -- the physical effects, not just Keeri''s version of it -- but real shock that her skills immediately began countering when she heard of the [Profaner]."


    He worked his jaw and made weird grimaces, curling his tongue about. After a moment of this, Ethrick rubbed his face and spoke again, still slurring his words, but not as badly. "What she did with you, the needle and the potion, that was new, and from what I can see, much better than just slapping around the brew. She is an [Arcane Healer] if she is not a [Blessed Healer], and as she is not yet a dedicate of any god, being Blessed is not likely.


    "As to her truthfulness, well, I haven''t seen it myself, but I''m told that even when a noble is stripped of their titles, the freemen of their lands remain covenant-bound. She is an unbound freemen; it adds weight to her tale, and so are the woman and man distributing healing potion and Bruise Balm. All the other freemen I have Identified are peasants."


    Heral groused, "Who''s to say they''re not bandits?"


    Sir Fenrick gusted out a sigh. "This is why your father entrusted me with knocking sense into your thick skull, Honorable Mister Heral. Your mother has taught you to be far too arrogant of your birth. We are all born naked and wailing into this world. All. It is a dangerous overreach of noble privilege to persecute freemen for being unbound to any liege, one that may likely find all your noble privileges revoked by the chop-block. As the girl brought up, words are whispers before the shouting of actions, and results speak loudest of all. Look. What are the results of her actions? To whom are they given? What has she asked of us in return? Is she someone who provides results worthy of earning her loyalty over?


    "Should you survive your arrogance to gain your second class, questions like these will determine the course of your life. Honorable. Mister. Heral." Sir Fenrick deliberately emphasized Heral''s lack of any title.


    The boy did an admirable job of controlling the rage Sir Fenrick purposefully invoked in him.


    "Look," Sir Fenrick ordered again. Turning back to Ethrick, he asked, "Are we like to lose anyone else today?"


    The [Healer] was already sweeping his gaze over the impromptu field hospice. "Without a closer inspection, and no active Triage, I cannot say for certain. I am most concerned for Doble and Sateen, and their breathing is steady if labored. I''m a little misty about what happened, but by the difference between the bodies of our people and their equipment, we had a serious scuffle in the last day or so, and that girl is going to see level ten before nightfall if she manages to stay upright. Fortuna smiled upon us to put her in our path.


    "She''s right that I cannot stand yet. It irks me, but the best I can do right now is sit here and watch while the healing potion works its way on my brain."


    Sir Fenrick shrugged back into his gamebeson. "Help me get my armor back on, Heral."


    The boy was competent, intelligent, and diligent. Within the limits of his arrogance, he was also compassionate. If his arrogance had been centered on his own capabilities, Heral would likely already be his father''s heir. Sadly, that was not the case.


    Sir Fenrick watched the [Healer] youth while Heral tightened the buckles on his armor. An idea took shape, but he would have to broach it carefully with his liege.


    <hr>


    Heral had been Sir Fenrick''s squire for two and a half years now, and in that time he had leveled up to fourteen as a [Noble Warrior]. His weapon and armor skills, his Tactics and Strategy skills, all of his combat-focused skills were capped, and stagnating by the end of the last harvest season. The only skill in his class that had room to grow was Noblesse Oblige. It was a rare skill, and as a core skill of his class, explained why [Noble Warrior] was itself a rare class.


    His father had been so proud when Heral gained the class during his first dungeon delve. Peasants went to class stones to gain their [Laborer] and [Merchant] classes. Nobles had to fight so they went to the training grounds of fighters to gain their classes.


    Yes, his father had been so proud, then. When he had stopped gaining levels, though, and had to confess his lack of progress, his father had been so disappointed.


    It would have been far less hurtful if his father had yelled, or cussed, or in some way raged at Heral''s failure. Instead, the polite upturn to his father''s lips that was so much a part of his resting face slowly turned down, and the bright interest in his father''s gaze transformed to melancholy.


    "Ah," was all he said to Heral. He had closeted himself away with Sir Fenrick for most of the next day, and after that, Sir Fenrick was demoted to a patrol captain. A common patrol captain! No wonder the good knight resented him so! It was, after all, Heral''s fault that the noble knight to whom he was squired fell so far in his father''s grace.


    It was Heral''s failure to advance his core skill. It was his shame that occluded the honor of his knight-master. Why else would Sir Fenrick rebuke Heral''s good mother? For what other reason would the patient knight rebuke him on behalf of a peasant?


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    Peasants relied upon their liege lords for safety from the monsters spawned by wild magics, the predations of bandits, and the subjugation of other sapient races. A liege required the obedience of his peasants, and had to project and maintain a strict discipline or else when instant obedience was necessary there would be hesitation, and people would die. It was simple. Wasn''t it?


    He finished securing the last buckle on Sir Fenrick''s armor and stepped back the appropriately respectful distance. His Etiquette skill was strangely not part of his class, but it, too, stagnated, waiting for one more level.


    Sir Fenrick settled back into the weight of his armor and rose. He turned to face Heral, and there was a thoughtful, speculative quality to his noble knight-master''s gaze that made Heral uneasy.


    Instead of sharing his thoughts, though, Sir Fenrick modulated his tone to that which he used when he had an implacable order to issue. "Go to the [Healer] Miss. Tell her you are there to assist her, then do so. Follow her instructions as if they came from me. Ask her no questions that do not pertain to the healing of our patrollers. Offer her no comments. Deflect any questions not relating to the healing of our patrollers with the courtesy you would show our arlthane''s daughter. Most of all, observe. It is time you learned how to apply your Strategy skills off the battlefield."


    Heral bowed his head to the proper degree and answered in the only way he could. "Your will be done, Sir Fenrick."


    He turned to obey, the heat of his frustration eased with the moment to calm himself provided by the familiar routine of aiding his knight-master. Without that heat, though, he had only the cold ache of his failure.


    The girl was busy, her skin faintly luminous with the expenditure of mana, most noticeable around her eyes where the luminosity was magnified by moisture. Heral''s mother was a [Mage], so he knew better than to break her concentration. Even if a petty part of himself wanted to lash out and hurt someone else. It was merely the Spirit of Misery seeking a Company, and there were already enough Miserable Spirits among the wounded.


    Since he needed to assist her, but could not gain instruction from her yet as to the how, he fell back on training. If he were aiding Ethrick, he would be fetching bandages and splints, so that''s what he did. They had few supplies left from the field care they cobbled together directly after the skirmish, but they had some. When he returned, the girl was sitting, drenched with sweat.


    "I am to assist you. As you direct me in the care of our patrollers, so I shall do," he announced. Then he remembered the bandages and cleansing solutions he had retrieved. "These are what remained of our [Healer''s] supplies. How am I to aid you?"


    "Water," she panted out, and he felt a moment of resentment that she would turn him into her page boy. Then she started pointing to a number of the moderately wounded. "Dehydrated. Those three. Sip. Hold in mouth. Count five." She held up her splayed hand. "Swallow. Quartermaster. Water barrels. Four bags."


    "One for you?" He asked.


    She frowned, considered, shook her head. "I''ll throw up now. After them. Thank you."


    Heral turned, gathered six bags, as much as he could carry in his arms, and went to find the caravan''s Quartermaster.


    That turned out to be an older man, about the age of Heral''s grandfather. The Quartermaster showed him proper respect, and asked if he should begin brewing another batch of minor potions, or would they need lessers?


    As no one was in critical condition, Heral asked for the minor potions. Not only were they cheaper and quicker to make, but the lower mana they imparted lowered the chance of alchemical illness from overdosing on potions.


    He returned to find the [Healer] girl recovered enough to direct her parents in resetting one of the new patrollers broken legs. She was glowing with yet more mana use, and the patroller was merely grunting at the discomfort instead of screaming the way he had that morning.


    After the break was set, the girl looked at her trembling hands. She turned to the man and ordered, "Hands, Dad."


    Then she looked around, spotted him, and demanded, "Water bag," reaching up. He juggled his load so she could take one, and went over to the men she''d indicated before.


    He made sure he was in a position to watch her as he went over the [Healer''s] instructions for rehydrating. He got distracted by seeing the [Healer] use the water he just gave her as a spell reagent to cleanse her father''s hands, and the skin around the patrollers broken leg.


    "If it weren''t Fortuna blessing us, it was Lunaria herself to put a [Blessed Healer] so near where we had need," one of the men he was instructing said.


    "Aye, and one with beauty to soothe the soul while her blessings heal our wounds," another added, with a lecherous glance.


    Heral did not understand the irritation that prompted him to say, "She''s thirteen."


    The first man asked, his eyebrows raised, "Her levels are that low?"


    "Her age is that low," Heral clarified.


    The letch''s grin fell, and he looked like he wanted to cry. And somehow, that improved Heral''s day.


    Once he was sure the men could see to themselves, Heral returned for his next assignment. He took over the [Healer''s] mother''s job of helping with setting bones so she could help the Quartermaster brew more portion.


    While they were about the business of healing, Sir Fenrick got camp set up. The [Healer] girl ordered a few of the otherwise whole looking men to go sit with Ethrick, among them Warrick, who had been their forerunner.


    Warrick, with uncharacteristic anger, yelled, "I''m fine!"


    The girl clambered onto unsteady feet and yelled back, "You are concussed! It is your duty as one of your liege''s swords to recover! You can do nothing from the grave but rot! Now, go. Sit. Down!"


    Sir Fenrick stepped between them and used his Commanding Presence Aura. The [Healer], for all that she appeared a stiff breeze away from unconsciousness, did not react. Warrick, on the other hand, began to cry and shake.


    The girl glowed, and Heral barely caught her as her body collapsed from the repeated Stamina draining. Heral had to stare at her in shocked disbelief when she spoke. She was still conscious?!


    "Thanks. Catch. Sit. I sit. Now."


    <hr>


    That evening, after his guard shift, while Heral lay on the edge of sleep, he considered the question Sir Fenrick had asked him. In the heat of the moment, the idea that any liege had to earn loyalty from one bound by covenant to give it had seemed absurd. Insulting, even.


    Helping the [Healer], Miss Cerise, and seeing how she pushed herself to the very brink of her limits, constantly riding the edge of collapse until she had done everything she could to restore his father''s guard to a capable fighting force changed the context around the question.


    Heral didn''t know how to define that change. Miss Cerise was not one of his father''s peasants, but she was a Freeman and not a noble. Yet, she took the covenant between liege and Freeman so seriously she had yelled chastisement in the face of an armed [Warrior] about his duty to stand ready to uphold that covenant.


    She worked herself beyond diligence to ensure they were all ready to uphold the covenant. Even though it wasn''t her covenant.


    That was significant. The Nobles Covenant, to defend the Freeman and create the conditions in which everyone could live a long and prosperous life, there was something more to that covenant then Heral had so far understood if it could provoke so strong a reaction.


    [Noblesse Oblige] advances to Beginner-8.

 Chapter 14: In all adversity, there is opportunity

    Ms. Sanyel found Cerise as she was returning from emptying her bladder the next morning. She put her hands on Cerise''s shoulder, looked her up and down, and asked, "How are you doing?"


    "Tired, mana sore. I can keep Triage up, at least right now. I want to check in with their [Healer], and see how he fares. Maybe even get some insights from him."


    Ms. Sanyel smiled. "Well, you did good yesterday. The Knight-Commander, when he signed the receipt of goods, added service pay for your family and our Quartermaster. As you''re not on contract to the consortium, you''ll need to collect those receipts yourself."


    "Okay," Cerise said, a bit clueless why the caravan master was telling her this.


    "So, how many levels did you get yesterday?" Ms. Sanyel asked.


    Cerise blinked. Then she pulled up her profile. "Four. Four class levels! And Triage is maxed! And I have my Cleanse Aura!" Cerise started laughing.


    She had also brought Arcane Healing, Pain Block, Diagnose, Stabilize, and Heal Wounds into Practiced. Her Surgery was on the cusp at Beginner-9. Her Potion Brewing was close to maxed. Of the rest of her general slotted skills, Blades, Appraise, General Anatomy, General Craft, Mana Proprioception, Animal Handling, and Mana Sensing were in the Practiced rank, and had all received at least one division increase the day before.


    "In all adversity, there is opportunity, and it would seem your family is quite brilliant at seizing opportunities." Miss Sanyel smiled as she said that.


    Mana sore Cerise might be, but her Stamina had recovered. Both Pools felt ... tender was the best way Cerise could think to describe them. She was careful as she ran with Michael, and skipped staves practice to head over to the Highway Patrol''s camp.


    Their [Healer] was watching over their own weapons drill, and grinned on spotting her. "Miss Cerise! I''m surprised to see you about today!"


    "Eh, I''ll be resting a lot as I can for the next few days, watching how my Pools respond. But the health potions and Surgery worked so well together I gained seven divisions! If I had a better way of getting the potion to the damaged areas, I think we would''ve done it even better.


    "And speaking of better, I expected you to slur for another day or so. May I use my Diagnose on you?"


    "Please do," the older [Healer] said.


    Bruised Brain: Physical trauma has caused inflammations deep in the brain.


    Treatment: Rest for one to three weeks.


    Prognosis: Permanent memory loss of random events within one week of the injury. Due to patient situation, treatment adherence is not possible, and potential for reinjury is high.


    Alternative Treatment: Ingest by volume 1 fist of Minor Healing potion twice daily for one week. Rest immediately if patient becomes dizzy or disoriented, and ingest one fist by volume of Minor Healing potion.


    She relayed what her Diagnose skill told her, and added, "I only saw a healing potion for the first time yesterday, and my skills seems to need to know of something before I can see it as a treatment option."


    They had a pleasant, professional conversation, during which they took care of the introductions Cerise had not had the time for the day before.


    The Honorable Mister Ethrick took Cerise around to check on all the patients from the day before, and a few were in need of another minor bump from her Heal Wounds skill.


    Despite her efforts to cleanse around wound sites, a few patrollers had gained wound fevers, which Cerise treated under Ethrick''s guidance. Her Heal Disease skill bumped up to Beginner-8 as she eagerly learned from the more experienced [Healer] and immediately applied that knowledge.


    Sir Fenrick checked on them, and Cerise very politely, to the best of her knowledge, thanked him for the receipt for her services. The hoity-toity squire was with him and watching her with as unnerving a focus as the near dire draft beasts had shown the monster eggs. Without the urgency of the wounded to see to, Cerise was feeling even more self-conscious under the young man''s regard.


    She considered her manners of the prior day, and realized an apology was due. "Good Sir?" She haltingly addressed the squire.


    Sir Fenrick clapped the squire on the shoulder and said, "Heral is an Honorable Mister at present."


    "Honorable Mister Heral, I apologize for the offense I gave you yesterday. I did not speak with the respect due our difference in strata." Cerise accompanied her apology with the waist deep bow.


    Heral''s jaw flexed as the intensity of his scrutiny only grew. "Are you recanting what you said?"


    Cerise squared her shoulders. "How I spoke, Honorable Mister, was impolite and for that, disrespectful. The content of what I said was, and is, truth, and I will not shame myself before Solaris by recanting truth."


    Sir Fenrick was glaring at his squire, but the young man did not seem to notice. Instead, he said, "I do not know if it is respectable on my part to accept your apology. The example you set yesterday helped me gain a division in my core skill, something I have not been able to achieve on my own for the past two years. You confuse me," he admitted.


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    Cerise shrugged and held up her palms. "Mama tells me that''s the start of understanding?" She tentatively offered. "I don''t really like either the feeling or the answer, either if it helps."


    Heral blinked at her, surprise wiping the intensity from his face, and then he threw back his head and laughed. Cerise noted that Sir Fenrick''s anger had poofed into excitement when Heral mentioned leveling his core skill, though he quickly donned a mildly pleasant, mask-like facade.


    Nobles.


    Cerise really didn''t want to deal with them anymore.


    <hr>


    By the time Cerise got back to the caravan, they had lost a full day to aiding the Highway Patrol. The cattle seemed happy enough for it, and her mother and the Quartermaster now had a reason to discuss alchemical recipes. Ms. Sanyel was glad for the assured sale made and goodwill earned. Even Gohren was happy with the delay, as it gave the migration of goblins more time to get away from their path.


    She fell asleep in the back of their cart, barely rousing for cold roast at their usual late day stop. When they got to their campsite for the night Cerise stumbled through Triaging the cattle after taking care of Daisy.


    Her parents urged her to rest, for which she hugged them, and then kept on doing her chores. Mykhal joined her. He was quiet, and he shot her a few glances, as if to reassure himself that she wasn''t about to fall over, or run away or something.


    After the chores were done and before they left, Cerise reached over and pulled her friend in for a hug. "I''ve missed you," she said.


    He hugged her back and said, "Yeah. I''ve missed you, too."


    Cerise spoke into Mykhal''s shoulder. "Isn''t it weird? We see each other every day, but there''s just no time to talk anymore. I know we''re almost to the end of Miss Sanyel''s route, and we probably won''t see them anymore after this, so I want to spend as much time as possible learning from them and helping out to thank them for all the opportunities. But, I miss you."


    He petted her hair and chuckled, and Cerise felt some of the tension in him relax. "I know," he said. "Elar wants me to write him when we get settled, and I''ll always be grateful to him for what he has taught me, but he''s not you."


    That made Cerise laughed. "Can you imagine? Elar the [Healer] and Cerise the [Scout]? It would be so weird!"


    Mykhal laughed with her, but he grew serious again and held her at arms length so they could lock gazes. "After yesterday, how are you?"


    She gave him a wry smile. "Tired, and," she glanced around, then leaned in close. In a small, soft voice not meant to carry beyond them, she said, "level 12! It was insane! I had to fight my skills to keep them from draining me! Their [Healer], Ethrick, said it''s the hardest trial of being a [Healer]. The whole thing about [Warriors] wanting to war and [Cooks] to cook? I didn''t think it was the skills. I thought it was the people."


    Mykhal gave her his, "well, yeah!" face, and she laughed. He smiled, briefly, but that seriousness was still there.


    Cerise rested her hands on his forearms, leaning in a bit to his hands, still resting on her shoulders. "What is it?"


    "I''m getting there," he said, mock frowning at her, then sobering again. "The cyr was a [Profaner]."


    Cerise''s smile, her attempts to embrace levity, stopped. She nodded. "Sir Fenrick said as much. He said the word from the capitol is that he broke the covenant binding dungeons in Druerjan, and the king stripped him of his titles and ordered Arlthane Nagister to kill him. We need to find out what the dungeon covenant is, or was, so we know how it''s changed. The king is still negotiating a new one."


    Mykhal shifted. It was a small thing, a tell that had more to do with the intuition of good friends than any actual shiftyness on his part.


    "Were you afraid I wouldn''t be your [Healer] anymore?"


    He started to sputter, caught between denying her question and downplaying it. Then he really looked at her baffled expression, sighed, and dropped his hands. Ducking his head into his shoulders, he looked down at his feet. "I heard some of the patrollers saying their Knight-Commander was going to recruit you. And there was a patroller that caught up with us not long after we left, and, I was worried."


    Cerise shrugged. "No one said anything to me about being recruited, and neither of us is old enough. You saw Gohren''s face, everyone''s faces, when the caravaneers found out we''re still youths."


    An expression of mixed frustration and relief took over Mykhal''s features. "Yeah, there''s that, but you healed their whole patrol. That counts for something."


    "A receipt for services rendered," she agreed. "I''m going to find a smith that can make hollow needles. A syringe? And razor blades, and curved needles, clamps, small ones."


    "What?" Mykhal asked. "A sringe? And you don''t need to shave; why razors?"


    "Sy-ringe," Cerise absently corrected. "And a small, very sharp blade for when I need to cut to fix a deep wound so it does less damage. The more direct the healing, the better the results. If I get good enough I might even be able to fix old wounds."


    He bonked his forehead against hers, but gently. "You''re weird," he said, echoing one of the first things they''d ever said to each other.


    "Of course! All the most interesting people are!" She echoed back.


    He laughed, and the world was just suddenly a brighter place.


    "Oy! You scrumbling bumblerfoots! Dinner''s on!" Cerise''s father yelled out.


    She stuck her tongue out and said, "Race you!" even as she took off, using her Quick Steps to get a leading start.


    "Ha!" He yelled, flashing by her.


    Cerise stopped next to her father. "Wonder when he''ll figure out that we''re walking back without him?"


    Her father laughed and ruffled her hair. "You like him?" he asked, nodding in the direction Mykhal had sprinted off in.


    "Best friend!" Cerise answered, wondering why her father had to ask.


    "Not that like," her father said. "Do you like him? For courtship."


    Cerise stopped and tilted her head to the side. "I''m not ready for babies. When I am, Mykhal would be an awesome dad, but that''s not for years and years!"


    Her father stopped her and hugged her. It was a weirdly emotional hug, and when he let her go, his eyes were suspiciously wet.


    "Eh, and Mykhal wonders where I get my weird from," she said, making her father laugh.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 12


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Moderate


    Stamina: Good


    Mana: Good


    Attributes:


    Focus: High


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (12)


    Arcane Healing: P-4


    Heal Wounds: P-3


    Heal Toxins: B-2


    Heal Diseases: B-8


    Triage: P-9


    Stabilize: P-6


    Diagnose: P-5


    Pain Block: P-6


    ...


    ...


    General Skills


    Slots: 2, Used: 1


    Acting: P-9 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: P-3


    Appraise: P-2


    Blades: P-1


    Cleanse, Greater *?: P-2


    Cooking: P-9 (I-3)


    Cyphers: B-7


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: P-2


    General Craft *: P-8


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-9 (I-3}


    Mana Proprioception *: P-4


    Mana Sensing *: P-3


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-2


    Oration: P-7


    Potion Brewing *: P-7


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-9 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-9 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Surgery *: B-9


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Tame Monster


    Dull Pain *


    Paralyze *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *

 Chapter 15: Rough lesson learned

    They made up the lost day by not lingering in the next town, and for the next two weeks, the last two weeks of their time with the Nykimopia Consortium''s caravan, Cerise and her family threw themselves into learning everything they could.


    For Cerise, the learning mostly focused on Animal Handling and weapons drills. For the first, she took to willing it to remain the general skill, despite how problematic that could be for prerequisites. Cerise wanted to be a [Tamer] and the [Beast Healer] was a good match for her skills. The more general her skill, the more applicable it would be to all the animals she might tame, or be called on to heal. For the fighting skills, Staves was advancing at a good enough rate that she had unlocked the variants of Heavy Blow, Quick Thrust, Sweeping Blow, and Counter Strike specific to Staves. The Natural Weapon Combat, on the other hand, only seemed to progress as she dreamed more fragmentary dreams of her prior life.


    Whatever movements the memory fragments gave her felt odd when she tried them, and she felt too self-conscious to practice them in front of the guards. She was most comfortable with practicing punches when she had her brief moments of privacy.


    Also, Cerise''s attributes took some time to heal from her abuse during the marathon healing of the patrol, but she now had High Focus, Good Stamina and Mana Pools, and a Moderate Health Pool.


    <hr>


    The caravan arrived, on time, at the Nykimopia Consortium Compound inside the city walls of Va''Treborant. The city seemed massive to Cerise, and the vast press of people made her breath catch in her throat. Her father looked just as intimidated in his own straight-backed way, his eyes scanning their surroundings as if he expected monsters to ambush them at any moment.


    Mykhal and her mother, though, had bright-eyed looks of excitement plastered over their faces as they unashamedly tried to take in every new sight.


    Cerise felt only a little better once they were safely inside the compound. Gohren took pity on them and had Jens show them where to wait while the caravan was dismantled, beasts led to stables, wagons to be unloaded and then inspected for any damages. The personnel seem to scatter to the ends of this small world.


    Several times, harried looking people began in their direction only for Jens to wave them off. Then a man wearing a waist length jacket came over. He went from looking harried to angry as Jens tried to wave him away.


    "Just what is going on here, boy?" the man demanded.


    "Irregular circumstances, Good Mister. Caravan Master Sanyel is sorting the matter," Jens explained.


    "That horse needs to be stabled and the goods unloaded. The cart is inferior --," the man began.


    Jens held up his hand. "Beast, cart, and goods contained belong to these good folk. They are not your concern."


    The man drew up, highly offended. "I am the Yard Master. Everything in this yard is my concern! And I see Nykimopian kit in that cart! Don''t you lie to me, boy!"


    Jens'' jaw jutted forward, and he put a hand on his sheathed sword.


    Cerise spotted Gohren heading their way, and stepped up to lay a hand over the one resting on Jens''s pommel. "I see Guard Sergeant Gohren heading our way. Good Mister Yard Master, do you know him?"


    The Yard Master turned his glare to Cerise. She felt the wash of an Identify type skill, and the fury in his glare pulled back to make room for curiosity.


    Gohren reach them before anyone else spoke up. "Denal, you cranky bastard, stop abusing my guardsmen!" This was delivered in a good-natured tone of voice that turned the Yard Masters sharp tongue on the guard sergeant.


    The two bickered good-naturedly for a few minutes, until the Yard Master was calm enough to be properly introduced to Cerise''s family. Gohren gave Donal a much abbreviated explanation for their presence among Miss Sanyel''s caravan, and departed with Mykhal to get the youth''s pay sorted out.


    A stupid fear that somehow Mykhal would not come back seized Cerise. She pulled out the grooming kit for Daisy and began brushing her, hoping that filling her hands would empty her fears. That didn''t happen, but she at least had a familiar routine to cling to.


    Mykhal and Gohren returned around Cerise''s sixth pass with the brush. Her Cleansing Aura was great for road dust, but did nothing about shed hair. While Daisy enjoyed it when Cerise bathed her with some water and an active use of Greater Cleanse, she also loved being brushed. Even with the active use of her skill, the mare''s mane and tail needed to be hand combed.


    Mykhal looked from Daisy to Cerise, and the excitement on his face dimmed. Something more, a quieter, steadier more, took its place, leaving the corners of his lips upturned. He did not need to speak, just hugged her, and Cerise could feel him telling her they were safe. She took a moment to breathe in that unspoken assurance, then put away the grooming kit, to Daisy''s dismay.


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    While she and Mykhal were having their moment, Gohren sent Jens off to sort out his pay, taking his place.


    Not long after that, Miss Sanyel came out of one of the fancier doors on the only building in the compound that was not a stable. It was a measure of their trust that none of Cerise''s family hesitated for a moment to leave the horse and cart with everything they owned -- including their coin box -- to Gohren''s care when he volunteered.


    Miss Sanyel led them into the building from which she had exited, past a receiving room similar to the Hosthelholm Free Lancers Guild, and up a flight of stairs to a room overlooking a larger room filled with trade goods, containers, and people bustling about.


    An old man, old enough to be Cerise''s grandfather''s grandfather, sat behind a large desk. Miss Sanyel introduced him as Mister Mopia.


    "Please pardon an old man for not rising." Mister Mopia had a steady voice and steady hands. Cerise''s Triage Aura, however, told her of damage to his joints that would be debilitating at his age to fix.


    For the conversation that ensued, Cerise and Mykhal kept their mouth shut unless asked a direct question. In those instances, they answered truthfully and as sparsely as they could.


    Mister Mopia would not have survived long in Trall Mining Village. Someone of his limited mobility would have been stung by blue wasps or simply have stayed in the snows for too long one winter day, missing until the Spring thaw. Still, the village children had been taught to respect their eldest of elders by speaking little and then loud enough to be heard.


    There were nuances to the conversation Cerise could feel eluding her, and at the end of it, Mykhal and her parents put their mark to a contract page, which Mykhal read out for her father''s benefit. It was, as far Cerise could discern, an after the happenings statement of the jobs her family performed for Miss Sanyel''s caravan, and the terms they had agreed to with Miss Sanyel.


    After the signing, Mister Mopia said, "Should you change your minds, and decide to join our consortium, speak with Miss Sanyel. And should our consortium one day reach the Velton Hirsellands, we would be happy to do business with you." He pushed over a modest sized coin box, a half hand tall, a hand deep, and half an arm long. The box had been stained with a simple resin oil and lacked hinges. It was still, for all its simplicity, a sign of wealth that no one in Trall had ever possessed.


    Well, perhaps the mine manager or the village head had had a coin box. Everyone else had lived on barter and a fistful of small copper.


    Miss Sanyel escorted them back to their cart. Gohren stood guard still, relaxed into his watchful aura.


    "Goh," Miss Sanyel said. "May I trouble you to continue your escort just a little bit longer today? There''s still the Hirsel''s receipts for our friends to claim, and I was thinking of introducing them to the Tradesman''s Rest."


    Gohren perked up. "You buying?"


    Miss Sanyel laughed. "I''ll stand the first round."


    "Lead on, O Master mine!" Gohren declared with an outrageous flare.


    Outside the consortium''s compound, and without the whole body of the caravan surrounding them, the mass of people around her became overwhelming to Cerise. Lung infection, worn joints, bruising on bones, malnutrition, dehydration, overworked hearts, glandular imbalances, and a host more of people''s problems tugged at Cerise''s attention, demanding she heal, and now. Resisting the barrage of injuries and the ill health surrounding her required all of Cerise''s focus.


    And then a child bounced into her. The boy had a cracked rib, bruises all over, and rot in his newly grown adult teeth. Her hands moved to the will of her skills, and her Heal Wounds skill poured out of her to fix the broken bone, then Heal Diseases burnt out the rot in his teeth, and Heal Toxins forced out the bad food in his belly. Another wave of Heal Wounds restored the bits of tooth lost to the rot, and her Greater Cleanse pulled the water from the air to pull the small "bacteria" that grew diseases from his skin and clothes.


    She had taken Slumber and Paralyze for her last two class skill slots. Paralyze held patients still for her delicate surgeries, and Slumber enforced needed rest on the newly healed, who often mistook lack of pain for recovery. Paralyze now kept the boy from running away while she worked. Stabilize fired off to aid his recovery from vomiting, and Block Pain prevented him from feeling the worst of this sped up healing.


    When the boy was healed, Cerise''s aura pointed her at another hurt soul. Gohren and Mykhal stopped her, held her back from plunging into the crowd. Vaguely, she knew her mother had swept up the boy, and her father had his staff out, looking intimidating as he guarded their cart. Miss Sanyel held onto Daisy''s halter. None of them needed healing, but there was so much need on the other side of Mykhal and Gohren.


    "Let me through! They''re hurting!" She snapped.


    Whenever they said didn''t matter; they had to let her heal! She didn''t even think, which was the problem. She had to heal; they were preventing her. She pushed Slumber at them.


    Gohren collapsed.


    Mykhal did not. On the contrary, he slapped her. The absolute shock of it, of Mykhal hurting her, blanked her mind, and she could finally hear him.


    "Turn off your aura!" He demanded, his voice strong and carrying while not actually yelling.


    She started to sputter, but he cut her off with the repetition of his order.


    Cerise struggled to pull up her profile, to focus enough on her skill to deactivate her Triage Aura, but when she managed it, the urgency of the demands her skills laid upon her faded. The press to act was still there, but it was more a recognition of need than a ringing alarm spurring her to do anything to quiet it.


    "I-ah-eh. It''s done," she sputtered out, dazed, but returning to her senses. She looked around herself with confusion, until she spotted Gohren on the ground, Miss Sanyel trying to wake him. Horror at what she had done to her friend soured her guts, and she twisted out of Mykhal''s grasp to inspect and heal Gohren, pulling back the Slumber she had pushed on him.


    [Dispel] learned. Comprehension assessed at Beginner-0.


    Gohren went from unconsciousness to thrusting them out of his way and drawing his dagger as he leapt to his feet. Mykhal pulled Cerise back. After a heartbeat or three spent assessing the situation, Gohren re-sheathed his dagger and scowled as he rounded on Cerise. "What the Abyss was that?" He asked, a roar strangled in his tone.


    "I am so sorry!" Cerise said, already crying with her remorse. "I didn''t know--! And I had to help--! But you were there--! And I couldn''t help--! And I hurt you! I''m so sorry! I am. So. Sorry!" She broke down into unintelligible sobbing.


    Gohren''s anger faded to irritation. "Rough lesson learned," he grumbled. "You''re buying me a round when we get to the Rest."


    Cerise nodded, still crying.

 Chapter 16: make her mark

    When the gawkers realized the impromptu spectacle of Cerise getting lost to her skills was over, they went back to their business.


    As the far more subdued group resumed their cross city trek, Cerise''s mother handed Cerise her belt pocket back, only with the twine that had held it to her belt neatly sliced. The pocket held only food, and the [Healer] in Cerise regretted that her mother had recovered it. The boy that had Light Fingered her pocket had been hungry enough to eat rot.


    She did not say that, though. Her parents could not abide thieves, no matter the reason. Her mother had probably scolded the boy before letting him go, and releasing him would have had more to do with his age than his circumstances.


    After some awkward silence, Cerise''s mother started up a conversation with Miss Sanyel and Gohren about their plans for the near future. Both planned to stay in the city for a couple weeks before returning to the road. Their life was far too migratory to maintain a home, so they traveled with a leg locker that held their processions, and roomed in places like the Tradesman''s Rest when they did stay in one place for any great length of time. For them, that meant a week.


    Mykhal asked the question she felt too horrible to voice. "Do you have any plans to give up the traveling life?"


    Miss Sanyel laughed. "Not I! My husband died years back and our children are grown and scattered with wanderlust. Even if I stop running a caravan, I''ll probably trade it for riding off to see my children. It is a morbid idea, I suppose, but I find the thought of dying on the road a comfort."


    Gohren laughed. "Not for me! One day, I''ll be ready to start my own family, and I''ll have coin set aside enough by then to transfer over to a [Trainer''s] life. It''s why I work on my Teaching skills so much."


    "You mean like a weapons trainer for [Warriors]?" Mykhal asked.


    "Combat classes, yes, but I prefer seeing more [Guards] then [Warriors] prosper," Gohren answered.


    Cerise''s parents were quite taken with Gohren''s planned career change, asking about who would be his students? Who might pay for his services? And, would he build a place for his trainings or hold lessons in his students'' homes?


    His students were likely to be youths not yet old enough for their first class and those newly classed. Such arrangements were common in cities and more prosperous towns. He might even get some Free Lancers looking for help in getting unlocked skills over to be learned.


    Cerise tentatively offered, "You could set a standard price for the lessons, a bit higher than you would need to make to cover your costs and wages, and offer a discount to guardsmen with companies or consortiums that you like, maybe even for new patrollers or guardsmen of the Hirsel who want a bit of extra training. Then you would be focusing on helping more guards, right?"


    Gohren smiled at her, and Cerise relaxed a bit more. "I already plan to do something of the sort."


    "Well, do you think any of the bigger groups would pay you to offer a deeper discount? That way they can claim the discount as an agreement on their people''s behalf, and give them a reason to promote your training services to their people. It could even just be a symbolic amount," Cerise offered.


    Miss Sanyel laughed. "That''s thinking like a [Merchant]!"


    Gohren chuckled, and Cerise knew the guard sergeant had forgiven her.


    <hr>


    The finances of the hirsellands of Treborant were handled at an administrative building near the Hirsel of Treborant''s primary estate, which was itself central to the city of Va''Treborant. The buildings here were made of stone and the walls all radiated mana to Cerise''s Mana Sensing skill. She wanted to ask about that, but worried that it might be a strange thing to ask about.


    Mykhal just asked. "Are the walls magic? They look like magic."


    They were, indeed, according to Miss Sanyel.


    Many of the Honorables, the untitled family of nobles, were far enough removed from the inheriting family line that they had to take up trades. They turned out most of the working [Mages] in Druerjan, and quite a lot of [Mages] sought out [Elementalist] classes.


    [Rune Smiths] would work with [Earth Mages] to build wards into the more important buildings and defenses of the town or city, and the [Mages] would seal in the rune wards to prevent people from using skills like Mana Sight to deconstruct the runes.


    One concurrence was that if a building was important enough to rune ward, it was owned by someone rich enough to afford tailoring the ward covers. There were still limits to what could be done, but seeing buildings that supported lush gardens up the walls, or adorned with impossible seeming flourishes as they got closer to the Hirselland fiscal heart was commonplace. The one building with a flowing geometric pattern circling around the building in a constant state of movement was not commonplace, however.


    The Hirsel''s administrative complex, a set of three buildings that formed half of a hexagon, forewent the gardens and flourishes. Instead, the central building ascended to a towering height, and all three appeared to be made of solid marble but for large, public entrances. The marble was gold-streaked dove gray.


    Gohren, his spirits restored nearly to the level before Cerise''s skill-driven bout of insanity, waved them off. Miss Sanyel took them to the left side building. In the lobby of that building, she paused briefly before a sign listing various administrative tasks: Finance-Collections, Finance-Assessments, Finance-Levies, Finance-Claimants, Disputes-Complaints, Disputes-Adjudicators, and more that Cerise did not have time to read.


    Miss Sanyel touched the listing for Finance-Claimants and a light blue, softly glowing line appeared on the floor, moving forward at a steady walking pace. "Follow the line," Miss Sanyel said, her tone hushed. "Move along the right side of the corridors."


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    "Why the right?" Her mother asked.


    "The guards are trained to use their left arm for shields, and it is easier for them to defend people who are between them and the walls. It''s becoming the standard of manners in this hirselland, at least, and we''re going to claim monies from the hirselland, which is near where people have to go to clear up their accounts of levies or make payments for fines and such like. The guards here are as much a deterrent to those with sour feelings as a ready response when someone refuses to accept that their disputes need to be scheduled for hearings, and not violently expressed."


    Cerise''s mother stopped in surprise abruptly enough that her father bumped into her, and Cerise and Mykhal into him. Miss Sanyel kept walking while they sorted themselves out and hurried to catch up.


    "Freeman raise their hand against their liege''s representatives?" Cerise''s mother asked when they were close enough she could whisper it.


    "I think it''s more the low strata Honorables, but every now and again fools are born to Freeman. The higher strata take their dealings to the main building, and I don''t know what happens there."


    They had no more time for questions, though, as they arrived in a room four bow-lengths deep and five wide. There were three sets of counters, and four doors out of the room. Their leading light took them past the counters to the farthest door, which opened when the line reached it. A small placard on the door read "Claimants".


    As Miss Sanyel had said, there were guards, both in the room through which they passed, and in the room into which they entered. Cerise felt their scrutiny as waves of Identify-tinted mana broke over her.


    Miss Sanyel held out a guiding hand -- pointing, Cerise had learned in the caravan, could trigger skills that sensed hostilities -- and said, "Mykhal and I should stay back as the receipts are not for us."


    Cerise''s father pulled out a sheaf of papers. When her parents ducked their heads and grimaced thankful smiles to Miss Sanyel, Cerise knew they were feeling overawed, too. She squeaked out a hushed, "Thank you for your guidance, Miss Sanyel," before following after her parents.


    This room was closer to three bow-lengths and square, and the counter at the far end was more of a long window looking into another room entirely. A stone filigree allowed only two hands of clearance at the bottom to pass things back and forth, though the filigree allowed them to see and speak with the person behind the counter.


    A sign set into the floor instructed them to wait to be called forward. Cerise caught her father before he could head directly to the window. The man behind the counter window glanced up at Cerise''s quiet explanation to her father. "Thank you, Miss. Come forward, please."


    So they did, and her father handed over the sheaf of papers. The clerk sorted the papers into two piles and pushed one back. "These are Letters of Recommendation from Sir Fenrick and Honorable Mister Ethrick. Have you any experience with such?"


    Cerise''s father shook his head. "No, Honorable Mister."


    "You keep them. Present them where appropriate for someone to read over and verify the imprimatur, but you keep them." The man looked sternly at her father, who nodded. At that, his expression relax. "And it''s Mister, no Honorable. Now, these receipts are for one [Healer] and two [Laborer] aides. Who is whom?"


    "My daughter Cerise is [Healer] classed, and my wife Bergin and I helped as we could when the good Sir''s patrol was in need, good Mister."


    The counter man nodded, his gaze on his side of the filigree. Cerise''s Mana Sensing gave her the impression of a yellow glow.


    "Do you verify?" The counter man asked, his gaze moving between Cerise and her mother. Both said yes. The counter man smiled, a more genuine polite smile. "The receipt says you are not bound to our Hirsel or any noble bound to him so there are a few extra affirmations I need to process these receipts. I will be doing some running about back here, so please step to the side for the moment. I will call for Rhene''s party when I have everything ready. Ah! Do you have a coin box with you to take payments?"


    Cerise''s father shook his head. "Not to hand," he began.


    "The receipt mentions one should be provided if needed, so I''ll get that sorted. It might be a few rush marks." The counter man waited for them to move off before he called someone to "take the counter" and departed.


    One rush mark turned into three. In that time, five more claimants entered the room. Two had gone already, and two stood in a queue while the third was at the counter when the counter man who had taken their receipts returned. The claimant at the counter raised her voice. "Pay me what I''m due, damn you!"


    The guards reacted, two stepping up to flank her and the other two putting hands to their sheathed clubs and blocking the door. The one nearest laid a palm over a plate on the wall, and the door glowed red.


    The woman growled at the guards. "I''m not stupid! I''m owed money, just like that receipt says!"


    "Then you should have gotten a contract to claim this person''s receipts because you are not the person who may claim them," the man at the counter snapped. "Not made out to you, no contract allowing you to claim on the recipient''s behalf, no proof you did not steal them, no payment!"


    "Fine! Give it back so I can--"


    "No! It goes to Unclaimed Receipts and you can answer the inquisitors there with contract in hand!"


    A short tussle ensued, and the woman was escorted out of the room.


    The next person in the queue started to move up, but their counter man said, "Please return to the line, Mister."


    The man frowned, but did as asked, glancing at the guards returning to their stations.


    "Rhene''s party, please approach," their counter man called, replacing his stand-in.


    The men in the queue grew sour expressions. The man at the counter loudly said, "Thank you for allowing us to see to other claimants while I took care of the more time-consuming aspects of your receipts. I''m sure everyone appreciates the time they have been spared waiting." In a more confidential tone, the counter man asked, "Can any of you read?"


    "I can, but Cerise is better," her mother answered.


    "Please read this for your parents. If all is in order, please make your marks, one to each contract of receipt."


    Cerise read them out, but softly as she saw the amounts. The receipts they were to sign stated they would not use the funds given them to deliberately bring harm to the Hirsel of Treborant, his vassals, servants, peasants, serfs, or others in the course of their employment by the Hirsel, with the sole exemption being immediate self-defense from unlawful acts. Some part in the depths of Cerise''s soul wanted to quibble over the wording.


    Her mother and father received a silver leaf. Cerise, though, received two silver branches, one leaf, and six grand coppers for her services, plus another eight grand and nine large coppers for her materials and maintenance of tools.


    It was the first time for Cerise to make her mark, but she had been present when Miss Sanyel explained the process to Mykhal. Contract papers were specially prepared by someone with the Contract skill, mostly [Merchant] and [Scribe] type classes. The parties to a contract, an odd phrasing to Cerise and her family, had only to activate a skill targeting the paper for their mark to appear. It would carry a hint of their unique mana signature. Contract pages prepared by decently skilled people would indicate if one of the signatories broke the contract, and those by highly skilled people showed who was in breach and which penalty clauses were applicable. Most of the time, pages of broken contracts changed color. Sometimes a signer''s mark did, but that also altered the mana signature.


    Cerise''s mother''s mark reminded Cerise of a home with a smoking chimney. Her father''s looked like a pickax crossed over a hammer. For her mark, she used her Triage skill, and she watched as a sleeping beast took shape with its tail curling to the right. Mykhal''s mark on the contract with the Nykimopia Consortium had been a four toed paw print with a bow and drawn arrow encased in the paw print.


    Once the counter man received the receipt contracts he pushed over a coin box. "I took the liberty of using smaller coins to make the equivalent amounts."


    Cerise''s father ducked his head. "Thank you for the consideration, good Mister."

 Chapter 17: hunt the better me

    The Tradesman''s Rest was a nice mix of contained and bustling, and better yet, most everyone around Cerise was healthy. She "stood the round" for Gohren, Miss Sanyel, the Quartermaster, and a handful of the [Wagoneers] that included Tamrin, twice, drinking small beer the first round and cider the next. The cider tasted better, but made her head spin so she used Heal Toxins on herself and sobered up.


    Gohren was on his fourth round of hale beer when he turned to Cerise. "Tha'' thin'' ya di, onna stree''," he said, his slurring taking the form of losing his ending consonants. "Y''ougttah--. Ogtah--. Aught-to. You do tha'' till I ge'' resis''anz."


    Cerise tipped her head to the side, not understanding. "May I?" She asked holding up her hand.


    "Yeah! Now!" He agreed.


    Cerise used her Heal Toxins skill until her focused Triage on Gohren downgraded him from drunk to inebriated. She used the act of breaking skin contact to help her stop her Heal skill, absently noting the division increase while she asked, "What were you saying?"


    "Oi, I''m thirsty! That thing you did that dropped me on the way to Treborant Hall, I want you to do that until I get a Resistance skill for it. Even the unlock would be good. Not now. Now we''re celebrating, but tomorrow."


    "You want me to hurt you again?" She asked, confused.


    "What?" "Storytime!" "What happened?" "How did you piss the Miss off?" Questions came in from those not present at Cerise''s faux pas.


    Gohren ignored them and said, "You didn''t hurt me; the cobblestones did that." His easy expression hardened. "I had something like that happened to me when I was just starting out, and it still burns my cheeks. I want a Resistance. You do that to me enough, and I''ll gain it."


    "Okay, but away from cobblestones, then," she agreed.


    And then she had to sit through her parents, Miss Sanyel, and Gohren describing how she lost her head to her skills.


    Mykhal had stuck to small beers and took food over alcohol for the last two rounds. He watched Cerise squirm at the telling and the playful ribbing both she and Gohren got for the event. When he could go without too much notice, he excused himself to head up to their room. Cerise followed soon after.


    When she opened the door, she caught him wiping away tears. "What''s wrong?"


    "I''m not my father!" Mykhal snapped.


    "Of course not!" Cerise said.


    "I''m not my father! But! I hit you. I don''t want to become that man." Mykhal sagged as he gave her that admission.


    Young Cerise wanted to gush out assurances and deny the very possibility. The older fragments stopped her. Instead, she heard herself asked, "Why do you fear you will become your father?"


    "I hit you," he said, shocked that she didn''t understand.


    "Why did you hit me?" She kept her tone calm as she asked him that.


    "You were out of your mind! You were attacking us so you could go heal everyone and hurt yourself! I panicked, and I was angry, and it hurt that you would attack me, and I just reacted!" He confessed.


    She nodded to show she had heard him. "Is that what your father did? Panicked and reacted?"


    Mykhal''s face twisted up, and he sat on the edge of the bed, hunched into himself. "He got angry and drunk and that''s when he started throwing punches. But he hit the people he said he loved, and I never want to be that man."


    Cerise sat down next to him and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "It sounds like we both made a right mess of things today, then. Results speak loudest, true, but reasons separate man from monster."


    Mykhal flinched.


    Cerise rubbed his back. "Hey, none of that! So you''ve learned to react to hurt with an active defense. That doesn''t mean you can''t learn more ways, and train so there''s no hesitation. You''re a [Hunter], right? This is just part of hunting a better you."


    He turned into her and hugged her, crying onto her shoulder. She ignored the whisper of the voice of the world, and hugged her friend back.


    [Oration] advances to Practice-8.


    After a moment, less than a rush mark of time, he straightened a bit, but still hugged her. "All right. You''re right. I have to hunt the better me. Any ideas where to start?"


    More of her old-soul fragments dropped ideas in her mind. "Yeah, I think I do. We should get paper, pens, and ink. Then we''ll become journal buddies. The first thing we''ll do is write out who we want to be. It won''t be a contract, not yet. We''re going to have to try a lot of stuff out, see what fits us. Then we have to figure out how we get from who we are to who we want to be. That way, we''ll have an idea of who we are hunting, and a guide when the path to that better us gets all muddled."


    "You''re already perfect," Mykhal said.


    Cerise laughed at that, saw his confused look, and laughed harder.


    <hr>


    They spent four days in Va''Treborant, and Gohren gained the Clear Mind skill that Mykhal had picked up from his class. Additionally, Cerise recruited a handful of caravan guards to help her try out differences in ways to gain the skills. So far, the fastest way had been when both she and the guard had their profiles open and concentrated on the guard learning the Clear Mind skill to resist Cerise''s Slumber skill. Mykhal had a few tricks he had picked up to train the skill, like doing math games when he was tired, which he shared, and he was present for most of her time with the guards.


    Cerise was a bit scared to be out in the city, even without the aura of her Triage skill active. There were just so very many people! Her mother, on the other hand, loved it. She went to as many types of ready-made food sellers as she could find, and discovered the small enchanted burners the food stall vendors used. The burners cost a silver leaf and used mana crysts to power the ring schemes.


    Small mana crysts were about a nail wide and weighed about twenty seed. Medium crysts were from two to three nails wide and about forty seed in weight. Large ones were from 60 to 100 seed, and huge crysts were around 500 seed. Crysts larger than that were the domain of [Mages] and nobles. Sizes above medium were measured by seed weight and not size because they often grew into interesting and not wholly uniform dimensions.


    Cerise''s mother bought two such burners, and haggled the inclusion of two nearly depleted crysts. She also got a few more tools for cooking, pans and a griddle, and her father spent a day with their cart to make it easy for her mother to cook from the back of it, like a fold out food stall.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Despite Mykhal''s being bound to his word like a full adult, his age and lack of a second-class still had most people thinking of him as a youth. Certainly no longer a child, but also not yet an adult. It meant that Cerise''s family were wary of any caravans that would hire him as a guard.


    Cerise, on the other hand, was traveling with her parents, who could be held as a responsible influence upon her. Miss Sanyel was able to recommend the family as travel-alongs with the caravan of a consortium that the Nykimopia Consortium traded with for coastal goods.


    They paid no guard fees and were included in the caravan for the purpose of road levies, but brought their own food, covered their own hostel, and agreed to help out in the event of an attack on the caravan.


    Miss Sanyel''s recommendation of the caravan was good enough for Cerise''s family, and they listened well to the pricing advice she gave them, and the general practices they could expect with [Merchants] and mercantile tradesmen. She also emphasized that they needed to value their services higher. "I don''t care how many of your class levels are in [Miner] and how many are in [Carpenter]. Your Woodworking appraises at Uncommon when it isn''t at Rare, and wagons are mostly made of wood. That means something. And if you think good food isn''t worth that much, Bergin, why would you invest so much of your effort to becoming Advanced in Cooking?"


    Cerise wasn''t sure that Miss Sanyel actually understood the problem for her parents. Parts of her fragmented memories came with words like "economy" and "accruals" and phrases like "supply and demand", "return on investment", and "operating in the black". The things she had learned of [Merchant] ways among the caravan felt like being reminded of what she had learned ages ago.


    Her parents, though, had lived their entire lives inside a barter economy. The idea of coinage wasn''t beyond them; the idea of valuing goods or services in coin just wasn''t intuitive to them. Hours for hours, needs for needs, that they understood. Hours for coins? Well, it was a bit unreal to them.


    <hr>


    On arriving at the staging area, Cerise and her parents spoke with the caravan master, a man by the name of Aldo. This caravan was sponsored by the Ma''deron Consortium, who focused on dungeon goods. They worked with the Free Lancers Consortium and hired Free Lancer sub-guilds that specialized in guard details for their caravan security.


    Her parents got the details about where their cart should go in the travel order. Cerise made sure that she understood what Aldo expected of her, and on finding out how little that was, she said, "I''m looking to open a class focused on Animal Handling skills and Healing for my Initiate class. Miss Sanyel had me making circuits of the wagons, watching for developing problems with the cattle, and I gained a lot doing that, both for my current class and toward my animal focused skills. That included some things that meant stopping a wagon for a few minutes, like getting stones out of shoes before they caused bruising, or put a bit of salve on leg bites. If that''s something you would like me to do, what I''m in need of is mentoring, for my family and myself. Things that are probably common sense to you, like getting an intuition of what coins are worth, and how to get along outside of a village where barter was the whole mercantile system."


    Mister Aldo''s eyebrows rose. "Miss Sanyel said you undervalued your services."


    Cerise smiled. "I''m not offering to pay for the salves, mind you, but consider this: we have food to see us where we plan to settle and a bit more, tools to practice our skills and crafts when we get there, and plenty of experience with living off the land. What we don''t have is information. As a wise man once told me, what you don''t know is more of a problem than what you don''t have."


    "Fair enough," Aldo agreed. "I''ll talk it over with my [Wagoneers] and the Quartermaster."


    Her father went to go see to their cart, while the next stop for Cerise and her mother was with the Free Lancers sub-guild. The leader there was a [Warrior] by the name of Sorkha. She pasted on an obviously fake smile as she caught sight of them making their way toward her.


    Cerise''s mother took the lead. "Mister Aldo directed us this way to find the guards leader. My daughter is a [Healer] and we''ll be helping out if there are any attacks that injure the guards or [Wagoneers]. We are here to introduce ourselves and see when would be a good time to make sure we know what to expect from each other."


    The fake smile turned real. "I''m Sorkha, and I lead the Steady Hammers. We have our own [Healer], but Brower just opened that class set with his Adept class. Come on, and I''ll introduce you."


    She led them to a trio of guards watching over one of the wagons as it was being loaded. She waved one over to her. "Brower! Come meet Aldo''s find!"


    The man was equipped like the other guards in reinforced leather plate, with a warhammer sheathed in his belt and a conical chest-sized shield on his back.


    "Yes, Captain?"


    Sorkha opened her mouth then closed it, blushing. "My apologies. I didn''t catch your names."


    Cerise''s mother laughed it off. "Worry not! I''m Bergin, a [Generalist] and this is my daughter Cerise, a [Healer Novice]. We''ll be providing aid after any attacks and wanted to get things figured out before there are any wounded to see to."


    Sorkha grinned, clapped Brower on the shoulder, and said, "Go check out what their addition will mean for our formations and figure the rest out. Check-in at the first stop."


    "Yes, Captain," Brower said, then turned to Cerise''s mother. "Miss, please lead the way. Young Miss? [Healer Novice]? How many of your class slots have you unlocked?"


    "All of them, and working toward raising my skill rank cap to Intermediate."


    "Good. Rare variant class, [Blessed Healer] type? Cure spells?"


    "No, I''m not a dedicate. I don''t mean to be cagey about myself, but why are you asking?" Cerise asked.


    "I could just say it''s for coordination''s sake, and be partly honest, but truth is I stumbled into the [Combat Medic] class and most of the [Healers] I''ve met are more jealous of their secrets than many a [Mage]. The skill manuals that I found have been few and far, and one is all focused on divine healing, the others on cleansing and sewing and anatomy, and not a word of applying it."


    "Ah. May I Inspect you?" Cerise asked.


    "You haven''t already?" He asked, appearing bemused.


    Name: Brower of the Steady Hammers


    Strata: Freeman, Free Lancer


    Class: [Warrior] Uncommon, Initiate; [Combat Medic] Uncommon, Novice


    Health: High, Full


    Stamina: High, Full


    "I''m still a youth, and what you want to talk about are things I want to discuss, too, but I also want to hear what both my parents think before I agree to talk more about specific skills and techniques.


    "As for what we can do, Mama has the recipe for Minor Healing Potions, and with those, a needle, Numb Salve I''ve made, splints, and bandages, we helped a patrol squadron that had just run into a goblin migration go from mostly too wounded to fight to combat effective in a day and a night''s rest, though their [Healer] was one of the casualties needing more extensive rest.


    "And, from what the Honorable Mister Ethrick said, it should be safe to share this: Triage is supposed to be a basic skill for the core of a [Healer] class. Do you have it?"


    Brower look frustrated, but said, "Yes."


    "Have you unlocked the aura mutation?" She asked.


    He blinked. "No."


    "If you can see, you can Triage, whether you realize you can see or not. It took me two or three weeks of triggering Triage just under my Pool regeneration rate to get the mutation. It''s an active-passive, and if you''re having problems with not healing everyone hurt or sick around you, leave it off around crowds."


    "Anything else you can share?" He asked, hopeful.


    Cerise shrugged. "We''ll be in the caravan together for a few weeks, right? Give my parents some time to consider. I may not be allowed to talk about some of my particulars, but I can see value in talking over some of the learned skills I picked up with someone with actual life experience and a use for the same skills."


    That cheered Brower up. He looked over their cart and its position in the caravan, approved of the wooden cover that her father had made for the cargo area, agreed that Cerise would be responsible for caravaneers first while he saw to the guards first, and they would aid the other after time critical wounds were seen to.


    Not long after Brower went back to his captain, the order to move out traveled down the caravan, and they were on the road again.


    <hr>


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 12


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Moderate


    Stamina: Good


    Mana: Good


    Attributes:


    Focus: High


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (12)


    Arcane Healing: P-4


    Heal Wounds: P-3


    Heal Toxins: B-2


    Heal Diseases: B-8


    Triage: P-9


    Stabilize: P-6


    Diagnose: P-5


    Pain Block: P-6


    Slumber: B-6


    Paralyze: B-3


    General Skills


    Slots: 2, Used: 1


    Acting: P-9 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: P-3


    Appraise: P-2


    Blades: P-1


    Clear Mind: B-4


    Cleanse, Greater *?: P-2


    Cooking: P-9 (I-3)


    Cyphers: B-7


    Dispel *: B-0


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: P-2


    General Craft *: P-8


    Hunting: B-6


    Logic: P-9 (I-3)


    Mana Proprioception *: P-4


    Mana Sensing *: P-3


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-4


    Oration: P-8


    Potion Brewing *: P-7


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-9 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-9 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Surgery *: B-9


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Tame Monster


    Dull Pain *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *


    Heavy Blow (Staves)


    Quick Thrust (Staves)


    Sweeping Blow (Staves)


    Counter Strike (Staves)

 Chapter 18: its just a class perk

    It took about a week for Cerise''s family to settle into the routine of this new caravan. Mister Aldo started everyone moving after a cold breakfast, but also stopped in the early evening, deciding on the days progress by a combination of the sun''s position and the state of his oxen. The [Wagoneers] told them how Mister Aldo preferred to take a fresh team on their first caravan with the help of the prior team''s lead. At the end of his route, he kept a new lead ox from his trip and sold the rest, buying a new, fresh team to train.


    The caravaneers did take Cerise up on her offer, and the mentoring happened mostly at the evening breaks, turning into "pot share" talks. The [Wagoneers] that came to talk with them in the evenings learned early to bring foodstuffs for Cerise''s mother to cook and share out leftovers from for the morning cold start.


    Mykhal made friends with the Steady Hammers, and soon a few of the off-duty guards brought their own meal fixings to the pot, sharing their own experiences and expectations.


    Cerise''s parents did their odd "long talk" routine while discussing how much she should talk about with Brower. A point would be raised, they would go about their day, considering, and later on raise another point or provide a counterpoint if they disagreed. No matter how silly or irrelevant a point was that was raised, it had to be addressed. Neither of her parents liked being dismissed, and "long talks" were serious. Talking that way took them two days to set the limits of what Cerise could cover with their permission.


    Thus on the third day, Cerise and Brower took to stepping aside for [Healer] talks during the two traveling rest stops.


    She gained the Teaching skill while enlightening Brower on why Cleansing was a core [Healer] skill. The concept of simple lifeforms too small for the unaided human eye to see, and so prevalent, so much a part of a healthy world and body, boggled his brain. When the idea settled, it took his Treat Disease from low Beginner into the middle of the Practiced. She also had her profile open, her focus on her Heal Disease skill, and watched as her own skill rose from Beginner-8 to Practiced-6. That confirmed for Cerise that focusing on her skills through her profile helped signal to the Voice of the World that she understood her skills.


    Cerise was not the only one teaching during these conversations. Brower''s practical experience as an adventuresome sort had taken him through dungeons and up and down the gnomish border. He could recount from memory hordes of plants with different medicinal properties. Most were considered poisonous, but as they discussed the different effects of these toxic plants, both of them gained in their anti-toxin skills, and Cerise''s Brew Potion skill grew to max. Also, her Herbalism skill re-listed at Practiced-3.


    Sometimes, Mykhal would deliver his latest hunt to them to study its anatomy while they dismembered the carcasses. He tried to find a variety of creature types, but the family agreed that crysts took precedence over variety. And Mykhal''s ability to find those mana cryst bearing monsters got noticed.


    "If my team''s [Scout] returned with a few more cryst mobbies, I would think the area rife with dire beasts and suggest the nearest Free Lancer factor sponsor a hunt for a mana well or new dungeon around these parts. They aren''t, though, and we''re running on the lower side of average to be honest," Brower said. His voice was quiet as he spoke to Mykhal after he dropped off the fourth cryst-bearing monster carcass in a row for their anatomy practice.


    Mykhal shrugged. "I have more time to hunt, and the cryst-mobbies act different from the ones without. It''s ... Well, it''s hard to say why they''re different, but they are."


    "Uh-huh," Brower said, patently unconvinced.


    Mykhal did not try to convince them. He did go hunting with one of the Steady Hammers'' [Scouts], again returning with a cryst-bearing carcass.


    The [Scout] shook his head when asked his opinion. "I couldn''t make sense of what he pointed out. I''m betting the rare for his class has to do with being some kind of monster hunting class, and it''s just a class perk."


    That seem to be enough to assuage any jealousy about Mykhal''s hunts.


    Cerise asked Brower about that and he said, "Rare skills and classes just mean that not a lot of people meet the requirements to take them. It doesn''t make them any better than a common class. In fact, some argue that rare classes are often mostly very specific ones, and the downside of being great at one thing is being not so great at all the rest. Besides, he''s good about sharing his bounty."


    <hr>


    Aside from having more time to hunt, Mykhal also had more freedom to schedule his training. When he first started to see the small gains from Elar''s Pool building, Mykhal became a dedicate of physical training. Cerise found him struggling to lift large rocks near their camp one morning, and scolded him for bad posture and form.


    Mykhal said, "This is how Sorkha showed me!"


    So Cerise marched over to the Steady Hammers part of camp and rounded up Brower and Sorkha. "Mykhal was trying to lift some rocks, and how he was doing it, he said he learned from Miss Sorkha. I''m hoping he was doing it wrong, because my Triage skill started screaming ''injury imminent''. I''m hoping that warning came from a synergy with General Anatomy. Mister Brower, your Anatomy skill is way ahead of mine. If I''m right about the synergy, I''m hoping you''ll get a better intuition of how to fix the dangerous part of what he''s doing. Miss Sorkha, if he''s not doing what you showed him, I would appreciate a demonstration of what he should be doing so I can be his watcher while his muscles are learning the forms, like Dad did with us when we were learning Staves."


    Mykhal''s expressions went from offended to embarrassed to flat to resigned and ended with a silent "oh" of understanding-based acceptance.


    Sorkha''s morning grumble became a poorly suppressed snicker as she watched Mykhal''s face. "I''m good with that. Brower?"


    "Just a moment," he said, his gaze distant in the way of one focusing on their profile. "And I''m ready now."


    Mykhal went to a rock nearby about the size of the one he had tried to lift in front of Cerise, squatted down, and leaned forward. When he wrapped the rock and started to lift it, Brower yipped, "Abyss no! Stop that!"


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Mykhal removed his hands from the rock and sat on his butt. "Seriously?"


    Sorkha frowned. "I didn''t see him doing anything wrong."


    "Remember how your back hurt for weeks after you helped lift the wagons when the land shark flipped them?" Brower asked.


    "Yeah," Sorkha said, looking a little green.


    "Remember having to go to a Healing Hall, and finding out that two of the discs in your spine got popped out of place?" Brower continued.


    Sorkha just nodded, looking pale underneath the green.


    "The boy was about to do something similar," Brower finished.


    Sorkha looked from Mykhal to the rock and back a few times. "Do that with me, please. Whatever you did with Mykhal."


    So the two [Healers] watched on as Sorkha squatted down, leaned forward, and rose to standing holding the rock. Then she squatted back down and set the rock down. She did not even look flushed.


    Cerise set her face into her palm and sighed. "Your Might is at least High, isn''t it?"


    "Yes, actually, it is," Sorkha boasted.


    The two [Healers] exchanged exasperated looks, and turned to Mykhal.


    "No more weightlifting advice from Sorkha," Brower ordered, earning a squawk of outrage from the team leader.


    "The things that are exercise for her Might are going to break you," he continued, ignoring Sorkha. "That''s the first problem. The second problem was that lean-in. Bones hold weight; muscles move weight. That lean-in was fine for pulling the weight to you, but you want to get as many bones as you can to take up the load of that weight." Brower explained more, and helped to correct the form problems in Sorkha''s exercises. She stuck around to listen in and tried a few of the changes herself.


    They ended up a little hurried on breaking camp, but none of them minded.


    <hr>


    Cerise woke the next day with strange bits of dreams lingering in her memories. In some, she ran forever and never went anywhere. In others, she pushed boulders up hills only for them to roll back down before she reached the top. In another, a man was trying to sell her bands of lead weights "so you maintain neutral buoyancy in the water".


    That last fragment of dream gave her an idea. She used some of her cordage twine to measure Mykhal from his feet to his neck. Then she made him weight bags to strap to his ankles, thighs, waist, chest and back, and forearms.


    "Fill those with rocks and heavy things and do your regular running around!" She said when she gave them to him.


    Mykhal was a good sport, teasing her just a little --  until he came back from his run absolutely drenched.


    "These are great! I can already feel myself getting closer to my limits!"


    <hr>


    In the evenings, Cerise and Mykhal got out their journals and scribe boxes that her father made them, and sat back to back while they wrote about their progress that day. Cerise had some fun creating a phonetic cipher to better capture the sounds of the lands they had traveled through.


    In the north of Druerjan, people spoke with longer vowels and softened the more clicky letters, like Ts and Ds. Toward the area they joined Miss Sanyel''s caravan, those T and D sounds were slurred more than softened, but in Va'' Treborant, the higher strata spoke with a crispness to their diction. Most of the [Wagoneers] and Mister Aldo''s caravan used shorter vowels and most of the consonants kind of popped in their mouths.


    Mykhal pouted when he saw her cipher. "You don''t trust me not to read your journal?" he asked.


    She laughed. Then Mykhal realized what he had just admitted to, and blushed. When she stopped laughing, she taught him her cipher.


    "Except," she said as she went back over it with Mykhal, "it isn''t really a cipher, I guess. It''s a different alphabet, and a different focus on spellings."


    Mykhal shot her an inquisitive look so she elaborated. "The spellings we have are based on how the posh strata speak. These spellings are about the sounds the actual person we''re quoting speaks. If I''m not quoting someone, I just write the words the way I would speak them."


    He started using her different alphabet, too.


    <hr>


    Not long after Cerise made the weights for Mykhal, he came back from his hunt beaming. When asked, he proudly proclaimed, "I leveled!"


    That evening, as they were journaling, he passed her his book, where he had written in "their" alphabet, "I got my last class skills slot!"


    She looked at him with eager excitement, biting her lips not to blurt out her question. Mykhal grinned, just as excited. He cupped his hands on his scribe box top, turning so he faced her and their bodies partially blocked anyone''s line of sight. Then he concentrated a moment, and Cerise''s Mana Sense picked up on mana moving from his chest to his hands. After another moment, he relaxed into a smile and lifted his thumbs, giving Cerise an opening to look into, and he flicked his gaze between her and his hands with a silent encouragement to look.


    She leaned forward and peered into Mykhal''s cupped hands. A dimly glowing orb of light flickered between his palms.


    "No way!" She breathed. That was a spell-skill! She mouthed at him, "You''re a [Mage]?!"


    Mykhal shrugged at her.


    "How did you learn that? How did you do that? Can I touch you while you''re triggering it?" She asked keeping her voice hushed.


    "It''s my last class skill, I just activate it, and sure! Now?" Mykhal answered, equal parts proud and eager to share the cool thing with his friend.


    Cerise readied herself to try using both her Mana Proprioception and Mana Sensing together to watch how the mana that made the light orb moved through Mykhal. He triggered his skill at her nod, and Cerise felt an echo of the flow of mana she sensed in Mykhal moving in herself. She felt her Mana Pool dip.


    [Lend Potency] learned! Comprehension assessed at Beginner-0.


    The light Mykhal was making flared up. The pair jerked, startled, and Cerise''s mother looked over. "What are you two up to?" she asked.


    "Nothing!" Mykhal said.


    "Something!" Cerise said at the same time.


    Cerise''s mom gave them a stern look. Mykhal nodded his head for her to come over, and she did. He cupped his hands and held them toward her, cracked open just enough for Cerise''s mother to see his little orb of light flutter in his hands.


    "Oh! Stop! Fast!" Cerise warned.


    Mykhal did and looked at her, questioningly.


    "You just went over your Mana Pool," she said softly. "By morning, you''ll be fine to cast again, but you don''t want to get mana sore! It sucks! And adding mana to your body when you''re sore just makes it worse, so the most you can take for the headaches is tea of Weeping Ma''alas bark."


    Mykhal grimaced and made a gagging face.


    Cerise''s mother wore a concerned expression. "Don''t play with that around the caravan."


    Mykhal looked up at her, and a bit of seriousness edged into his expression. "No, Mama, I won''t," he agreed


    <hr>


    A few days later, they were two thirds through their route with Mister Aldo''s caravan and three days out from Va''Velton as they bedded down for the night.


    They woke at the sound of a scream.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 12


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Moderate


    Stamina: Good


    Mana: Good


    Attributes:


    Focus: High


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (12)


    Arcane Healing: P-5


    Heal Wounds: P-7


    Heal Toxins: B-9


    Heal Diseases: P-6


    Triage: P-9


    Stabilize: P-6


    Diagnose: P-5


    Pain Block: P-6


    Slumber: B-6


    Paralyze: B-3


    General Skills


    Slots: 2, Used: 1


    Acting: P-9 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: P-3


    Appraise: P-2


    Blades: P-1


    Clear Mind: B-4


    Cleanse, Greater *?: P-2


    Cooking: P-9 (I-3)


    Cyphers: P-1


    Dispel *: B-0


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: P-2


    General Craft *: P-8


    Herbalism *: P-3


    Hunting: B-6


    Lend Potency *: B-0


    Logic: P-9 (I-3)


    Mana Proprioception *: P-4


    Mana Sensing *: P-3


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-4


    Oration: P-8


    Potion Brewing *: P-9


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-9 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-9 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Surgery *: B-9


    Teaching: B-3


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Tame Monster


    Dull Pain *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *


    Heavy Blow (Staves)


    Quick Thrust (Staves)


    Sweeping Blow (Staves)


    Counter Strike (Staves)

 Chapter 19: Hopped, jumped, and stamped, too

    "Byctses! Off the ground! Off the ground!" One of the Study Hammers roared the warning, rushing through the camp.


    Cerise''s parents quickly sprang from their blankets and grabbed for Cerise and Mykhal. Reflexively, Cerise rolled away from the grab. She came up in a standing position with her staff in hand.


    There was a weird flow of mana under the ground, and some of it was heading for Daisy. Cerise ducked under her mother''s next grab and reached the hobbled mare in three swift strides. She thrust her staff at where the mana was moving the earth. Something crunched under the staff''s butt, and then Mykhal was beside her.


    "I''ll guard Daisy! Get your parents on top of the cart!"


    It took her a moment to understand what was happening, then she nodded, and turned, nearly colliding with her mother.


    Cerise''s mother made an inarticulate sound of frustration and hauled her daughter back to their cart. Her father had his staff in hand, and was watching the ground. Her mother shoved Cerise onto the cart top, then scrambled up herself. Cerise moved to the edge, watching the ground near her father for more mana disturbances.


    "I''m watching, Dad! Up on the cart!" She said.


    He used his staff as leverage to jump onto the wheel and then up to the cart top. He moved to the other side, standing guard there.


    Her mother began berating Cerise, but she was more focused on the ground and the mana flows.


    She and her father ended up smacking at least thirty emerging holes between them before the all clear was called.


    Mykhal, meanwhile, removed Daisy''s hobble, and she joined him in stomping on byctses throughout the camp as they made sure all the caravaneers had gotten off the ground.


    One of the guards started to order Mykhal to get onto a nearby wagon. While he was speaking, Mykhal jammed his staff-butt into the face of a monster that resembled a mix of mole, worm, and porcupine, but about the size of a beaver. Then he did it two more times in quick succession while Daisy did an impression of a deer bounding in place on two more.


    "You were saying?" Mykhal asked.


    "Carry on," the guard said, laughing. "Damn [Monster Hunters]."


    Mykhal returned to give them the all clear, Daisy following after him with a small limp. Cerise was happy to find that the limp was from a strained muscle, not a wound, and took barely any mana to heal up. Daisy nickered her thanks and nuzzled Cerise, getting head pats in return.


    "And here Tamrin said I would be hard-pressed to find a better guard beast than a mule, but look at you! You danced all over those creepy things!" Cerise praised.


    "Hopped, jumped, and stamped, too," Mykhal agreed. "A few [Wagoneers] got bitten before they got to their wagons. Mama, Mister Aldo said that he would pay for Minor Healing Potions if you have the materials to make a pot."


    "We do, and I''ll get that started. Cerise, check on everyone first, then start healing." Her mother frowned to emphasize her order. "Mykhal, you watch her and don''t let her skills take her over."


    "Yes, Mama!" He said, and the two went off.


    The byctses turned out to have a paralytic venom in their bite. The [Wagoneers] were uncomfortable, but they had lost two oxen, and six more would not be back in the traces without surgical applications of the Minor Healing Potion Cerise''s mother was brewing.


    Then one of the Study Hammers came running. "Brower needs help! We found the twins bad mauled!"


    Cerise said, "Lead on!" and she ran beside the Free Lancer guard to where two other guards were stretched out on the ground. Her Triage Aura picked up on the toxin in the quieter guard, a woman named Kaspia, affecting her heart. The other guard, Kaspia''s brother Casper, was more heavily wounded but active.


    Cerise went to the woman, opening the spout on her water bag.


    "Mykhal, bring me two water bags of Mama''s potion as soon as it''s ready!" She ordered.


    She pulled out her large blade and began cutting away the straps holding Kaspia''s armor to her, and sliced as quick and sure as she could to get through her gambeson to the skin above her heart.


    "What are you doing?" Sorkha asked.


    "There''s toxin in her heart. I need an incision near enough to apply Heal Toxins, and then Heal Wounds after I cleanse away the toxin," Cerise answered, her mind focused on saving the woman''s life.


    The skin over Kaspia''s heart exposed, Cerise dropped her large knife, drew her small blade, the one she kept nigh brittle sharp, and used Greater Cleanse to clean the blade and the incision point, just left of Kaspea''s sternum and between her ribs. Cerise''s movements were quick, steady, and deliberate, and she kept up her Greater Cleanse even as she alternated between Heal Toxins and Heal Wounds.


    Mykhal returned with the water bags of healing potion.


    "Give one to Brower. Then pulled the stopper for mine. Hold it steady." She ordered.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Mykhal did as she asked, even as he swallowed at the blood flowing along with the yellow-green venom from the small cut Cerise was keeping open with her surgical knife.


    Brower''s eyebrows raised. "Uncommon! Good!"


    Over her shoulder, Cerise said, "Direct application, even if it involves cutting, is half a hand more effective against long injuries. Let me know if you need a cleanse. Long needles work for getting the potion to bone breaks and bruising. What does your Triage say about the toxin?"


    "Paralytic, wears off in two to three hours, minor concern for Casper, deadly for Kaspia," he responded, flicking a glance at Cerise and his guild mate.


    "Yeah, hours of no heart beating is bad," Cerise agreed. "Mykhal, three drops of potion down the blade."


    He nodded and carefully poured. Cerise stopped using Heal Wounds, focusing her mana into Greater Cleanse and Heal Toxins. Once the incision finally stopped producing the yellow-green toxin, Cerise did a more thorough Diagnosis. As soon as Kaspia began to rouse, Cerise used Slumber on her and started healing the incision, removing the blade one nail''s width at a time, letting the healing potion do its work before easing another nail''s width of blade out.


    Once the blade was removed fully, the last bit of Minor Healing Potion applied, the incision closed up. It quickly turned red, then white, then faded as if Kaspia had never been cut.


    Cerise cleansed her small blade, checked for damage, and traded her knife for the half full bag of potion. "Sharpen that, please," she asked Mykhal. "I''m going to fix up the worst of her wounds, Brower, but I need to save some Focus for the oxen if we want to leave this camp anytime today. Are you good?"


    "Aye," he said.


    Cerise used her needle and the potion to patch up the more vicious bite wounds, and made Mykhal hold some of the tears in Kaspia''s skin closed while she used her needle to get the potion where it was needed to close more. She used one last activation of Greater Cleanse to get the dirt out of Kaspia''s remaining wounds.


    She then Dispelled her Slumber on Kaspia, gathered up Mykhal and her tools, and headed back to the oxen.


    Mister Aldo was there and his Quartermaster, both looking somber. "We''ll have to travel with half teams, more rest stops--. Are you hurt?" The last was said to Cerise.


    She blinked, glanced down, saw the blood her Cleanse Aura hadn''t yet dealt with, and shook her head. "One of the guards. Two were badly hurt. The [Wagoneers] I know were injured are all minor enough to wait. I was about to help the worst of the oxen, to give them enough time to recuperate from healing for us to move out tonight, then go see to the [Wagoneers], and then the less injured cattle. Did you get the potion from Mama?"


    "Yes, and we have distributed it to the [Wagoneers]. We were just assessing the beasts and lamenting not having more for them," Mister Aldo said, his eyes moving to the water bag in her hand and the other at her waist.


    "Well, you''re in luck. If you wouldn''t mind holding that fella steady, he is the least mobile of those still living." Cerise just started walking to the oxen she pointed out. Mister Aldo allowed Cerise to direct him.


    "If you''ve never seen Surgery performed, it can be weird, and counterintuitive. I will be using skills to Block Pain, and then using my needle mostly to get the potion where it will have the best effect. I''ll also be running a Cleansing skill to prevent infections. I am not yet to the Intermediate rank-open so there might be more blood than a more skilled [Surgeon] would cause. That said, all the people and beasts that I''ve used my [Healer] skills on have come out better than when I started." Cerise delivered that little speech at the prompting of her older memory fragments, and her bluntness and assurance seemed to help relax Mister Aldo, the Quartermaster, and the hale [Wagoneers] now checking on their cattle. She also figured that if there were going to be objections, let them be made now. She did not want anyone trying to stop her while she was in the middle of surgery. That could cause the animals more harm.


    Mister Aldo slipped a halter on the ox that Cerise had pointed out. She felt the faintest hint of mana coming from him as he calmed the beast. His job got a lot easier as Cerise''s Block Pain skill took effect, and she set to work.


    One of the onlooking [Wagoneers] commented, "You''re being right miserly with that potion."


    Absently, Cerise said, "Bodies can only handle so much mana. No need to give the pretty boy alchemical sickness on top of the rude wake-up call. Isn''t that right, you sweet boy?"


    The ox lowed in agreement.


    The [Wagoneer''s] frown only went away when Cerise finished and he could not find any scars at the bite sites.


    Cerise, Mister Aldo, and Mykhal had already moved onto the next ox needing healing.


    "Well, I''ll be damned," the [Wagoneer] said.


    "I hope not," Cerise responded, still more absorbed in her labors then the conversation around her. It meant she wasn''t really paying attention to what she said, or if what she heard even needed a reply. "Being forgotten is the final death, after all."


    Mykhal said, "Cerise, you''re being weird again."


    "It''s not ''again'' when it''s ''always''," she countered.


    "Okay. Point to you. But, you''re usually better about not saying the weird stuff," he responded.


    "I''m usually not mostly focused on healing mobby bites," she agreed by explanation.


    "You know it''s really frustrating when you do that one-up agreeing," he said, laughing.


    "Then don''t be right," she said.


    He opened his mouth, then shut it, sighing. The caravaneers around them laughed.


    <hr>


    While Cerise and Mykhal were helping to heal humans and beasts alike, her parents gathered up the corpses of the defeated monsters and started processing them.


    Daisy had not been hobbled again, and unlike most normal horses, she did not seem terribly bothered by the blood.


    As Cerise''s mother told the tale at their next camp that evening, they found out why when they caught Daisy lipping up a small mana cryst. Their horse was in the beginning stages of turning dire.


    Fortunately, she only got the one cryst, and it was a small one. Natural creatures, those born of some sort of parent, had to grow their tolerance to mana. Too much led to mana poisoning, and from there to mana warping, a rather grotesque and, by all accounts, insanely painful monster-fication. Mana born creatures skipped the pain, but kept the insanity.


    According to Tamrin, and all the [Wagoneers] they talked with, actually, the best way to manage a draft beast turning dire was to add a bit of mana-rich forage to their diet. Monsters got aggressive when they were mana starved, and once a beast went dire, they were monsters, needing mana to stay healthy.


    The next day, Mykhal added foraging for magical plants to his routine while hunting. Cerise saved the seeds that she could, and Daisy enjoyed treats.


    <hr>


    This time when Cerise saw the walls of the city in the distance, she turned off her Triage Aura right away.


    Va''Velton was a beautiful sight, and no less terrifyingly crowded than Va''Treborant. The walls towered at least a quarter field tall, forty bow lengths that was, and the passage through the walls into the city was a good fifteen bow lengths, not quite an eighth field.


    Cerise could feel people in the walls, watching them through slitted windows. She double checked that she had her Triage Aura effect off. Though she wasn''t getting a very strong sense of the watchers'' bruises and aches, she did still feel the minor training wounds they sported.


    Mister Aldo had invited Cerise and her family to guest at the Ma''deron Consortium Compound in the city, to which they agreed. The caravan would lay over for a few days before continuing on their circuit.


    On the first morning, Kaspea and Casper requested Cerise''s family accompany them to the Free Lancers Compound.

 Chapter 20: Hidden Perk Discovered

    The twins shared three reasons for their invitation to the Free Lancers Compound.


    "First, you want to join, and it''s cheaper with a member sponsoring you," Kaspia began.


    Her brother seamlessly spoke next. "Second, you''re going to the new dungeon in this hirselland, and the guild''s going to be one of the best places to find out more before you arrive."


    Kaspia resumed. "And, third, we owe you. It is part of what it means to be a Free Lancer that we pay our debts." She looked directly at Cerise as she said that.


    Cerise considered her grave expression, and asked, "Do you feel there is a debt between us?"


    "Absolutely," Kaspia said without hesitation. "I was awarded the [Survivor] achievement for narrowly dodging Noq-el''s grasp, and that is solely because of you."


    Cerise nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. Prompted by the fragments of her traveling soul, Cerise said, "I am no god to tell you what your life is worth. There isn''t much that my family and I are in need of at this point, so if what we can accept from you still leaves you feeling indebted, I hope you can alleviate that indebtedness by paying it forward. We," and here Cerise gestured to her parents and Mykhal, "are only here because of the generosity of those who were once strangers to us."


    You have earned the achievement [Blessed by Noq-el]!


    [Blessed by Noq-el]: you have pleased the God of Death. Perk: you gain Death Resistance. Noq-el sees purpose for you among the living. This resistance will wax and wane at Noq-el''s whim.


    Cerise''s eyes rounded, her face paled, and her jaw dropped. A few incoherent sounds dribbled from her lips.


    "What is it?" "What''s wrong?" "What happened?"


    Mykhal caught her by the shoulders and she sagged against him. "Breathe!" He ordered her. She nodded and tried to focus on the act of expanding her lungs, filling them with air, holding like that for just a moment, then pushing the air out, and starting all over again.


    After several moments, Cerise''s ability to form words returned to her. "Achievement. Blessed! By Noq-el!" When she spoke the god''s name, her voice resonated with the chill of the grave.


    Hidden Perk Discovered: speak the name of the god that blesses you and their authority follows.


    Cerise needed a few more moments after that.


    <hr>


    The twins accompanied Cerise and her family to the Temple of the Gods, where they were met by a priest of Noq-el on the steps leading up to the temple proper.


    "Hello!" The priest, known as a Mort, sang out. "A [Survivor] and a new [Blessed] together?" He clapped his hands just under his chin. "Oh lucky day!" Then he became all seriousness. "Miss [Blessed], there is no need to panic. My patron is a very no-nonsense sort. Death is not a game, nor a game player. If he wanted you as a dedicate, he would have told you so, or sent you a mentor. Whatever you did to earn the blessing is something he wants to prosper in the world."


    The Mort-el held up a hand before they had a chance to respond. His gaze grew distant and he cocked his head to the side as if listening. Then he laughed, a rich and wickedly delighted sound. Soon, the grin brightening the priest''s face became a relaxed remnant of his mirth. "And when I said he doesn''t play games, that applies to we mere mortals. He does have a friendly rivalry with Lunaria, and your blessing, Miss [Healer], is a benign way to poke at her as much as to encourage others to emulate your," and here the priest held his cupped hands up to show that he was quoting, "''humble generosity and grateful spirit''. In furtherance of that,"


    The priest stepped up, made some intricate finger gestures, and tapped Cerise''s mother on the forehead. "[Benediction]," he intoned, and mana cascaded through the priest and settled around her mother. He repeated this with her father, Mykhal, Kaspia, and Casper.


    Once done, he stepped back, waved, sang out, "Have a nice day!" and then turned and went into the temple.


    They all looked to each other in confusion, and cautiously, unsure at first, turned and headed to the Free Lancers Compound. None of them spoke before reaching the compound.


    <hr>


    Kaspia took them to a plain wooden door to the right of the red client door by a few bow lengths. She pointed to the down-pointed sword engraved in the door. "This is the mark for the irregulars, the sub guilds and smaller teams banded together under the aegis of the Free Lancers Guild. We''re the folks who would be Independents if not for the Lancers. The Company men use the door with crossed swords. The Consortium usually is to the left of the client door, and they use bags for their door marker."


    Behind the door, a large foyer led to two distinctly different rooms. To the left was a small room with window counters much like the Finance Claimants counter in Va''Treborant. The filigree was made of steel and more swirly in design, and there were four windows with an obvious door in the far corner. A board with tokens stood in the middle of the walkway from the foyer to the counters.


    To the right, there was a tavern room, with a mix of table sizes and a barkeep at the back wall. Barrels lined the wall behind the tavern''s bar. There were smaller groups scattered around the tables.


    Kaspia picked up a token and led the way to a table in the tavern. "These are queue markers. There''s rune magic involved. When it''s our time for the queue, our mark will light up. We can go outside; as long as we stay on the compound the mark will be good. If you don''t get up to the counter fast enough, the clerks will signal for the next queue mark. That happens and you''ll need to line up with the marker showing that it''s been lit up. When you''re called to the counter, then you put your queue marker back on the board, wherever there''s a free peg."


    A group got up and headed toward the counters, giving their table an interested look. One of the group stopped, saying, "I''m going to catch up with the twins." His friends waved him off.


    He approached the table, calling out, "Hey, Kas-Cas, how are the Hammers?"


    "Luffy! Good to see you!" Casper said, standing to grip forearms with the man. "The Hammers are prospering. We had a bad scare with Pia a few days back, but she''s a [Survivor] now thanks to young Miss Cerise here." Then Casper made introductions, calling "Luffy" Mister Lufer of the Brush Rangers, a [Scouts] team.


    "So you''re here to join the Free Lancers? The Hammers recruited you?" Luffy asked.


    Mykhal shook his head. "We''re going to the new dungeon town, to delve there and settle Cerise''s parents. If things are good for us there, we''ll stay, or if not, we''ll find a place to prosper."


    "Wait," Casper said. "I thought you and Cerise are sibs?"


    "We''re best friends, and we were neighbors before our village was wiped out," Cerise said. "In fact, Mama and Papa stood for Mykhal when his dad was to have been working the mine for our village. Our classing days were back to back, and we overnighted at the holy place. That''s the only reason we weren''t caught up in the attack that killed our neighbors. That was the second time the cyr of those lands broke covenant with Mykhal, and he wasn''t well thought of, so we exercised a Freeman''s right to seek prosperity elsewhere."


    Cerise''s mother smiled and smoothly stepped in. "We decided on the new dungeon as much because I like fish and hope to find new foods to cook as the stories of how the newer dungeons have all sorts of opportunities for those willing to work."


    "Well, that''s true enough," Luffy agreed. "If you''re mainly interested in dungeon delving, buy the book of Druerjan''s dungeon laws. It''s hard for the nobles to cheat a man who knows what he''s owed, and you can turn over older books for any newer editions for a discount. The downside to the purchase is that you mayn''t claim ignorance for a mitigation if you break the law, but again, Velton''s nobles rarely mitigate for ignorance where Free Lancers are involved. Honestly, not many nobles do."


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Cerise''s father asked, "How much are the books?"


    "I think for dungeon laws and edicts, it''s a leaf, but asked the clerk," Luffy said.


    Another group rose and Luffy''s group returned. They joined the table and introductions were made all around.


    None of the present Brush Rangers had been to Sea Crest Dungeon Village, but they had been to new dungeons, and they share that experience, ordering a round of small beer while they talked.


    "Oh, the dungeon''s called Sea Crest because that''s what''s on its coins. I don''t think anyone''s earned more than grands from it yet. Last I heard, it''s only opened up six floors, and silver isn''t usually seen before the tenth floor." The man who said that fished a small copper from his pocket. He showed them the dungeon crest that looked like waves crashing against cliffs.


    "So, you two alone are going to delve?" an older member of the Brush Rangers asked.


    "Nah," Mykhal said. "We''ll look for someone with some delving experience to complete our triad."


    "Aren''t you a bit young for that?" another [Scout] asked.


    A man from another table called out, "Hey, I''d delve her dungeon!"


    Casper called back, "Did you miss the part where she''s thirteen and he fourteen?"


    "What are you even talking about triads for? That''s way too young!" the lewd man called back.


    "What? We can join the Free Lancers, but we have to be soloists?" Mykhal asked, his frustration souring his expression.


    Suddenly, Kaspia began to laugh, huge bellyaching laughs. Everyone turned to look at her.


    "What?" Her brother asked.


    "Nor-Northerners!" She gasped out, doubling back over as she caught sight of the frowning faces around her.


    Cerise got a weird feeling. "Hey, Mister Luffy, what do Southerners mean when they talk about triads? We''ve only heard of them as Free Lancers teams, not big enough for a guild."


    Mykhal blinked and tipped his head to the side like a confused puppy.


    "It is not a type of Free Lancers team, and at least around these parts if it isn''t true, calling a group of Free Lancers a triad could be taken for fighting words. Small teams are parties, and official like parties have a dedicated [Scout] and [Healer], though often enough the [Healer] can be a [Combat Alchemist] or just someone with at least Practiced-5 in a First Aid skill. Add a [Warrior] type to that and you have a classic party. Most delvers prefer a four or five man party, adding in another [Warrior] and then maybe a [Mage] or another [Warrior] or [Scout]."


    "Oh," Cerise said. "Well, we''re going to look for someone to help us form a ''classic party'', and we''ll be looking for cautious and experienced party members, though we''ll have to see who all is available."


    "Why wouldn''t you want a [Mage] over a second [Warrior]?" Mykhal asked.


    "[Mages] bleed mana into the air, and monsters are always mana-hungry. You need the extra shield to keep the [Mage] alive when he starts casting." That was one of Luffy''s guild mates.


    Cerise and Mykhal had more questions, but their queue marker lit up.


    "That''s our turn!" Casper said, and the impromptu conversation broke up.


    The woman at the counter listened as Casper and Kaspea explained their purpose.


    "So, let me get this straight. You," pointing at Cerise, "are an unaffiliated [Healer], undedicated and unbound to any [Healer] Halls or even any liege. She," pointing to Kaspea and making the woman grimace, "is alive and a [Survivor] because of your actions. What compensation have you received from her or her team?"


    "Well, she is guarding the caravan we''re traveling with, and she brought us here to gain more information of our destination and help us with enrolling as Free Lancers ourselves. There''s not much more we need, so I''ve asked her to be willing to render aid to those in need of Fortuna''s smile. It was by such kindness that we came to be in a position to help her out," Cerise said.


    "Is the caravan paying you to tend to the guards?" The clerk asked.


    "No," Cerise''s mother said. "They reimburse us for materials used, and cover our road levies for us to travel with them. The caravan master said the contract with the Steady Hammers left them responsible for their own [Healers] and healing costs."


    "All right. Wait here. I need to get an officer to approve under age applicants and address the compensation you''re due." The clerk took off even as she was speaking.


    A few moments later, she returned with a short man, quite broad, and bald as an egg, but with thick eyebrows and a prodigious mustache. Cerise felt a strong wash of an Identify type skill roll over her.


    "You want to be Free Lancers?" the man asked.


    Cerise returned his Identify with her Appraise.


    Name: Colin Iron Fist


    Race: Dwarfed Giant


    Strata: Freeman, Free Lancer


    Class: [Laborer] Rare, Initiate; [Warrior] Uncommon, Initiate


    Health: High, Full


    Stamina: Excellent, High


    Mana: Moderate, High


    "Yes," Mykhal said, and Cerise smiled and agreed, too.


    "And you''re asking for sponsorship as compensation--."


    "No," Casper and Kaspia said together.


    Kaspia continued. "We brought them here as a token gesture, a symbol of the life debt that I owe Miss Cerise. We''re sponsoring them because they will be assets to the Free Lancers Guild. I have statements here from our team members regarding our experience with both Miss Cerise and Mister Mykhal. Sponsorship is not compensation."


    "Good. Let me see those." As Colin took the packet of papers from the twins, he glanced to Cerise and Mykhal. "I don''t suppose you have any Letters of Recommendation, do you?"


    Cerise and Mykhal produced theirs. In addition to the recommendation from Sir Fenrick, Miss Sanyel and Guard Sergeant Gohren had written letters for all of Cerise''s family. Elar had provided one detailing his training of Mykhal, and Tamrin had handed over a letter of his own for Cerise and for her mother.


    "These are my first experience with Letters of Recommendation, so my apologies if this is something obvious to you, but I was told that we are to require these back once you have verified the imprimatur." Cerise said this as she handed over her packet.


    The officer set aside letters from the Study Hammers and put on a carefully neutral expression as he opened Mykhal stack first. The neutrality gave way to interest, and mild respect as he went through the stack.


    He smiled on reading Tamrin''s recommendation, but he nodded with obvious respect on reading the letter Sir Fenrick wrote. Each time he reached the imprimatur on a letter, Cerise felt his mana move. She paid careful attention, and on the sixth, the Voice of the World whispered to her.


    Skill mutation identified for [Appraise]. Verify Mana Signatures. Refer to profile for more information.


    [Mana Sensing] advances to Practiced-7.


    That had been growing quite quickly as Cerise began to watch people using their skills, after trying to feel how Mykhal cast his Lights.


    "Well, with these alone you''re welcome to the Free Lancers Guild. Mister Mykhal, by the laws of the Kingdom of Druerjan, you are an emancipated youth and so bound by your word. Miss Cerise, you will have to be emancipated, either by writ from your parents or by reaching the Age of Responsibility, before you may join."


    Cerise''s mother sighed. "Where do we obtain this writ to sign?"


    "Can you read?" Colin asked.


    "Not too well, but yes," Cerise''s mother said. "Cerise and Mykhal are both much better."


    "Good enough. I can have one of our scribes draft a writ for your review. It is fairly simple. You affirm that you release responsibility for Miss Cerise''s actions to Miss Cerise and renounce any legal authority you might exert over Cerise as her parent. When you affix your imprimatur to that writ, Miss Cerise''s Identify profile will reflect that she is an emancipated youth."


    That made Cerise curious. Her Appraise hadn''t shown more than strata when it came to a person''s place in society. Maybe she needed to spend some time contemplating that skill soon.


    "Well, then, we just need to sort out this matter of compensation," Colin said.


    "Did you see her [Blessing]?" Kaspia asked.


    Colin''s eyebrows rose. "I did."


    "When Miss Cerise explained that she wants for very little, and refused to put a value to my life, she said that what I cannot repay to her should be paid in service to, how was that phrased? ''Those in need of Fortuna''s smile''. She received the blessing then. We went to the temple before coming here, and were met on the steps by one of his Morts. Essentially, the Lord of Bones liked her attitude, and I don''t have the hubris to second-guess a god, let alone him and so soon after our brief meeting."


    Colin''s gaze flicked between the filigree and Kaspia. "Well, then, it would seem all that''s left is the paperwork. Let''s be about it," he said.


    An hour later, Cerise and Mykhal had pendants identifying them as newly enrolled Free Lancers. They were registered as a duo under the team name Delving Lights, Copper ranked, and given sponsor gifts of the Free Lancer Guild Rules of Conduct, the Dungeon Laws of Druerjan, A Report on the Sea Crest Dungeon, updated Midsummer of that year, and a Free Lancers Guild depository account for their team. The schedule of fees for their account was included with their new books.


    The duo was now eligible to take on commissions from the Free Lancers Guild. After they advanced to Bronze rank, they could take on client requests, though those would still be restricted by Free Lancers Guild rank.


    Copper to start. Bronze rank for the minimally competent. Silver rank was for reliable parties. Gold ranked teams were effective, and Platinum ranked teams were dangerous. Beyond that were the Master teams.


    The majority of Gold team members had to be in the Adept class range, and the Platinum teams were top performers. Master teams usually had one or two members in the Master class range, but a few teams have made the cut with only Experts.


    Cerise could feel Mykhal dreaming of becoming the leader of a Master team. She knew they could do it, too.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Youth


    Total Level: 12


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Moderate


    Stamina: Good


    Mana: Good


    Attributes:


    Focus: High


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (12)


    Arcane Healing: P-5


    Heal Wounds: P-7


    Heal Toxins: B-9


    Heal Diseases: P-6


    Triage: P-9


    Stabilize: P-6


    Diagnose: P-5


    Pain Block: P-6


    Slumber: B-6


    Paralyze: B-3


    General Skills


    Slots: 2, Used: 1


    Acting: P-9 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: P-3


    Appraise: P-2


    Blades: P-1


    Clear Mind: B-4


    Cleanse, Greater *?: P-2


    Cooking: P-9 (I-3)


    Cyphers: P-1


    Dispel *: B-0


    Drawing: P-4


    General Anatomy *: P-2


    General Craft *: P-8


    Herbalism *: P-3


    Hunting: B-6


    Lend Potency *: B-0


    Logic: P-9 (I-3)


    Mana Proprioception *: P-4


    Mana Sensing *: P-7


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-4


    Oration: P-8


    Potion Brewing *: P-9


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-9 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-9 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Surgery *: P-3


    Teaching: B-3


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Tame Monster


    Dull Pain *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *


    Heavy Blow (Staves)


    Quick Thrust (Staves)


    Sweeping Blow (Staves)


    Counter Strike (Staves)


    Achievements:


    [Blessed by Noq-el] Perk: Death Resistance ?


    Hidden Perk: Divine aura permeates the god''s name when you speak it.

 Chapter 21: the failure is in me

    Heral ran his palms down the sides of his thighs. They weren''t sweating, but, well, just in case. Squared shoulders, straight back, and head held high, Heral left his room and made his way to his father''s study. The guards at the door announced him.


    The study was as organized and understated as his father. Hirsel Aleron of House Treborant did not enjoy flourishes, but he did appreciate high quality materials used in the making of highly functional pieces created by masterful craftsmen that elevated that functionality into an elegance of form all of its own.


    He sat with Sir Fenrick beside the unlit fireplace and gestured his son to a readied third chair. "Come, sit. Reham, pour my son a glass of the frosted cherry wine."


    The two older men waited, watchful and silent while the senior Treborant Aide prepared the young Honorable''s drink. They waited for the courteous sip Heral took before Hirsel Treborant spoke again. "Sir Fenrick tells me you made progress on your core skill! Tell me about that."


    Heral flicked a glance at the Aide. "May we have privacy, father?"


    A touch of something like sadness moved fast enough across his father''s gaze that Heral wasn''t sure he wasn''t just imagining it, but the Hirsel dismissed his Aide.


    When it was just the three of them, Heral began. He described a young woman lacking courtesy, arrogant as only a [Healer] in the face of their deep need could get away with, and his surprise at Sir Fenrick''s grace.


    His father and Sir Fenrick grimaced at his description.


    Then Heral described the rebuke he earned, and the order to observe the [Healer]. He described the slow realization that sank in, that the woman was not arrogant, merely lacking the training to be courteous in the moment of their far more significant need. He described how watching while he helped her tend to their men, he saw the young woman''s dedication, grit, and craftsmanship.


    "Sir Fenrick said we are all born naked and wailing into this world, and over the time that I observed Miss Cerise, I stopped seeing her strata. That shift was significant to my skill, but the increase came when I was reflecting on Miss Cerise''s defense of her family abandoning their cyr.


    "While some may dismiss Wendynhelm now because he is a [Profaner] and revealed before all for his immorality, he was a covenant breaker before he broke the covenant constraining dungeons. He broke covenant with his Freemen.


    "There is a great significance in the covenant between Freemen and nobles to [Noblesse Oblige], and somehow what I need to understand is something I''m failing to learn from the nobles around me. I think the failure is in me. I contemplate the corrections I receive, but I don''t really grasp what I''m doing wrong. And so, I think the problem is not with my forms, but with my thoughts."


    Sir Fenrick asked, "Do you think you''ll understand more from a Freeman instructor?"


    Heral shook his head. "Not an instructor, but a Freeman, yes. One unbound and without courtesy to cloud the meaning of her speech."


    His father turned a pouting frown to Sir Fenrick. "You talked to him already? Or did the two of you plot this together?"


    "Plot what?" Heral asked.


    Sir Fenrick said, "No! No, Ale! I promise, I said nothing of my thoughts! I don''t think I even let slip a hint! It''s not on me if your son has enough self awareness to recognize from whom he learns!"


    "Plot what?" Heral asked again, not willing to assume that his knight-master had been asking permission to take him out of the hirselland.


    His father glanced with suspicion between the two of them a few times, then pursed his lips with sour amusement. Turning to his son, the hirsel said, "Fenny and I were discussing how to foster your skill growth. He suggested sending you off to shadow this young [Healer].


    "It is not convenient for me to have Sir Fenrick away at this time. In fact, I recalled you two because I need him reinstated as my knight-commander, regardless of whether experience with the fundamental forms of a noble''s obligations to his people is helping you or not. Pinlen is simply not up to the responsibilities.


    "Therefore, I''m sending you with your cousins Mahayan and Izrai to Velton''s new dungeon. If you are unable to progress in your class by Winter Solstice, I want you to reclass."


    <hr>


    Mahayan was a newly classed [Mage]. Specifically, she was a level 4 [Ritual Mage Novice]. Her [Shieldman] should have been a family retainer, but her parents were poor money managers and distant enough from inheritance that, but for Hirsel Treborant''s fondness for his former leveling companion, the family would have sunk out of the Honorables altogether. Instead, her older sister, now a level 10 [Sword Dancer], took on that responsibility.


    Izrai was a year younger than Heral, and an utter sword head. When she discovered they were traveling by horse and allowed to pack only what would sit on their horses for what was likely to be a two-year excursion, she immediately began brainstorming how to get a weapons locker and the specialized tack needed. She was willing to sacrifice her armor to fit more swords into her luggage.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Heral, quietly, procured three Minor Pendants of Holding and distributed food, bandages, and coins between them. He recalled his classing run and the poor quality of the [Healer] Miss''s clothes, and got a pair of Bracers of Moderate Holding.


    Magic items were tiered according to the magic required to make them. Minor Holding objects granted the wielder access to a spatial distortion of about two cubic arms.


    Lesser holding items expanded that to four cubic arms, Moderates to eight. A Greater Holding rune would give sixteen cubic arms of storage, while a Major Holding rune was good for thirty-two. Any larger capacity Holding runes were specialty artifacts, and a significant investment even for an Hirsel.


    His father questioned Heral about the Holding items, listened to his reasoning, and added a few [Healer] skill manuals. "These should be helpful to an unbound [Arcane Healer], keep the Halls from locking her away in trade for teaching her. You cannot learn from the Miss if she is sequestered."


    "I hadn''t even thought of that," Heral said.


    His father grimaced. "You haven''t had to deal with the Halls. They mean well enough, but they treat [Healers] like fragile blossoms."


    Heral thought back to the focused, determined young [Healer] he had helped, and laughed. She might be a blossom, but she was far from fragile.


    <hr>


    Mahayan did not take the news of their departure near so well as her sister. She quietly moped, allowing her mother to pack for her, and so ending up with more [Mage] skill books than clothes, precious little armor, and a training staff.


    Cousin Ilyse at least made sure her daughters had food and tents sufficient for the trip. Heral was sure he wasn''t supposed to overhear her saying, "And remember! You will have to rely on yourselves to put food in your bellies and shelter over your heads! Do not try to make Heral pay for everything! We are Honorables, we are family, and we contribute! Am I understood?"


    "Yes, mother," the girls answered, Izrai with a proud snap to her speech, Mahayan dismally.


    <hr>


    Duties to their patrol, and then the arrangements needful for noble houses to send family members into another noble''s lands, especially for an extended stay, delayed Heral''s departure from Va''Treborant by a full cycle of the moon and most of the next one since meeting Cerise.


    At least in that time, his father had learned the young Miss and her family had joined the caravan owned by the Ma''deron Consortium. The caravan master''s name was Aldo. Over the twenty days of riding it took them to reach Va''Velton, Heral inquired after the caravan, judging their progress by how much they gained on the caravan.


    The inquiries did not go unnoticed. Izrai asked him first, but Mahayan let some of her dour mood slip away as she listened for his answer.


    "You heard about how Sir Fenrick''s patrol ran into a goblin migration, right?" he asked.


    The girls looked at each other, then called out, "No!"


    So Heral told him the story from the beginning.


    Mahayan''s expression flattened when he related how he had chastised Miss Cerise for abandoning her cyr, and Izrai looked uncomfortable. They both perked up when he told them about Sir Fenrick''s response and his own changed attitude after serving as her aide. When he confessed his growing discomfort at Miss Cerise''s apology, they nodded in agreement.


    Mahayan, in her quiet voice, said, "She must have been quite brave, to hold firm to her truth after living under a bad cyr. He made them speak blessings for him? No wonder he turned [Profaner]."


    And that quite statement revealed to Heral just what had bothered him most about Cerise''s apology. It followed the form of Etiquette, and his Etiquette skill informed him he should have accepted, but Cerise had apologized only to him. She had known that neither Sir Fenrick nor Honorable Mister Ethrick needed nor wanted an apology. But she had been afraid of him. Not embarrassed or respectfully repentant, but afraid.


    It had not been a fear so great that he could identify it before now, but she had looked at him with the wariness due a wild beast, wondering if it would attack. She had come to the aid of his father''s men without hesitation or reservation, and he had return fear to her. Heral wanted to thunk his head against something hard, but decorum prevented such an action.


    He would start with an apology when he next saw the young Miss [Healer].


    <hr>


    One of the reasons it took them twenty days to reach Va''Velton from Va''Treborant had to do with the girls being unused to long rides. Both tried to be stoic about it, but riding with the patrollers had given Sir Fenrick the opportunity to instruct Heral in the Battle Readiness skill mutation of his Tactics skill, one which relied on a synergy with a well practiced Identify skill.


    They had already solemnly invoked themselves as a team before heading out, which allowed them to work on their team skill mutations. Assessing their Battle Readiness through that link was fairly easy, and Heral wasn''t sure if they noticed why he had them take so many resting stops, or set up camp as early as they often did when between seats.


    The seats, and more importantly the nobles whose houses had established those seats, were the other reason it took so long. Courtesy between noble houses demanded that Heral stop to provide notice of his passage through their lands. There was a bit more room to claim expedience on the way to Va''Velton once they crossed into House Velton lands. His cousins, so far from inheritance, would have been exempt from such obligations, but they were with him.


    When they were inevitably asked why it was the three of them alone, without retainers, Heral answered that he and Izrai were on a proving quest and Mahayan''s growth as a [Mage] played into that.


    When Hirsel Velton asked him the same question, though, Heral did as his father had instructed. He told the truth, recounting events from the moment of meeting Miss [Healer] Cerise to his father setting him the proving quest to advance his core skill or re-class. He glossed over specifics while admitting his faults, and even advanced his oration skill.


    Hirsel Velton provided them a guide to seek out the Ma''deron Consortium compound to inquire after Mister Aldo''s progress. Finding that they had finally caught up, they arranged to join the caravan.


    Heral had had every intention of bluntly informing the young [Healer] of his reasons for tracking her down, but small comments from his cousins added up to make him question that approach, and he ended up asking for their counsel. The girls pointed out that everyone was headed to the dungeon, and they needed a [Healer] and a [Scout] for a full party.


    And that was how they came to be waiting in the staging area when Mister Aldo''s caravan prepared to resume their travels.

 Chapter 22: it couldn’t be *him*. Right?

    The Caravan was half a league out of Va''Veltan before Cerise felt safe reactivating her Triage Aura and beginning her rounds. She heard from a few of the [Wagoneers] that they had picked up some Honorables also making their way to the Sea Crest Dungeon for training up a Young Miss [Mage]. It was safer to travel in larger groups, so picking up travelers along the way was quite common.


    Cerise didn''t want to get involved with nobles, but she was fascinated by [Mages]. Perhaps this [Mage] was of low enough strata, the right level range, and, if she had a [Shieldman] already, they might group up together. Cerise wanted to run the idea by Mykhal first, but she also wanted to see the travelers for herself before she formed an opinion.


    Like Miss Sanyel, Mister Aldo preferred for travelers to be near the front, but Cerise''s family had a spot nearer the middle, by the Quartermaster. It made it easier for the Quartermaster to find them for odd jobs. Like Miss Sanyel, Mr. Aldo eagerly took advantage of the benefits of having a skilled [Carpenter] willing to fill travel time with traditionally novice work.


    Cerise nodded to the guards as she passed them, getting smiling nods back. Mykhal was already off hunting.


    The prices the Free Lancers Guild paid for commissions -- standard monster hunts -- was less than a lot of merchants paid in coin, but also involved no haggling and earned credits with the Free Lancers Consortium, which made up a large chunk of the difference. True, coin could be spent anywhere and credits only with the Free Lancers Consortium, but the Free Lancers Consortium had formed to supply the Guild, and they were well known for putting out quality goods and honest trading.


    Completing commissions also advanced a team''s rank. Mykhal was hoping to get them to Bronze Rank before they reached Sea Crest Dungeon Village. Sorkha and Brower both warned that they would need to take on a proving commission for rank advancement, and there were enough among the the guild officers that believed the Age of Responsibility should be twenty that their youth, despite their emancipation, would be a stumbling block for getting approved for that proving commission.


    A grass tick carrying Sleeping Sickness caught Cerise''s attention. It had latched onto one of the oxen. "Bad tick," she told the [Wagoneer] before soaking a bit of bandage gauze with water. She laid it over the tick and used a careful application of Greater Cleanse to break the tick''s latch and flush the would site. Sleeping Sickness, her Diagnose skill warned, burrowed into mammalian nervous systems and fed off the natural mana each being carried in them. In larger creatures, they just got tired, but smaller ones uncommonly went through mana warping in an overreaction to the disease. For that reason, Cerise applied her Heal Diseases skill and Heal Wounds to close the bite. She wrapped the infected tick up in the gauze and made sure it drowned. She hated the parasites to a mildly irrational degree.


    "That was a bit more than you do," the [Wagoneer] told her.


    She held up the gauze ball encompassing the tick corpse. "Sleeping Sickness. It has an onset of between two weeks and a month. I think I got out the diseased bits, but I''ll be checking up at least daily."


    "Whassat onset?" the [Wagoneer] asked.


    "When a non-[Healer] sees the signs of a disease or toxin. Triage skills may take a few days from infection to see the disease. It''s a colony-type, and the disease colony has to grow to a size that it throws off the balance of the body before it''s considered a problem by our skills." That was probably more explanation than was needed, to go by the [Wagoneer''s] disturbed expression. Cerise smiled a confident, reassuring smile and added, "Healthy bodies handle this stuff on their own without us ever having to even think about it, for the most part. I''m just following my father''s example and neatening up the details. He says that''s why his products are so consistently Uncommon grade."


    The [Wagoneer] chuckled, agreeably saying, "There are worse examples to follow after, aren''t there?"


    With a nod and a cheerful wave, Cerise moved on with her rounds, almost forgetting about the dungeon-bound [Mage] until she came to the lead Ma''deron wagon. She said her greetings, found the oxen in good health, and glanced to the travelers. And tripped, caught her balance, and stood still for several heartbeats. Absently, Cerise waved off the jocular inquiries from the two [Wagoneers] who passed her.


    She was wrong. She had to be wrong. It wasn''t that snooty squire boy riding with two women close to Cerise''s age. He was up in the Treborant Hirsellands. They were south of Va''Velton. No, it wasn''t him with his growly name that matched his growly personality. It was someone who looked like him from the back, and sat his horse with the same stiff posture. They were Honorables -- that could be seen at a glance. The snooty squire had been upper strata. The similarity probably meant the young man was upper strata, too. Cerise didn''t have to deal with travelers, only the Ma''deron Consortium, so she would avoid them.


    That settled, she gave a determinedly pleasant smile to the next [Wagoneer] to comment on her standing around and turned to walk back to her parents. She would mention the sameness and her parents would reassure her that it couldn''t be him. Right?


    <hr>


    "Cerise! There you are!" Her mother greeted her with a happy smile.


    Did you hear about the Honorables traveling with us?"


    "Yes," Cerise got out before her mother kept on speaking.


    "They''re heading to Sea Crest, too, and looking for a [Healer] and a [Scout] so they can train in the dungeon! And one of them was with the patrol we helped out! The polite young man who acted as your aide! What was his name? Hiram? No, Heral! Well, Sir Fenrick was so impressed it turns out he told the young man to look for you specifically to be his team''s [Healer]! Isn''t that great?" Then her mother actually looked at Cerise''s expression. "Cerise, sweetie, what''s wrong?"


    "Um, well, he''s noble, Mama. We''re not, and he struck me as very aware of that. I''m sure that if I spend any time around him that I''ll offend him."


    Her mother opened her mouth to deny the possibility, then looked at her daughter and changed that to, "Offend him, how?"


    "He was there when I told Sir Fenrick we left our cyr for breaking Covenant with us, and he said we were wrong for leaving, and not trusting that our cyr was doing what he could to keep us safe. He got upset when I reminded him that the Covenant is about results and not actions or maneuverings or whatever nobles do with other nobles."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "You said that to a noble?" her mother asked, eyes rounding, her steps faltering.


    Cerise nodded. "I was needing to recover stamina after seeing to Honorable Mister Ethrick, and lacking the Focus to choose my words well. Sir Fenrick understood and empathized with us. His squire, Heral, he''s ... well, he seemed very taken with the forms and less concerned with the functions or the substances. Until I learn how to master my skills and not be mastered by them, I think I''ll be offensive to someone with those values. Especially when I''m healing."


    "That''s no excuse," her mother said. "You don''t get to blame bad manners on your skills."


    "You''re right, Mama. It is not an excuse. It is a reality that I''m working to change. That change won''t happen over night, and I think it would be foolish to think that it can. Knowing that, it would be irresponsible of me to put myself in a position where my failures hurt the people I love. So I need to stay away from this guy."


    Her mother frowned, looking ill at ease. "I already told Mister Aldo I''d cook for us all. We''ll be guests at his campfire with the Honorables, seeing as they wanted to see you and Mykhal particularly."


    Cerise let her shoulders sag in dismay for just a moment. Then she pasted on a determined smile. "I''ll go see if Mister Brower has pointers on how not to offend noble types. At the least, he''ll know if I should offer a prayer to Am-Lanike for a gilded tongue, Maroth for guidance through the strange ways of nobles, or Fortuna, Lady of Commerce. I''m not sure if it wouldn''t be thought ungrateful to ask for her luck after all the kindness she has already shown our family, and I''m sure Mister Brower will have an opinion on that."


    "Well, my opinion is please don''t. Fortuna''s gifts sour when you cease to appreciate them, and instead rely upon them," her mother reminded Cerise.


    Cerise''s steps slowed a bit as a thought sparked to life from that comment. "Fortuna really has smiled upon us on this journey, hasn''t she? By happenstance, we were not in Trall as we would have been, and that for a lucky gifting of the Grotto. We set out with water bags for each of us, a pot to cook in, blades to cut, and after the berries began to mature. We met up with Miss Sanyel''s caravan, and they were, are good people, who introduced us to Mister Aldo and the good people of this caravan. I know we''ve put in the work to make the most of the opportunities she''s presented to us, but perhaps we ought to seek out one of her priests at the next town to hold a temple to the gods and ask how we might best demonstrate our gratitude?"


    Her mother gave that thought a moment of solemn silence. "You know, we really ought to."


    <hr>


    Mykhal returned with a trio of monster eggs and two almiraj carcasses between the first and second road break.  Cerise blinked at the eggs, sighed, and went to get her sling. She settled the almiraj eggs in next to her body.


    Mykhal smiled brilliantly when he saw that. "So they''re still good?"


    She nodded. "Yes, and we should make you an egg sling, too, if you''re going to be finding spawn points like that."


    "I''ll get with Mama about that." He spoke more somberly as he took in her posture. "Are the eggs such a bother? Or did something else happen?"


    Cerise shrugged. "Daisy''s going to be weird about them, and any of the draft beasts going dire, too. Now that I know it''ll happen, and why, it''s just a thing to be dealt with. No, it''s not the eggs. We''ll be eating dinner with Mister Aldo and some Honorables traveling with the caravan." Then she explained about Sir Fenrick''s squire, a conversation they hadn''t had time for then, and that she hadn''t thought to speak of afterward, until now.


    Mykhal listened, and was silent as he considered the situation. "Maybe I should have taught you some of the Etiquette I learned from my mother before she left us. I lost a few divisions without her to remind me, but a little knowing is better than none, right?"


    Cerise listened with her Profile open and her intent to learn at the forefront of her mind, letting Mykhal guide her when she might have stumbled into a rut or their cart.


    Brower found them at second break still at their cart, and added his own quibbles and comments to the lessons. With about a rushmark left of the break, the Voice of the World rewarded their efforts.


    [Basic Etiquette] learned! Comprehension assessed at Beginner-2.


    <hr>


    Cerise went over her parents and Mykhal with Greater Cleanse, deliberately not paying attention to where the water went as it took off road dirt from body and clothes. She was getting good enough with her Greater Cleanse skill to leave a bit of scent behind if she perfumed the water she used for a reagent, or some astringent to help prevent infections if she added that.


    Mykhal and her father preferred to smell of woods like cedar and logmal. Cedar had been a rare luxury in the North, but was common as an oil in Va''Treborant. From all accounts, it grew close to the coast, and her father was eager to work with the fragrant wood. Logmal, on the other hand, was a widespread type of tree that grew alongside pines and oaks.


    Cerise''s mother loved the smell of pines, and Mykhal gathered enough of the needles for her to extract the scent. Cerise didn''t much care for perfuming herself and just used plain water for her own cleansing.


    Her father and Mykhal brought over the boxes with her mother''s cookware. Cerise and her mother carried the burners and a small barrel with water gathering runes they had purchased in Va''Velton from the Ma''deron Consortium. They also brought along the meat from one of the almiraj caught that day. The other''s meat had been sliced thin and put into drying frames her father had made. The Quartermaster was watching the meat smoke over his fire as an excuse for them to share the bounty.


    Mister Aldo greeted them with a smile. "The Honorables are still seeing to their camp, and should join us shortly. I have ingredients for a fast cook stew right here, and you are free to use my spices as you deem best, Miss Bergin. Direct me and I shall aid you."


    "Why, thank you, Mister Aldo! Mykhal caught a pair of those horned rabbits, so we brought one for the meal. Would you mind if, instead of a stew, I made a pan roast? Unlike most rabbits, these horned ones have some fatty marbling. " Cerise''s mother asked, even though experience told them Mister Also would leap for a meal that wasn''t stew.


    His smile turned blissful. "I have some criss seed oil if you''d like to use that. Oh! And I added an amphora of the wine and another of the small beer you used with our last meal together to the ingredients I prepared!"


    Cerise set to cleansing and Mykhal to chopping up the vegetables her mother selected. Soon enough, they had helped as much as her mother would allow, and had just settled back to relax around the fire when the Honorables arrived.


    Cerise


    Race: Human


    Age: 13, Emancipated Youth


    Total Level: 12


    Class(es): [Arcane Healer Novice]


    Social Strata: Commoner, Freeman


    Pools:


    Health: Moderate


    Stamina: Good


    Mana: Good


    Attributes:


    Focus: High


    [Arcane Healer Novice] (12)


    Arcane Healing: P-5


    Heal Wounds: P-7


    Heal Toxins: B-9


    Heal Diseases: P-6


    Triage: P-9


    Stabilize: P-6


    Diagnose: P-5


    Pain Block: P-6


    Slumber: B-6


    Paralyze: B-3


    General Skills


    Slots: 2, Used: 2


    Acting: P-9 (I-9)


    Animal Handling: P-3


    Appraise: P-2


    Blades: P-1


    Clear Mind: B-4


    Cleanse, Greater *?: P-2


    Cooking: P-9 (I-3)


    Cyphers: P-1


    Dispel *: B-6


    Drawing: P-4


    Etiquette, Basic: B-2


    General Anatomy *: P-2


    General Craft *: P-8


    Herbalism *: P-3


    Hunting: B-6


    Lend Potency *: B-0


    Logic: P-9 (I-3)


    Mana Proprioception *: P-4


    Mana Sensing *: P-7


    Natural Weapon Combat: P-4


    Oration: P-8


    Potion Brewing *: P-9


    Quick Stepping: B-8


    Research: P-9 (A-4)


    Scribing: P-9 (A-8)


    Staves: B-3


    Stealth: P-0


    Surgery *: P-3


    Tame Monster ?: B-1


    Teaching: B-3


    Skill Unlocks


    Mana Sight


    Mana Scent


    Mana Hearing


    Dull Pain *


    Lend Vitality *


    Sense Life *


    Heavy Blow (Staves)


    Quick Thrust (Staves)


    Sweeping Blow (Staves)


    Counter Strike (Staves)


    Achievements:


    [Blessed by Noq-el] Perk: Death Resistance ?


    Hidden Perk: Divine aura permeates the god''s name when you speak it.

 Chapter 23: the second *CRACK*

    The two Honorable women looked enough alike to be sisters, and similar to the young man in the lead to be related. All had black hair and blue eyes. The shape of their mouths was similar, but Sir Fenrick''s squire''s lips were thin while the women''s were full.


    The Freeman around the campfire rose to greet the Honorables, which seemed to make the smaller woman uncomfortable.


    Heral spoke first. "Thank you again, Mister Aldo, for inviting us to share your dinner. We brought wine to share, a white cherry wine from my father''s Groveland estate. Miss Bergin, Miss Cerise, it is a pleasure to meet you under less trying circumstances. I''m not sure if we were properly introduced. I am Honorable Mister Heral el-Treborant. These are my cousins, Mahayan am-Affel and Izrai Affel, Honorable Misses both. Mahayan, Izrai, Miss Cerise is the young [Healer] who made such a good impression on Sir Fenrick and Honorable Mister Ethrick, and Miss Bergin, her mother, who aided Miss Cerise in restoring our full patrol to fighting fitness. I have not had the privileged of meeting the two good men joining us."


    "Ah! Allow me to rectify that!" Mister Aldo said. "Mister Rhene is Miss Bergin''s husband, and Mister Mykhal is quite the young [Hunter]. We will be dining on almiraj he caught earlier today."


    Mister Aldo, Honorable Mister Heral, and Honorable Miss Izrai carried the conversation with small carefully polite additions from the others as the talkers tried to include them. Izrai grew frustrated with her sister''s terse responses and said, "Oh, please excuse Mahayan her sulk. There was a boy she was interested in, but it would have been--."


    "That''s not true! You have to stop making up these romances for me! Tomais is my friend! He''s not my beau!" Mahayan snapped, obviously upset by her sister''s prickling.


    "Really? ''Cause you''ve been moping like--," Izrai started to rejoin, a twinkle in her eye.


    "Cousins, this is not the time. Izrai, I''m sure Mahayan will be happy to provide light for you to read that little blue book your mother provided you as we were leaving." Heral said that with a smiling, stern authority.


    "You saw that?" Izrai asked while her sister smirked.


    "Mother gave me own copy to learn to read from." That, Heral delivered with something more akin to sympathy.


    Shortly after that bit of sibling squabbling, Cerise''s mother announced the food was ready to be plated. As the host, Mister Aldo provided the plates. It was the guests'' responsibility to provide their own utensils. Some people used skewers, other''s blades, and a new fashion had started to head in the from the coast of using a miniature two-tined fork. That was more popular with the higher strata who could afford to use metal for their eating utensils. Most people who used blades preferred a small utility blade with which they took care of all sorts of small cuts.


    Cerise''s family used skewers in pairs that her father had made, with a point a nail''s width long before a wider panel used to grasp bits of food that flaked when pierced. At the other end of their skewers was a spoon bowl.


    Normally, her father preferred to make such pieces from apple or pear wood, but they had found a downed golden heartwood tree early into their time with Mister Aldo''s caravan, and her father had happily harvested all that he could from it. Cerise had found a handful of seeds for the rare trees and tucked them into her growing collection. Even though they did not fell the tree, her father gave his offering to the land good, and Cerise left a small bundle of some of the seeds she had plucked from the magic rich herbs and grasses Mykhal gathered for Daisy.


    After her realization of how much Fortuna had been smiling upon them, Cerise couldn''t help but feel a surge of gratitude when the very tools with which she ate reminded her of these opportunities. She bowed her head as she offered up a spontaneous, heartfelt prayer of thanks to Fortuna, and to all the gods, greater and lesser, who had shown them kindness.


    When she looked up, she saw Heral watching her. He smiled in what he probably meant to be an encouraging manner, and ate. Cerise noted that he and his cousins used eating forks. A look of delight crossed his face, and he gave voice to a moan of pleasure that startled himself. When he swallowed the bite, he said to Cerise''s mother, "Miss Bergin, this is delicious! I''m having a hard time believing this is almiraj with how tender the meat is, but you''ve mellowed their distinct taste into a wonderful compliment with the carrots and the layered poms!"


    Cerise''s mother smiled and dipped her head. "My thanks for the compliment, Honorable Mister."


    Everyone took a few minutes to savor the meal, small sounds of gastronomic pleasure escaping the diners.


    When someone started up the conversation again, it was Mahayan, asking, "Miss Cerise, I''m quite curious. Why are you wearing that sling?"


    Cerise looked to Mykahl. As far as she was concerned, the eggs were his find, and he was their team leader. He nodded back, his mouth full, so Cerise said, "It''s for a commission. Mykhal and I recently joined the Free Lancers Guild. We''re a new Copper Rank team and we need to complete guild commissions to prove we''re good enough to take on client requests. Mykhal''s been hunting monsters, like the almiraj, the horned rabbits, as Mama likes to call them, and this is the second time he''s found eggs. Some of my [Healer] skills give me an intuition about what the eggs need to stay viable, and turning them over to the guild will earn us points toward qualifying for the rank-up trial."


    Mahayan''s entire boy brightened. "Those are monster eggs? May I see?"


    Cerise looked to Mykhal. He said, "Showing one around won''t hurt. Even if it breaks or hatches, we just need to turn in one for the reward."


    So Cerise selected the least stable of the three and brought it out. The egg was the size of her doubled over fists, brown with white speckles. The others around the fire wanted to see, too, so Cerise passed it around. The wash of Identify skills passed around Cerise, who watched the increased ambient mana soaking into the egg. It reached Izrai before her sister, and the older girl had a bit of fun teasing her sister by taking her time examining the egg.


    *CRACK*


    The sound of the egg hatching made Cerise sigh internally. Everyone else paled.


    Heral looked furious at his cousin and was just opening his mouth to say something when the shell fell away from a tiny baby almiraj. Its coat was a light brown with white paws and a white, deer-like stiff tail. The single horn on its forehead was just a dainty nub of ivory. It chirped at Izrai and put one of its paws out to her.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Astrid. Her name''s Astrid," Izrai said, her eyes glowing as the Tamer''s Contract firmed up between them.


    Before anyone else could say anything, Cerise said, "Fortuna smiles upon you." She locked gazes with her best friend and said, "As much as we have benefited from her smiles, it would be churlish of us to begrudge being her instruments in another''s good fortune." Looking back to Izrai, she said, "Congratulations, Honorable Miss Izrai."


    Mykhal relaxed, smiling as he took in Cerise''s meaning, and quickly offered his own congratulations. Cerise, meanwhile, rose and went to Mahayan, holding out the second least stable egg. "As you didn''t get to examine the first."


    Mahayan smiled her thanks, deliberately turning her envious gaze from her sister. "We will compensate you for the lost reward," she assured them.


    The young woman then used a few mana-rich skill to inspect this egg. Cerise was nearly back to her seat when she heard the second *CRACK*.


    Mykhal laughed, and Mister Aldo and her parents joined in. Cerise smiled for the radiant joy in the two young women''s faces. Heral spent a moment looking constipated with chagrin before giving in and congratulating his cousins.


    Mahayan''s newly bonded almiraj kit was pure white in coat and gave the bond name Glatadia. Astrid had a heaviness to her that suggested more Might while Glatadia''s long, slender limbs looked more inclined for quick movements.


    Mykhal excused himself to get some of the magical grasses he had foraged for Daisy.


    Heral turned sad puppy eyes to Cerise. "Please accept my apologies for the loss of your prosperity and allow me to compensate you."


    Cerise turned up her palms in a reflexive gesture to emphasize her sincerity. "Honored Heral, Fortuna really has smiled deeply upon us, and the find of those eggs was her gift to bestow as she chooses. Perhaps, instead of thinking in terms of compensation, let''s think in terms of camaraderie, and laying in a foundation of good will between us."


    Heral''s sad puppy gaze turned somber. "I was a real ox''s backend the last time we met, wasn''t I? I am quite sorry for how I acted then. It is inexcusable that even as you aided my father''s men, I returned my frustrations upon you. And even after your example helped me gain a measure of understanding in my class''s core skill, I let my frustrations hold back the apology due you then.


    "I had hoped to find you along our way to the Sea Crest Dungeon, to offer this apology if for no other reason, and I brought along some [Healer] skill books from our kizanelium to lend you.


    "I was taught that the best way to learn from skill books is to copy them, so I also have some blank journals and writing instruments. If you need help learning to read, I would be honored to aid you."


    Cerise opened her mouth, realized she didn''t know what to say, closed her mouth, and listened to the intuition her newly acquired Basic Etiquette skill whispered to her. "Thank you?" she tentatively tried out. "Um. Mykhal learned to read from his mother and taught my mother and me enough to get the Scribing skill."


    "Is Mister Mykhal the best friend whose father ... died?" Heral asked, looking uncomfortable.


    Cerise nodded, and swallowed back tears, caught off guard by the surge of grief. They had been traveling for something like five or six months since Trall burned by rebel torches, and it was easy to get lost in the demands of each day. They had cried a lot together at night during that first month marching out of the Sartlag Mountain foothills, but the newness of their loss had worn away by the time they met Miss Sanyel''s caravan.


    Cerise shook off the grief and said, "Yes. Um. The books will be most appreciated. Have you made much progress on that skill since?"


    Heral shook his head. "Sadly, no."


    Mykhal returned with the grasses already divided into two bunches. "What did I miss?" he asked, looking at the somber group.


    Cerise''s mother said, "Don''t worry at it now. What herbs did you bring along?"


    Mykhal dipped his head in acquiescence and handed the bundles to the two Honorable Misses. He started listing them off, explaining that they grew around the trails he usually found almiraj using while he hunted.


    That reminded the girls of just what kind of meat they were eating. Izrai seemed perfectly fine, but Mahayan''s expression grew conflicted.


    The almiraj were happy with the treats, but seemed mostly to enjoy being in touching range of their bonded. Glatadia hand climbed up onto Mahayan''s shoulder, nestling into the crook of her neck. Astrid splayed herself on Izrai''s chest, determinedly returning when Izrai, blushing, moved her.


    Cerise asked, "May I use some detection skills on you and Astrid to see why she prefers that spot?"


    "By all means, yes," Izrai responded.


    Cerise laid a hand on Izrai''s arm and one on Astrid''s back, opening herself to her Mana Sensing and Mana Proprioception skills. She could feel a kind of cycling of mana taking place, and after a few moments she glimpsed what might as well be considered as another vascular system in Izrai''s body, except instead of moving fluids, it moved mana around.


    And in Izrai, most of her mana was concentrated near her heart. Cerise said as much to Izrai, who shook her head.


    "I''m a [Sword Dancer], not a [Mage]. I don''t have Mana Pools," Izrai scoffed.


    Cerise shrugged. "I don''t know about Mana Pools, but everything that lives has mana, from the worms in the soil to the dragons in the skies. There is at least enough mana in your body to let you bond with Astrid."


    Izrai said, "Huh. Good enough. And mana settles around my heart, and Astrid likes my mana. I guess I need to get a proper carry harness for her."


    "If they''re like a lot of newborn critters, they''re going to want to be warm and near their ''safe'' person, until they''re ready to explore," Cerise''s mother offered up. She shot Cerise a sly, side-eyed grin, and Cerise felt a telling of ''that one time'' coming on. She just gave her mother a flat, dead-eyed expression in return. Cerise had learned by now that the more she reacted, the worse the telling would get.


    Heral saved her by groaning, "They aren''t going to be as bad as puppies, are they? And, can they be house trained? How do we mark them so no one thinks they''re wild almiraj?"


    Mykhal and her father exchanged a look that ended in her father saying, "The Free Lancers Guild sells manuals for new [Tamers]. Mister Aldo, how close is the next outpost for them along the route?"


    "That would be fully stocked? Va''Savine is nine days off now. In the mean time, I''ve seen [Tamers] collar their bonded monsters, and you''ll want a stout leather for those carry harnesses. Everyone watches the horns and forgets the claws." Mister Aldo sagely shook his finger at that reminder.


    Mykhal spoke up. "There was some boar sign I saw while out hunting. I can''t take one on my own, nor carry it back alone, but finding them shouldn''t be hard."


    Heral looked at the older of his two cousins and her new bonded monster. "If we can come up with a temporary means of safe guarding your Astrid, you and I should be sufficient to take out a boar. And if we can safe guard Astrid, we should be able to do the same for Glatadia, which would give the pair of you more than just our practice bouts in terms of experience fighting together."


    Her father spoke again. "We came across a windfall of a downed golden heartwood tree. I might be able to put together a cage you could have the loan of, until you know what you would actually need. As a bit of a magical wood, its right at the edge of my skills to work, but it''s also well known to be safe around babies. I doubt the little horned darlings could chew through it in the course of a few hours that you would be gone. I do have to ask, Honorables-All, but do you have the means to tan the leather?"


    Heral''s shoulder''s slumped, then straightened. "No, good Mister, and I must thank you for bringing that up before we set out to hunt."


    Cerise''s father smiled and waved away Heral''s glumness. "Oh, just reimburse us for the reagents, share the meat with the caravan, and if there''s a mana cryst let Mykhal and Cerise have it for their commissions. Bergin and I have been tanning the leathers these two have brought us since Cerise took it into her head that she needed to learn Leatherworking to become a [Healer]. Cerise, I never did ask, did that do anything for you when you classed?"


    Cerise shrugged. "Collapsed into General Crafting with Tailoring, Woodwork, and Tinker, and the skill''s capped now until I make my Intermediate breakthrough."


    Her father laughed. "You are your mother''s daughter!"


    She nodded. "Yeah. You doubted this?"


    Heral looked genuinely confused as the people around them laughed. It reminded her of his admission when she apologized to him, a month or two past now. Maybe he was farther from understanding than her mother''s adage liked to claim.

 Chapter 24: unfit to wield live steel

    Cerise wasn''t sure how she got talked into going on the boar hunt. Her mother took over carrying the egg that remained while watching the caged baby almirajs for their two young Honorable Misses.


    Both girls were quite distracted while they said their farewells to their new pets. Her father''s cage was quite well made, and they had lined the floor with a bit of dirt for the almirajs to burrow in, along with freshly gathered grasses for bedding. The Honorables'' horses were dire beasts and their grains were good fodder for the horned rabbits.


    The Honorables rode those horses while Mykhal and Cerise walked. The woods around here were older growth, which meant more brush and fewer trunks, a lot of ferns, and Cerise decided she was happy she had brought her freshly emptied rat skin backpack, as well as a gather basket. The basket was a simple thing she had woven with the cordage she made when she walked her rounds around the caravan. As they went to where Mykhal had found the boar sign, she ranged around the group, picking mushrooms, plucking nuts and berries, and digging up roots.


    She realized that this was the autumn season, up North at least. Here, in the South, it was still late summer by the gather and weather. Her parents talked about the weather a lot, but it suddenly struck Cerise that most of the growing season was over and they had no larder built up to see them through winter snows. They had coin, a great wealth, more than probably the whole of Trall had seen, but in the end, coins were metal, and humans did not eat metal.


    Cerise set to harvesting with diligence. She took care not to over harvest, but she still gathered more than she had come planning to take back.


    They weren''t even halfway to the time of the caravan''s first rest stop when Mykhal called for a stealthed stop. He suddenly disappeared into the woods, one minute there, the next only brush and brambles where he had stood. She felt him, though, an odd kind of expanded proprioception. He moved on ahead of them maybe a quarter field length before he returned, popping out of his Camouflage stealth right next to Cerise.


    Heral had his sword pointed at Mykhal and then raised almost faster than Cerise could see. Softly, the squire said, "Perhaps we should invoke a party between you and we so I don''t mistake you for a hostile element. Again."


    Cerise and Mykhal exchanged questioning looks then turned their curiosity to Heral.


    For his part, Heral said, "You don''t know what I''m talking about, do you?"


    They shook their heads in a confirming, no.


    "Later, then. Why the stealth?" Heral asked.


    "Tri-horn deer ahead. The leather will be thinner, but if we catch two, it can be doubled and it''ll be softer where it touches skin. We could try for the boars still if we don''t get more than one, but the blood scent might foul the hunt, or draw in a dire cat or wolves. I''m not worried about leading them to the caravan. This land is too rich fo them to risk attacking that many, but us with fresh meat is a different matter," Mykhal said.


    Heral sheathed his sword and dismounted. He drew a standard bow from a tube of leather that hung from the back of his saddle and strung it, attaching a quiver to his belt.


    Izrai and Mahayan stepped their horses closer.


    "Miss Cerise, Mister Mykhal, to join our parties, focus for a moment on stilling your mind, then ask the Voice of the World to recognize we five as teammates. It will give us a general sense of where we all are and which way we''re moving." Heral stood calmly while he waited for them to act.


    It seemed like a more slapdash way of doing things compared to when she and Mykhal formed their duo. That had involved an actual contract signed with a similar decision to become part of a team. Regardless, she and Mykhal followed Heral''s instructions.


    Delving Lights joins with Cousins Treborant into a hunt team.


    Heral smiled wryly. "You signed a team contract, I see. Interesting name choice. What''s the layout where the deer are?"


    Mykhal made a quick sketch in the forest loam and they agreed on a plan of attack. Cerise and Mahayan would cast Paralyze on the two nearest deer, if they could safely do so. Cerise had only cast that skill through touch before, and no one wanted her that close to the still living wild beasts. Izrai was charged with defending the supporters, while Mykhal and Heral took ranged shots with their bows.


    Mahayan had a Spark spell, a higher powered version of her Paralyze, but they wanted to avoid risking damage to the hides.


    Things did not go according to plan.


    To start, Izrai was loud in the woods. She tried, but they were barely in sight of the thicket hiding the deer before she cracked a large rotted stick under her boot. Alerted, the deer broke cover to bound off.


    Cerise''s intuition of her skill said she could use it at range. It did not warn her how much more mana that would cost, and the sudden drain took her legs out from under her.


    Mahayan''s Paralyze spell went off a couple heart beats later, hitting the same deer that Cerise had already stopped, and which Mykhal had already shot.


    Instead of staying with Mahayan and Cerise, Izrai charged the fleeing deer, running right into the path of the arrow Heral had loosened. Fortunately, she managed to partly deflect it, and she was wearing decent hardened leather armor.


    Heral''s response to the cluster fumble surprised Cerise. He moved up to Mahayan, an arrow with a metal tip in hand, and put it up to her throat. Softly, he asked Mahayan, "How long until she looks, do you think?"


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Mahayan said, "She''s too caught up in having a ''real'' adventure. I think she just doesn''t have the temperament for being a defensive fighter."


    Mykhal, meanwhile, checked on Cerise. "Okay?" he asked.


    "Good. Finish the downed one. Still alive, and fighting off my Paralyze," she said, feeling the deer resisting her skill, though not yet to the point of shaking it off.


    He nodded, trusting Cerise to know herself, and blurred past Izrai, his knife, cleanly slicing the paralyzed deer''s throat.


    "No sense chasing them," he called to Izrai. "Where''s your sister?"


    Izrai stumbled to a halt, shocked at Mykhal''s speed, it seemed. Then she glanced back and spotted Heral glaring at her with his arrow pointed at Mahayan''s throat.


    "You failed your duty," Heral declared.


    Izrai glared back. "She was safe enough! I had to make up for giving us away!"


    "Obviously not, Izzy. Your duty is to prevent any hostiles from reaching your quite vulnerable, under age sister, but here I am, with a blade to her throat," Heral stated, anger putting frost in his words. "What if I were a goblin?"


    Cerise deliberately turned her attention away from the arguing trio. There wasn''t anything a Freeman gained by stepping uninvited into noble squabbles. Even if she did agree with Heral''s point.


    She stood, breathing deeply as she adjusted to suddenly going from a full Mana Pool to a half full Pool. Cerise really hoped that shorter ranges would make a bigger difference.


    Mykhal set about field dressing the deer, and Cerise moved closer, thinking to help. However, when she moved passed Izrai, the woman turned to her, gesturing with her drawn swords.


    "Tell Heral he''s just being an ox''s backend!" the irate [Sword Dancer] demanded.


    "I''d prefer not to be part of a family fight, Honorable Miss. That never ends well for the outsider," Cerise said, eying the flashing steel with concern.


    If Heral''s words were frosty before, they turned glacial now. "Izrai Affel, sheath your swords and kneel."


    She knelt, but dropped her swords instead of sheathing them, a shocked look on her face.


    Heral crossed the distance separating them with a sense of inevitability. He gathered Izrais''s swords making them disappear. He glared down at the still kneeling young Honorable. "Do you even realize what you just did?"


    "I just asked--," Izrai began.


    Heral cut her off. "No. You don''t. Your lack of awareness makes you unfit to wield live steel. I don''t have the words to tell you how disappointed I am in you right now. Our hunt is done."


    "But, Heral!" she wailed.


    "No, Izrai. You swung your swords at an ally, and a [Healer] at that! You might not have intended a threat, but such an action is just the last in a series of irresponsible choices. No. We''re done. I will not risk anyone for your convenience. You may rise. Unless my father supersedes my order, you may not carry a sword until you demonstrate that you respect the responsibility."


    "This isn''t fair! I''m a [Sword Dancer]! It''s my class! You can''t just--!"


    "Izrai." There was a weight behind those two syllables, a finality that stopped the woman from saying more. "Gather the horses."


    This time, tears welling up in her eyes, all Izrai said was, "Your will be done, el-Treborant."


    She got up and went to gather the horses.


    <hr>


    They were a somber group when they rejoined the caravan just before first break. Izrai was in full pout and Heral was stone faced. The tri-horned deer carcass was slung over the back of Heral''s horse, and he made an effort to relax his manner toward everyone who was not Izrai. Mahayan was the most relaxed of the cousins, but she seemed mildly happy with the rebuke her sister had earned, and at the same time wary of Heral.


    Heral delivered the carcass to Cerise''s mother. He also turned over the first of the [Healer] skill books he had promised to loan Cerise along with a blank book a bit thicker than the skill book, a jar of Uncommon grade lamp ink, and two dip pens with a small tin of metal nibs for the pens.


    The Honorable Misses collected their bonded almiraj. Izrai seemed to need cuddles with her new pet nearly as much as the two baby monsters wanted to cuddle their masters. The sisters were very polite while thanking Cerise''s mother for looking after Astrid and Glatadia.


    As soon as the Honorables were safely back up in front of the caravan, the Quartermaster called from his wagon bench, "That don''t look like a boar. What happened?"


    Cerise left Mykhal to tell the tale. She set her full gather basket and rat skin pack in the back of the cart, warning her mother that she needed to sort out medicinal gathers from food. Then she hugged her mother and made a quick circuit of the caravan. She found a few more ticks, only one with Sleeping Sickness. Two had latched onto [Wagoneers], and she gave them the water soaked gauze pads she used for extracting and killing the vermin. Fortunately, they were on a calf and under the arm of the other, places the [Wagoneers] could reach without much fuss or embarrassment.


    The [Wagoneer] who had had to have one removed from his pee staff still wouldn''t make eye contact with her. She hadn''t done more than hand him the gauze and warn him to check after he peed, but her knowing was still enough to make him blush. Cerise respected his embarrassment and said nothing more.


    She finished her round in time to help her mother set up for the break, take the book and scribing stuffs, and seek out Brower.


    He perked up on seeing her. "Back with a boar so soon?" he called out in greeting.


    "No boar," Cerise said. "We got a tri-horn deer, though, and Mama plans to share that out at dinner tonight. I take it word spread?"


    Brower laughed. "Just a bit. We expect Mister Mykhal to take off hunting, but not our diligent young Miss [Healer]. Have you made a round yet?"


    "Just a quick one. Watch out for the ticks around here. I found another with Sleeping Sickness today. Also, if our hunt has been so widely proclaimed, what else was spread around?"


    His eyes fixed on her scribing box. "Well, there are rumors the Honorable Mister traveling with us gave you some courting gifts."


    Cerise burst out laughing. "Oh! Oh, no!" she chortled, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.


    "But he did follow you from Va''Treborant? And he is the el-Treborant?" Brower asked.


    "I don''t know about followed, or what being el-Treborant means. He was introduced that way, though. He and his cousins are to train in the Sea Crest Dungeon, and he was with this group of patrollers we helped after they ran into a goblin migration. Mama said his commander recommended he recruit Mykhal and me to aid them."


    Brower said, "Well, then. The el- or the am- of a House is the presumptive heir. They have not been confirmed by their liege or the King. Confirmed heirs are the elvants and the amvants of their Houses. That would make the Honorable Mister the presumptive heir to the Hirsellands of House Treborant. There are worse connections to form."


    He sighed. "Which would make the rumors of him gifting you with skill books farfetched."


    "That," Cerise said, grinning. "Is only partly wrong. They are on loan for me to copy. And, if I''m copying them, you should have time to read over my shoulder, right?"


    Brower''s face lit up for all of two heart beats before he frowned with suspicion and concern. "Is he courting you?"


    Cerise laughed and shook her head. "Only as a recruit. I think. I''ll admit that I''m surprised there aren''t more [Healers] about."


    Brower shrugged, relaxing as he accepted that idea. "The class is uncommon to begin, and most who start with a true [Healer] class are called to Lunaria or swiftly recruited into a Healing Hall. There are some like me who come late to the class, and my experience with the Halls is that if you''re not willing to give them control of your life, they aren''t willing to teach you. Maybe some will disclose enough for a team''s [Scout] to learn a First Aid skill, but even that comes with an oath not to willfully teach others. Lunaria''s dedicates use skills they cannot teach to others because the prerequisite is Lunaria''s blessing."


    "Oh," was all Cerise could find to say to that. So she changed the topic, lifting up her scribe box. "Let''s see what''s in this book."

 25: That boy is hunt happy

    With her mother''s skills, the tri-horn deer was skinned, the leather dehaired, and stretched, ready to be worked with some custom brewed Tanner''s Aide by the end of the first break. Mykhal and Cerise had confirmed that the Honorables only cared to claim the leather. Cerise''s father was busy with some carving project by the time she returned her scribe box and the borrowed book to their cart, and her mother had started the Tanner''s Aide brewing.


    Cerise knew that the basic ingredients for any Tanner''s Aide brew started with ammonia, and that was easiest taken from filtered stale wine. Then added to the brew came salts and fats, usually rendered from the creature''s brain. [Tanners] liked to joke about how each creature was born with enough brains to preserve its skin. The stench of the Tanner''s Aide brew was why no one wanted to be down wind of even a village''s [Tanners] Row.


    Her mother had learned a lot from her Cooking experiments over the years that she was able to apply to her new Alchemy skill. That synergy of understanding, along with her daughter''s trick of directly addressing her skill contemplations to the Voice of the World, had taken her to the end of the Practiced rank, and then actual experience had drawn her into the Intermediate rank.


    It also synergized with her Herbalism skill in the higher divisions of the Intermediate rank, which allowed her to create new Formulas, such as whatever her mother had done to neutralize the biting scent of ammonia and boiled brains.


    The leather would be ready to use for making a harness within a few days, thanks to her mother''s skills, which seemed fast to Cerise. She would need to soak the hide in the ammonia and salts for two to five days to loosen up the fats and hairs, then spend a full day scraping to pull the fur and flesh from the leather, then another day working the rendered fats in solution into the skin. The final step was to smoke the leather over good, dry, rotted wood to saturate it with the smoke and thereby set the oils. That would let the leather remain supple even after being wetted again.


    Her mother''s General Craft was to a level that she could saturate and "season" most anything she crafted. It wasn''t as effective as Cerise''s father''s Carpentry skills that let him speedily season wood, but her mother''s skill had a broader application.


    Cerise caught her mother adding some bugs to her Tanner''s Aide. That was unusual. "What were those? And why are they going in?"


    Her mother put a finger to her lips and winked. Then she leaned in and showed Cerise a strip of tacky, woven grasses. "The bugs with the yellow shell here? They increase the potency of the ammonia for bleaching the skin when they''re crunched up and rendered together. And the ones with a blue shell will dye my oils and set well in the smoke, leaving the skin a green color. It''s supposed to be a major color of House Affel and House Treborant. I''m hoping I''ve baited enough of them to make the colors vibrant, but it should still make a nice surprise. If the Honorables are fine with using cloth for their straps, there should be enough leather from this hide to make carry rigs for both of the Misses, and sized for their horned rabbits to grow into."


    "Overlocking stitches?" Cerise asked, referring to a technique where two pieces of a material meant to be joined were overlapped for a distance and the edges wrapped with the thread used to join them.


    Cerise''s mother nodded. "The reinforcement will be good that way, even if it''ll make for some waste come time to fix the harnesses."


    "Have you shown them a pattern for what you''re thinking of?" Cerise asked.


    "Child, I''m still putting the design together!" her mother rebuked her in good humor.


    Cerise ducked her head and held up her hands, smiling. She turned the subject. "Where''s Mykhal?"


    Her mother rolled her eyes. "That boy is hunt happy. He said he''s off to forage for Daisy, but he had his bow with him. Like as not, he''ll be back with more rabbits for the pot."


    <hr>


    Mykhal did not bring a rabbit, but rather a choober, a fuzzy-feathered fat ground bird, along with a clutch of thumb-length sized eggs and a full gather basket. He returned near the end of the second break and dropped his basket off with Cerise and Brower.


    After reluctantly tearing her focus from the loaned book, Cerise noted Mykhal''s stiff smile. "What''s wrong?" she asked.


    "The deer were gone, and I found larger wolf tracks than most dire beasts leave. I already warned Miss Sorkha. You told me what your skill told you about the Sleeping Sickness, how it can rarely cause warping, and I''m worried about these tracks belonging to a warped wolf."


    "Have you warned the Honorables?" Cerise asked.


    Mykhal tipped his head to the side. "Why?"


    Brower clicked his tongue in disappointment.


    "[Mage]?" Cerise reminded Mykhal. "We were just warned about how their mana attracts monsters a few days ago."


    "Oh!" Mykhal said. He handed the fowl and eggs to Cerise and started off toward the front of the caravan.


    Cerise looked at the eggs and groaned, reminded of another egg she was supposed to be watching out for.


    Brower laughed and helped her carry everything back to her family''s cart. With everything set down, Cerise turned to her mother. "Mama, I''m sorry. I should have taken back the egg sling when we ...." She trailed off as she caught the guilty look her parents exchanged.


    Clearing her throat, her mother said, "Yes, well, about that." A tiny black rabbit head topped with an itty-bitty ivory horn poked out of the egg sling. "His name is Tomas. And he likes mushrooms."


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    Cerise started laughing. She was still chuckling every time she glimpsed the egg sling with the baby almiraj nestled in it when Mykhal got back, shortly after the roll out order.


    "What?" he asked.


    Cerised gestured to her mother. "We don''t have any eggs to turn in."


    Mykhal''s face fell. "Why are you laughing if it broke?"


    "It didn''t break! It hatched! For Mama!" Cerise said.


    Mykhal turned sad puppy eyes to her mother. "You aren''t going to cook it, are you?"


    Cerise''s mother protectively wrapped her arms around the baby almiraj in the sling. "Not my Tomas!" she declared, looking horrified.


    "Good!" Mykhal declared, straightening and taking on an authoritative air. He waggled his finger as he said, "Because tamed monsters are not the same as wild."


    Cerise and her father snuck to the other side of the cart to chortle and try to hold in the noise of their laughter. Mykhal had launched into a beautiful imitation of her mother''s lecturing style while he lectured her mother on the responsibilities of becoming a [Tamer]. And her mother, probably out of guilt for accidentally hatching the egg, was meekly accepting it!


    When Cerise glanced up and saw the Quartermaster biting his knuckles as he, too, watched on, she lost it, barely tumbling safely to the side of the road while she cackled in glee. Her father stumbled after her, sitting heavily beside her and giving voice to his own howls of laughter.


    They waved off four passing [Wagoneers] asking if they were alright and what was so funny before they calmed enough to speak. They couldn''t look at each other without cackling again, though, and waved off Casper and another of the Steady Hammers, along with four more [Wagoneers] as they rolled by.


    <hr>


    There were days he remembered he had a name. There were days he almost remembered his name.


    Names were important. He always remembered that. His name was very important. It would let him ... do something! Something important.  What that something was, he could not recall, but maybe if he remembered his name he would remember the very important something it would let him do.


    Today had not started out as a good day. He only woke from the fog of his thoughts after catching a deer, a tri-horn that bounded into him as he lay drowsing in the shade of his favorite tree. The fresh blood more than the meat woke him, and he decided to see what had set the deer to running at this time of day. They usually bedded down for the day.


    He followed the trail the deer left back to a thicket near one of the nascent spawn points. Those pesky pokes of itchy mana sprouted and died around his woods all the time. This one was still too new to be settled, so he huffed up the mana pooling around, breaking the point before it could infest his woods with yet more mana-hungry pests.


    That seen to, he sniffed around. A different scent of mana lingered. Oh, it wasn''t the blood seeping into the loamy forest floor. That was commonplace. No, this had a purity that reminded him of his name. He drew in the smell and savored it. There was another, no, two other mana scents. One was a bit rank, carrying a challenge, and the other belonged to something, someone that was both of the woods and not. To be clear, that someone belonged not to his woods, but to all forests.


    Those were interesting, but not as interesting as the crisper, cleaner scent they accompanied.


    He was casting around for the trail of that scent when his woods warned him of an approaching ... someone. Not of his woods, but still of the forest. His belly full and his mind waking to a hunger that killing could not satisfy, he hid himself away. A man came to the thicket, looking at first as if he intended to hunt a deer. Again.


    This man was the source of the All Forests scent. Perhaps he would find the source of the crisp, wakening scent if he trailed the man.


    But then the man found one of his footprints. He stilled with the respect a lesser hunter should show his superiors. Then the man cast around, assuring himself of what he had seen, and returned the way he had come.


    The little All Forests hunter carried a pouch made of grasses at his side, and he gathered the mana-wakened grasses and fungi, and sometimes leaves or fallen branches, too. At one point, he flushed one of the fat little birds that lived in the younger parts of his woods, and the little hunter threw a stick at it and killed it. He gathered the eggs the bird had been sitting on, along with the corpse of the bird.


    The scent of the little hunter''s mana, that familiar All Forests scent, trickled from him from time to time. It made trailing the little hunter enjoyable, and he nearly forgot why he began in the first place.


    Then the little hunter stepped out of his woods, into a wide point of the breech of his woods, where more men were gathered with their contortions of dead wood and bound lesser beasts.


    And he could smell that crisp, wakening mana here.


    He had a name. That mana could help him find his name.


    He abandoned trailing the little hunter, searching out this wakening scent. He was still casting about from the cover of his woods when he saw the little hunter moving with purpose toward two other men, who sat with their heads bent over two bound stacks of broad leaves. The little hunter''s scent brightened, more crisp and clear, as he reached pouncing distance of the pair.


    They made noises at each other, and the little hunter presented his hunt to them, then left. The pair gathered up their bound leaves and the little hunter''s gifts, and joined the larger herd? pack? of people putting all in one of the contortions of dead wood.


    The larger of the two walked away, and he was not the source of the scent. That meant it had to be the smaller.


    He wasn''t close enough to see or hear all that transpired with the source of the Wakening Scent. There were too many more dangerous men about than the All Forests little hunter. Even if he slew them all, he would be hurt in the doing, and luck had a habit of favoring men over beasts. So, he was not close, but he heard the laughter.


    That sounded good. It sounded right. It sounded like ... something important.


    He could not laugh. He tried, but only made odd, chuffing noises.


    The bound beasts began to pull the contraptions of dead wood, and he knew he needed to make the source of the crisp wakening mana help him remember soon, or the man would be gone and he would forget again. So he stalked the herd of men and bound beasts and contorted dead wood, waiting for an opportunity.


    And soon he had it.


    The man he hunted to fill his mind fell, laughing, to the side of the moving herd. Another fell with him, and they waved away help while he maneuvered into position for his charge.


    His target rose, the other still on the ground, both looking away from each other. There was a small time the two were somewhat distant from the dangerous men, and that was when he pounced.


    He caught his prey by the chest, seizing him and lifting him up so he could run. The woods were his and parted for his passage. They closed against the men who tried to pursue, all except the All Forests little hunter.


    That was a clever hunter, for he followed as if he knew exactly where to go, running until he collapsed. So not a wise hunter, for all his cleverness.


    That was of no concern to him, though. When he reached his tree, the grove around his tree closed up. None could enter here without his permission.


    He set the man with the wakening mana down. The man scrambled away, pressing his back to the grove and watching him with wide-eyed fear. He did not like the fear. The fear would not restore his name to him.


    Now, he did not have to worry about the wakening mana leaving. But, how was the wakening mana going to return his memories to him?


    He lay back down in the shade of his favorite tree and whined for the hunger in his mind.

 Chapter 26: Hey, there, Mister Wolf

    The first thing Cerise did when she was freed was try to get as far from the house-sized gray-brown wolf as possible. It was by no means far enough, but six or seven bow lengths was as far as she got.


    One moment, she had been standing up, still laughing. She had a brief flash of something dying a slow death entering her Triage Aura before that self-same something pinned her arms to her side as it grabbed her in jaws wide enough to cover her from her shoulders to her hips.


    They were in the woods before she had a chance to start screaming and kicking, but that only made the teeth pierce her clothes and prick her skin.


    At that point, Cerise realized she was being abducted, not eaten, and the woods were flashing by at breakneck speed.


    When she had reached level 10, Cerise had taken the Tame Monster skill, finding a slight synergy with Animal Handling thanks to the things she had learned about dire draft beasts. She groped for that skill, ready to pour all of her remaining Pools into the active use, but her skill refused to activate. It was as if this monstrous wolf somehow wasn''t a monster.


    So she tried her Appraise skill. The wolf''s jaw relaxed a little, but that was as close to a response as she got. Which was a very scary thought. As far as Cerise had experienced, everything could be Appraised. As an experiment with her Mana Sensing, she had used that before as a way to find something to Appraise and it had worked. Sight wasn''t necessary for the skill, and even if it were, she could see the legs of the giant wolf running off with her.


    The only skill that seemed to be working was Triage, and that told her the wolf was in the late stages of dying. What it was dying from, she didn''t know. If Triage worked, though, maybe Diagnose would, too? It was worth trying.


    Mana Depletion: Severe mana starvation has impaired this patient''s cognitive functions.


    Treatment: Exposure to High Mana sources.


    Prognosis: Mild temporary relief. Qualities of the mana source will determine effect on underlying condition.


    Sleeping Sickness: Patient is in the late stages of the Sleeping Sickness. This colony disease is widespread throughout the patient''s body, and patient is not wholly a physical being. Patient''s mana body is being eaten by the disease colony.


    Treatment: Heal Disease supported by Greater or Major Cleansing magics targeted at the colonies, until all colonies are destroyed. Palliative care should be administered as needed during treatment to maintain patient''s mental faculties.


    Prognosis: unknown.


    She was hanging from the mouth of an insane and insanely powerful monster. The fear she felt at that overwhelmed the urge she felt from her skills, her class, to Heal.


    Then they went from moving so fast the trees blurred by to a gliding trot to stopping under a tree with smooth, silver-gray bark and leaves as iridescently transparent as dragonfly wings. The forest surrounding this clearly magical tree closed up around them and the wolf released her.


    It was only a small drop, and Cerise scrambled for distance. When the wolf simply lay down and watched her, she froze, looking for some means of escape. She did not see one.


    The wolf lowered his head to his forepaws and just watched, still. His current lack of hostility helped Cerise to calm. She considered what she had learned from Diagnose with one part of her mind while another noted as much as she could of her surroundings.


    And she could feel Mykhal. He was distant, but closer than the three others she could feel. That must be the party magic, and the party was still up with the Cousins Treborant. She didn''t know what good it would do, but at least she wasn''t alone. Separated, that was a yes, but her party could find her if she could feel them.


    This wolf was powerful, and it could think, could reason -- when it wasn''t mana starved. She still had both her Triage and Cleansing Aura up, so she was leaking mana, but it wasn''t attacking her. Alright, well, maybe it had some intelligence left that recognized her Cleansing Aura and the skill it spawned from as something that could help it.


    Maybe she could do this, heal this wild, monstrous wolf. She wanted to be a [Beast Healer], right? This was just a really big beast that needed healing.


    "Hey, there, Mister Wolf," she softly said, watching his ears swivel and prick toward her. Aside from a greater sense of his focused interest, nothing else happened. Cerise continued. "Do you want me to Heal you? Get that Sleeping Sickness out of you so you can think again? And if I do that, will you be nice to me? Not much reason for me to help you if you just kill me after, now is there?"


    The tree shivered in a non-existent wind. ?If you heal my guardian, I will bless you.?


    <hr>


    Noblesse Oblige was a passive skill that enhanced Heral''s authority and supplemented his attributes and Pools while fulfilling his duties. He had noticed that it also had synergistic effects with any of his Leadership type skills. The teamwork mutation of Identify, for example, gave him a general sense of his teammates'' conditions and vague hints of their attitudes.


    When he felt terror and trapped from one of his teammates, his head immediately snapped to his cousins. Even as he moved, he recognized the distance -- the rapidly growing distance -- of the weaker team invocation with the Delving Lights.


    "Izzy! Guard Maha! Both of you, follow me!" he ordered. The girls, for a blessed relief, followed his orders, and they rode after as he headed in the direction of their fellow hunters. Until the trees and bushes of the forest blocked them. Heral paused only long enough to ascertain that Mykhal was somehow able to keep following Cerise. He didn''t have enough information, and charging blindly onward against something that had the forest''s protection might endanger everyone.


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    He turned them, heading back to the caravan. The wagons were circling up into a defensive encampment, and they were halted by two of the caravan guards, identified, and permitted to pass. He found Cerise''s mother, screaming that they need to do something!


    Heral ordered quiet and got it. Then he started asking questions.


    Cerise had been spirited away by a huge wolf, easily as big as the supply wagons. The Quartermaster was the only one who had gotten off a successful Identify.


    Guardian of the Silverwood Grove.


    "My baby!" Miss Bergin wailed at the telling of how the wolf snapped Cerise up. Grief was bordering into insane rage, and Heral focused his Presence on her, drawing her attention.


    "Cerise is alive, scared, trapped, but otherwise Battle Ready -- healthy. Mister Mykhal is depleting his Stamina trying to keep up with the wolf, the Guardian, I presume. We have not undone our hunting team, so I can tell you this with absolute certainty. The woods are impassible without proper skills. Why the Guardian took Miss Cerise, I don''t know, but if it meant to harm her, it would have done so already. Forest Guardians are very direct. In all honest, I''m more concerned for Mister Mykhal at the moment. He is not under a Guardian''s escort, however unwilling it is received, and he obviously isn''t thinking or he would have realized by the growing distance that he''s on a long chase and needs to focus on his Endurance, not his Speed. Stay with the caravan, Miss Bergin. Find Mister Rhene and keep him here, too. I''ll see if there''s a [Scout] among the guard that can get us to Mister Mykhal, at least, and from there to Cerise."


    His skills worked easiest for the people bound to his father, and bit less effectively for those bound to other lieges. They should have had little effect for an unbound Freeman, but whatever would help keep the most people safe, he would do. It didn''t matter if they were or were not "his" people. It wasn''t even just that it was a noble''s duty to deal with monsters and more dangerous hazards. Miss Bergin and Mister Rhene, Mister Aldo and his caravaneers and guards, they all helped each other and many others to prosper together. Even if Heral hadn''t found himself enjoying their company and good humor just the evening before, they were still doing good and needful work, and so were worthy of his protection.


    He felt Noblesse Oblige rouse in him and aid his Oration skill to calm the distraught mother. Satisfied he had done what he could, he went to find the guard captain.


    <hr>


    A pair of fraternal twins in the guard, Casper and Kaspia, volunteered to lead the Treborant cousins through the wood. It would have been much more convenient if they could join the hunt team between Delving Lights and Cousins Treborant, and more reassuring for Miss Bergin and Mister Rhene for them to be so joined up with their offspring, no doubt. Sadly, all members of a team needed to be present for that , or at least the leaders of the teams they were signed with. Heral did establish a team bond with Captain Sorkha, but without Mykhal or Cerise, whichever was the designated team leader, the team bound could not be extended to them.


    Izzy made one quiet grumble about wanting her swords back, but Heral didn''t trust her not to repeat her idiocy of the morning. He allowed her to carry batons and warned her to be thankful for that leniency.


    Both of the girls had their almiraj with them. Heral wasn''t happy with that, but if the bunnies died, so be it. As long as his cousins did their duty, he wouldn''t waste time arguing about pets.


    The [Scouts] couldn''t bring their horses, so Heral had entrusted them, their feed, and a promissory note for their care to the caravan master, along with a second promissory note to see to housing Miss Cerise''s parents at the next town in the event it took them that long to return.


    In Heral''s Battle Readiness sense, he felt Mykhal''s Stamina bottom out. When he recovered to a quarter of his Pool, the rate at which they closed the distance lessened. Heral felt Mykhal''s Stamina bottom out twice more before they caught up to him.


    The young man wasn''t crying, not now, but the evidence of his distress was plain in the red rimming his eyes. Heral barely slowed, swinging Mykhal onto his back. He gave Mykhal the same reassurance he had given Miss Bergin, and felt the young man calm some. He let Mykhal walk again when his Battle Readiness sense told him the younger [Hunter] was to half Stamina.


    Night fell, and they had to take a short rest while they waited for moon rise. Cerise had stopped moving well before they reached Mykhal, and the feel of her in Heral''s Battle Readiness sense had lost the terror and some of the trapped sense. Her Pools were lowering at a consistent, steady rate, reaching just about the where the lowness would impede her ability to effectively use her skills, and then recover to near full before starting to drain again.


    "She''s healing someone, then," Mykhal declared when Heral relayed that observation.


    "My thoughts, too," Heral agreed. "She''s not an ordinary [Healer]; that may be why the Guardian needed her and not any other [Healer]. Surely, the one among the guard would have been easiest for a forest-bound Guardian to make off with."


    The moon was on the descent when they arrived at an impassable wall of briers, brush, and trees, with vines woven throughout. Cerise was near, so very near now. Heral had them circle the wall, confirming that it encompassed their [Healer].


    Mykhal was ready to start hacking his way through the brambles, but Heral stopped him. "Do not provoke the Guardian!" he warned. "Miss Cerise is safe enough for the moment. Let us try diplomacy first. The Guardian may have lacked words. That doesn''t mean what he guards does, too."


    Mykhal''s jaw jutted out at a stubborn angle, but he slowly nodded. Then he surprised everyone. He took his knife and cut a thin line on his forearm, gathering blood onto the blade. He wiped the blood onto one of the vines in the wall and said, "Guardian of these woods, I share this, my blood, to you as a token of my sincerity. Cerise is my friend, and I am here to see her safely returned to her parents. Offer her no harm, and I will offer you none."


    The leaves in the wall moved without wind.


    Mykhal said, "By age, we''re juveniles." The leaves moved again, and Mykhal bent his head, tension releasing from his shoulders and back. "Thank you. I, at least, shall wait."


    Behind them, plants pulled back, leaving a small clearing. In turning to look, Heral caught sight of Mahayan''s rounded expression of surprise.


    Mykhal cleaned his blade and sheathed it. He pulled out a small wooden jar of a thick salve and smeared some over his cut, recapped the jar, and returned it to his pocket. Then he calmly walked into the fresh clearing and sat down.


    "The Whispers in the Leaves says it''ll be a few days, but once Cerise is done healing, she''ll be given the choice to leave with whomever stays. We light no fires, cause no sparks, cut no wood. Creatures of the forest won''t attack us unless we attack first."


    Mahayan came and sat down next to Mykhal. "You understood the magic speech?"


    "The Whispers in the Leaves?" he asked.


    "Yeah," Mahayan said. "The magic speech."


    Mykhal shrugged. "I don''t know about magic, but every forest speaks if you listen. Leaf talk is more common than rock or river talk, but they all speak." Then Mykhal looked past Mahayan to Heral and the [Scout] twins. "We''re safe enough to rest for now. We will still need a watch in case of goblins, but not even the ants will bother us if they belong with these woods. In the morning, someone should go back to let Mama Bergin and Mister Rhene know that Cerise is safe and I''ll be bringing her home to them when I can."

 27: the Whisper in the Leaves

    After the initial shocks calmed, the needs of her patient pulled Cerise out of her panic. She spoke aloud, prefacing her verbosity with the warning, "I''m still in my Novice class, and not yet into my Intermediate skill ranks. There is a lot I don''t know and attributes I still need to grow. I will be talking out my thoughts to give you and me both a chance to judge them before they become actions. And if I seem in need of your insight, I am more than willing to hear you."


    The leaves made an acknowledging rustle, not needing words, so Cerise began by sharing the results of her Diagnose skill. Then she explained her own problems with getting lost in healing, and how, with the sheer scope of the Guardian''s ailment, that could result in Cerise herself becoming too ill to treat the Guardian wolf. She would also need water and food at some point because this was not going to be the work of a single day.


    By that point, Cerise had gathered enough courage to approach the giant wolf and began exercising her skills. As she got closer, Cerise realized her needle simply wasn''t long enough to do much for her skill efficiency. She grew distracted into healing, absently refusing meat for food as too much of a bother to prepare, too distracting from her patient.


    She did keep speaking, offering up the stream of thoughts pouring from her consciousness, and responding to the whispers she heard in the rustling of the leaves. In part prompted by whispered questions, Cerise opened up her Profile, by now practiced at keeping just enough focus on her Profile to gain the benefits of the attention of the Voice of the World while teaching. Then she began to explain her theory of Healing as actively seeking to restore a prosperous balance to a body.


    "Wounds are obvious. Something has been severed that needs to be rejoined. Much of that is learning how to make the joining as neat if the severing never happened. It''s a bit of Craft and a lot of knowing what needs to be joined and where and how.


    "Toxins are a bit more of a subtlety. Too much of anything is toxic, and timing is important, too. Some ... substances need to be taken together, others separate, and what may be harmful to one whose body is balanced may be helpful to one whose body is out of balance. Tea made from Weeping Ma''alas bark, for instance. If you have aches and pains in your body, the tea will calm them, but if you are hale and drink the tea, it will make your head hurt.


    "Heal Disease feels like the catch-all skill, and is the most obvious one for dealing with unhealthy imbalances of the body. When nothing is actually severed, so no wound, and the substances out of balance cannot be separated from the body''s reaction, it''s a disease.


    "If I catch colic developing fast enough, I can Heal Toxins to remove the food that''s causing gases to build up in the stomach, and the gases pass without any more need of my aid. But if the food has digested too much, I have to Heal Disease to restore balance to the stomach by removing the gases.


    "The Sleeping Sickness is a disease because it is a living, well, a colony of living things that have invaded the body. There are a lot of those small colonies that live in a body, but they aren''t diseases because they help to promote the balance of the body.


    "The gases in the stomach that cause colic? Those are the farts of a symbiotic colony that live in bellies and help to break food down. Without them, we would have to eat a lot more to gain the same nutrition.


    "Sleeping Sickness, though, those colonies don''t help. They are mana-munchers that take too much and give nothing back. What I know of it comes from my Diagnose skill, which still has room to grown, but they seem particularly focused on the mana that mammals -- warm-blooded milk-makers -- produce, so they get carried along by ticks especially and other blood sucking parasitic insects without harming the insects."


    The leaves whispered and Cerise flicked her attention more fully to her Profile. "Still over a third. This would probably go faster if I had a good long needle, but the one I have will barely help when I move down to his limbs. ... Oh. Surgery skill." And from there, Cerise explained precision application of mana-skills and healing potions and salves, and the limits of mana saturation for most mortal beings.


    Light and shadow passed. Cerise ate when she paused to recover her Pools, slept when she could not focus even with full Pools, and Healed at all other times, answering the Whisper in the Leaves.


    After describing Surgery, and then her Pools draining from full to a third twice, the Whisper in the Leaves gave her a set of needles in a variety of sizes. Cerise Appraised them, finding them all to be Silverwood Surgical Needles of Epic grade craftsmanship and Legendary rarity. It was the first time her Appraise gave her two different grades for an object.


    In use, the Silverwood Surgical Needles far surpassed Cerise''s simple steel needle. That was not simply in sharpness and penetrative depth. The needles seemed to amplify her skills, and afforded her more dexterity in the application of her Healing and Cleansing. That sped up the Guardian''s healing.


    Cerise did occasionally attempt to use her Paralyze and Slumber skills on the Guardian, as that was just part of her Surgical routine. It only worked once, for a few heart beats, long enough for the Voice of the World to announce she had achieved a critical success with her Paralyze skill. That one success raised her skill two divisions.


    Because the Whisper in the Leaves, and as they progressed, also the Guardian, seemed interested, Cerise formed the habit of explaining what she was about to do and why before she did anything. In between the explanations, she answered the questions she heard.


    Then came the point where Cerise had removed as many of the Sleeping Sickness colonies from the Guardian as she could. Only one stubborn colony remained, somehow thriving at the base of the giant wolf''s throat no matter what Cerise did with her skills.


    "I''m going to use Mana Sensing and Mana Proprioception together to explore why that last colony is so successfully resisting. I think it''s where your natural Mana Pool exists in your body, Mister Guardian, and if that is so, I''m going to need to talk out some plans of approach and see what you and the Whisper in the Leaves think."


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    The Guardian chuffed and rolled onto his back, stretching out his head.


    Cerise had already gotten a feel for the density of mana in the Guardian, but it still took some time to settle into her senses and understand what she was sensing. Habit now had her talking non-stop as she relayed what she was comprehending. She barely noticed the Voice of the World, and promptly forgot the notice as the way she understood mana shifted into its own experience.


    [Mana Sensing] and [Mana Proprioception] advance to [Arcane Senses], Practiced-9.


    Something that was not Sight or Hearing, Taste or Touch or Scent, and yet was all of these things awoke in Cerise, filling the world with a nuance and depth she hadn''t imagined could be experienced. It was amazing and wonderful, a touch awe inspiring, and best of all, revealed to Cerise the reason why this nasty, stubborn colony of Sleeping Sickness hung on.


    She absently caressed her fingers through the Guardian''s fur, rubbing along the sides of his neck near his ear in a way that got his back leg kicking in the air with lazy enjoyment.


    "Lady Whisper, this is what I''m seeing. The colonies that make the Sleeping Sickness need a body to live in, but they eat mana. Your Guardian is joined to your Silverwood tree here by mana alone. Your tree is also not a mammal. The colony cannot hurt your tree. What it can do is sup on the mana you pour into your Guardian.


    "I have two ideas for how to destroy this last disease colony, and it has to be destroyed or the sickness will just come back. I don''t know enough about mana or mana bonds to know which is the riskier course.


    "The first course is, if you can narrow your bond, give less mana to your guardian while I attack the colony as I have been doing.


    "The second is for you to learn my Cleansing skill and push that through your bond. The Cleansing intent mana seems to be poison to the Sleeping Sickness colonies."


    The leaves whispered, and Cerise taught a tree how to cast Greater Cleanse.


    You have earned the achievement [Wild Teacher].


    [Wild Teacher]: You have successfully taught an advanced skill to an aspect of the natural world.


    Perk: Wild beasts and natural aspects will sense when you are friendly toward them, improving their attitude toward you.


    While the Whisper in the Leaves poured Greater Cleanse through her bond with her guardian wolf, Cerise applied her skill combination, more concerned with defeating this stubborn foe than in the subtle difference to her Healing skills.


    Cerise''s Pools fell to three quarters full. It seemed they were making no progress, but neither was the Sleeping Sickness. At just under half, the colony contracted. It was just a bit, a small thing, but that was encouragement enough. By the time Cerise was down to the one-third mark, where she usually paused to recuperate her Pools, that slight contraction had continued, the size of the colony beginning to shrink with greater and greater rapidity. Cerise decided to push on, explaining when the leaves asked her that she thought it most important to reduce the colony to as small as possible to prevent the disease from quickly reestablishing itself.


    Cerise waited until she was on the edge of collapse to withdraw her Surgical Needles. Her skills could find no more disease within the Guardian, but she remembered how onset times worked with skills, She asked the Lady Whisper to keep up her Cleansing Mana for at least a day, and slept, curled up next to the giant wolf.


    <hr>


    When Cerise awoke, she saw the moon high overhead, and felt the wolf beside her shift.


    ?You helped me remember my name,? a gruff, masculine voice greeted her. ?I heard you say while you and my tree healed me, that you wish to be a friend of beasts, so as my thanks-gift, I have given you knowledge of Beast Speech.?


    Cerise sucked in her breath, then carefully released it, grinning. "That is a wonderful gift!" she said, immediately searching in herself for the new knowledge.


    The wolf chuffed in amusement. ?You may not be thanking me when you first hear how lecherous some of the birds can be. Yet, it should aid you in walking the [Druid''s] path. My tree has gifts for you, as well.?


    "Druid?" Cerise asked, even as she followed the wolf''s prodding to rise and look toward the tree in the center of the grove.


    ?If that is the path suited to you, you will learn more in time,? the leaves whispered.


    The wolf chuffed a laugh again.


    ?Approach and claim your gifts, Wild Friend,? the leaves ordered.


    Cerise, feeling bashful now, nodded and solemnly walked toward the trunk of the Silverwood tree. Under the boughs of the magical tree, she spotted a lightly used, quality canvas pack. That was interesting for the muted sense of mana that came from it, but the two seeds next to the pack were far more magical.


    ?The pack contains things of men that have been left in my woods. They are a gift of friendship. The seeds beside carry a part of your reward and a task I would ask of you. For the remainder of your reward, I would bestow upon you a name so all may know you have my blessing, and in the name comes the gift of Sylvan speech.?


    "Would I cease to be Cerise?" she asked, conflicted. "And, what task would you have of me?"


    ?The name I would give you would add to your existing names. The task is to present one of the seeds to the dungeon where you plan to settle. The other seed is sterile, and I have made it into a token of Holding Stasis, though only those who bear my name name may use it so. To all others, it seems a token of Authority, granting you full freedom of my woods.?


    Cerise sank to her knees, placed her palms upon the ground before her so her thumbs and index finger formed a triangle, and then bowed until her forehead touched her hands. "You honor me with your generosity, and I will gladly accept your name and your task for me."


    You have earned the achievement [Named of Nature].


    [Named of Nature]: the hamadryad of the Silverwood Grove has shared her name with you.


    Perk: all dryads will recognize you as a natural ally.


    Hidden Perk revealed: if you listen, you will understand the speech of woodland plants and creatures.


    You have earned the achievement [Blessed by El-Ahrand].


    [Blessed by El-Ahrand]: You have pleased the god of Forests.


    Perk: You gain Woodland Stride as a passive skill. This skill will wax and wane at El-Ahrand''s whim.


    Cerise shivered.


    The leaves laughed. ?Father likes you. Be not disturbed.?


    Then the leaves sighed. ?There are more who gave of their own blood to swear they are here to escort you back to your family. Would you meet with them? Within my woods, I can prevent them from forcing action upon you, but not outside my domain.?


    Cerise drew in a few calming breaths and realized how close she had felt Mykhal was all this time. She gestured in the direction her team sense indicated. "If the men you mean are over there and near, my best friend is among them. He won''t be idle if anyone tries to hurt me."


    The leaves rustled. ?Good.?


    The Grove of the Silverwood Hamadryad opened. Cerise rose, collected the pack and the seeds, and bowed again to the Silverwood tree. "Thank you. May your life and the lives of those you love, be long and prosperous."

 Chapter 28: How do you find mana?

    28: How do you find mana?


    The giant wolf walked her out of the grove, licking the side of her face and chuffing his laughter at her amused outrage. ?Reagent for your Cleansing skill,? he joked about the slobber sliming down her neck.


    Cerise showed her palms and laughed as she followed the joking suggestion. Then she looked passed the big wolf and saw her best friend, trembling as he held himself back, eying the wolf with concern.


    She was having none of that. Cerise flung herself at her best friend. "Mykhal! I have so much to tell you! I met a land god! She''s incredible! She gave me a name! How are you? Could you feel I was okay? I could feel you here and it made it so much easier to not be afraid! How are Mama and Papa? Where are Mama and Papa?"


    He wrapped her up in a hug and started shaking. Surreptitiously, she cast a few Stabilizes on him. By the time he released her, the moon had traveled a third of the way through its descent. She saw three tents behind him, and Heral and his cousins standing, watching them.


    When Heral realized her attention was upon them, he bowed, his cousins following suit. When he rose, he said, "Miss ban Silverwood, congratulations on your elevation."


    "Ah, what now?" Cerise asked.


    Heral chuckled and rubbed his face. "Your Identify profile now shows you as Cerise ban Silverwood, Authority Bearer, Free Lancer, Freeman, Emancipated Youth, [Healer], Rare, Novice. We should rejoin your parents and then return to Va''Velton so I may introduce you to Hirsel Velton. That is, if you may leave these woods?"


    Cerise spluttered before she got out, "Yes, I can leave, but, what?" Then she spluttered some more before asking, "Why do we need to go the hirsel?"


    Heral''s expression was gentle. "As an authority bearer for the Silverwood, within these woods only the King of Druerjan has legal standing to contest your edicts. Outside, Druerjan''s laws afford you diplomatic status. You are not noble: you are not bound by a noble''s obligation nor afforded a noble''s privileges, but you will be offered the respect and courtesy due the authority you represent."


    "Oh," Cerise said, having nothing better to say.


    ?You can stay if you want,? the leaves whispered.


    "Please don''t!" Mykhal asked. "Please come with us!"


    Cerise hugged him again and took a deep breath. "I can''t be a loyal daughter and stay, now can I? Mama and Papa need people, and there aren''t many people who live well without a palisade between them and the monsters. We have only done as well as we have because of Fortuna''s smile, and that is not something to disrespect by depending upon. Of course I''m going with you, Mykhal. We have a dungeon to explore!" Cerise tried to project in Sylvan Speech, ?and a task to see done, Lady Whisper.?


    The leaves laughed.


    <hr>


    They waited until sunrise to break camp.


    "I made provisions for your parents to wait for us in the next town," Heral had told Cerise.


    Mykhal had added, "Kaspia and Casper went back to let everyone know when the Whisper in the Leaves told us you would be safe to return with us. I asked them to use the team sense to let our folks know we''re safe and when we start back to them."


    "Okay," Cerise said. She had just woken from slumber and Mykhal had been on watch, so neither of them felt the need to sleep. Heral and Izrai crawled back in for sleep, but Mahayan wavered long enough for Cerise to invite the young Honorable Miss to join them.


    She was a quiet girl and hesitant to speak up. She had seemed very polite before, but now she was almost meek around Cerise. Glatadia, on the other hand?


    ?You should ask! ... If you don''t ask, you''ll never know! ... Ask!?


    ?Ask what?? Cerise asked.


    Glatadia snapped her gaze to Cerise. ?You hear me??


    ?The Guardian gave me Beast Speech,? She explain-agreed.


    "Cerise, why are you clicking your tongue?" Mykhal asked.


    She grinned and explained how when she and the Lady Whisper finished healing the Lady''s Guardian, he thanked her with the gift of Beast Speech. She could hear Glatadia pressuring Mahayan to ask something.


    Mykhal said, "As long as it isn''t mean, you won''t hurt our feelings by asking."


    "Your classes, they''re obviously magic classes. How did you get them?" Mahayan asked.


    Cerise felt Mykhal stiffen. She smiled kindly at the young woman even as she laid a calming hand on Mykhal''s. "We don''t talk about our classes or skills because slavers pay well for Novices that haven''t got someone to come for them, especially ones with our kind of skills. What slavers would pay for, others would extort.


    "As for how we were classed, we did as most other commoners in the Northern villages do. We gave our supplicant gifts, stood in the holy place, and were judged for the skills we raised and the actions we took before that day."


    Mahayan grimaced and said, "I have a friend, a pair of friends, who are in love. He is an Honorable, but close enough to the bottom to fall through as a Freeman. He classed last year as a [Mage] and now his family is trying to use him to make alliances with other Honorables who haven''t had a [Mage] in a generation or two. She hasn''t classed yet because she''s terrified that when she does and there''s no magic in her class, she won''t be allowed near him anymore. I want to help my friends, not least because one of the Houses he''s being offered to is my own."


    "But, you are a [Mage]," Mykhal pointed out.


    She grimaced. "I only classed at Mid-Summer, and we all expected I''d be a [Scribe] or maybe an [Alchemist]. Errol used the excuse of visiting with me to teach Laslyr, hoping it would help. I got a mutation for [Scribing] that let me read mana and the only choice I had in the dungeon was between [Mage] and [Rune Scribe]."


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    Cerise and Mykhal looked between each other. He, reluctantly, nodded. "It was your discovery," he reminded her.


    "How do you find mana? How do you study it? How do you interact with it?" Cerise asked.


    "I--. I have a Mana Pool. I read the books Cousin Aleron loans me, and I use my skills. Is there another way?" Mahayan said.


    "Do any of your books talk about a skill called Mana Sensing? Or a Mana Sense, like Mana Sight or Mana Hearing?" Cerise wanted to just say the answer, but hesitated and so asked questions.


    "Arcane Senses, but that''s a class perk. It''s not .... How did you get that skill without being [Mages] already?"


    Mykhal sighed. "It''s Mana Sensing, not Arcane Senses. And Fortuna gifted us by pricking her curiosity on the day of her classing rites. Our holy place was a grotto and the walls glowed dimly in the tunnel leading to the grotto. No one else on their classing day would bother to stop and stare at the walls, wondering why they glowed."


    "And Mykhal was with my parents to stand for me, so I told him about having to get into hunter''s trance to see the bright mana there," Cerise said.


    Mahayan asked, "What''s the hunter''s trance?"


    "Empty your mind and fill it with the world around you. A lot of people think too much. They live in their heads, so caught up in what they expect that they never check if what they expect matches what really is happening around them. ''Can''t feed a family on expectation, now can you?''" Cerise ended by mimicking Elder Cord.


    She and Mykhal exchanged nostalgic smiles.


    <hr>


    In the morning, Heral and Izrai broke down the tents and stored them in pendants of Minor Holding. Cerise''s Etiquette skill, though Basic, warned against examining gifts in the giver''s home, so she simply shouldered the pack, the two seeds safely tucked into her belly pocket.


    With everything packed up, Heral shared out trail loaf and jerkied meats. He looked to Mahayan. "What knowledge are you returning for what Miss ban Silverwood and Mister Mykhal shared with you?"


    The two Freemen stilled while Mahayan spluttered, finally saying, "Eavesdropping is rude!"


    "Have more care where you speak if you want your words to be private." He looked over the three of them. "This is a lesson you all apparently need to learn."


    "As you say, Honorable Mister el-Treborant," Cerise agreed.


    Heral returned his expectant gaze to Mahayan. She worked her mouth, not knowing what to offer. The lordling sighed and turned to Mykhal and Cerise. "I authorize Mahayan to share the books she has on loan from the Treborant kizanelium concerning [Mage] skills with you both. I suggest Mahayan teach you her scribing mutation as compensation for your shared discovery."


    Mahayan brightened. "Oh, I can do that!" Then another thought drained color from her face. "You''re not going to tell Mother about Errol and Laslyr, are you?"


    Heral gave her a flat look. "I don''t need to get in the middle of anyone''s romances. If I am not asked, I will not volunteer."


    They finished their cold breakfast and set out.


    Where Cerise walked, the wood made way for her so that what had taken the Cousins Treborant a day''s steady walk took half a day to return to the road.


    Following the road saw them to a modest town named Sa''Codlan by night fall. They found Cerise''s parents at an inn named the Hundred Year Stew. It was late enough that Heral just paid for rooms at the inn for them all and they ate bowls of the stew for which the inn was named.


    Cerise''s mother nearly suffocated her, and her father was worse. Mykhal wasn''t exempt from the parental affections; he got pulled into the reunion hugs just as fiercely.


    The innkeeper sidled up to Heral and nervously wiped his hands on his apron. "So, she, uh, the Miss that Miss Bergin and Mister Rhene are hugging, she''s the one that was snatched up by the Silverwood''s Guardian?"


    Heral looked to the man. "You ask why?"


    "Well, there''s some as say the Silverwood''s been angry, but the Guardian, he didn''t really ...?" The innkeeper trailed off, clearly uncomfortable with the cold look Heral was giving him.


    Heral asked, "Do you know how to use an Identify skill?"


    "Eh. Um. Yes, sir?" the innkeeper offered.


    "Use it. Start with the Miss. Then ask yourself how you want to be seen treating the Miss and her esteemed parents."


    The innkeeper gave a weak smile, but looked at Cerise. Then he paled and mumbled his excuses as he headed out of the room.


    <hr>


    In the room that Cerise''s parents insisted she and Mykhal share with them, she pulled the seeds out of her belly pouch and Appraised them. One was simply beyond her skill. The other, smaller seed was:


    Authority of the Silverwood Grove Hamadryad


    Legendary Rarity


    Epic Quality


    Authority is Bound to Bearer. Bearer may expend mana to summon authority. No other may possess the authority without suffering the Hamadryad''s Curse. Authority may only be returned to or revoked by the issuing Hamadryad.


    Authority Grows with Bearer. Currently capable of holding in stasis a volume of three bow-lengths cubed.


    Allows Bearer to command the Hamadryad''s woods and to carry the Hamadryad''s seeds.


    That was amazing! She gained an intuitive sense of how to use the artifact, because surely that and the Silverwood Surgical Needles the Lady Whisper in the Leaves gave her could be nothing less than artifacts.


    Her mother started to reach for the seeds and Cerise snatched them up. "I don''t know what the Hamadryad''s Curse is and I don''t want you to find out the hard way. You can Inspect them in my hands, but only I touch these seeds."


    That earned her parental glares all around, including from Mykhal. Before the lectures could start, she said, "Inspect first! Know what you''re talking about! Then tell me how you think I should have answered when the land god presented these to me."


    She could feel her mother''s ire only growing, but Cerise knew that she was being reasonable and that, once her mother calmed down, her mother would agree.


    Her father stopped her mother from trying to snatch the seeds out of Cerise''s hands when she opened them for the others to use their Inspect skills.


    "No one gets to hurt my baby! No one lays any curses on her! If I have to--!" her mother, apparently, was not going to be reasonable for a while.


    Mykhal said, "Oh! It''s a protection! Mama, Cerise is safe!"


    Her mother swung her head around at that. "What?!"


    "Don''t try to touch it. Just Inspect it and you''ll see faster than I can say it," Mykhal promised.


    Her father at least knew better than to let his wife go. Then the fury drained out of her mother, leaving tears.


    They took time to be emotional together, though Cerise made sure to tuck away the seeds. An intuition warned her against putting the seed she could not identify into the holding space of her token of Authority.


    Though tired and wrung out, Cerise was very curious about the canvas bag. It Appraised as:


    Lesser Holding Pack


    Uncommon Rarity


    Rare Quality


    Holding Packs are often used by explorers and small, mobile teams to transport equipment for prolonged stays away from civilization. Holds four cubic arms by volume. Rare quality bonus: items in the pack are subject to temporal storage, aging 1 day inside the pack for every 400 days outside.


    Then she opened the pack, and laying on top of bundles of gear and stacks of weapons were pendants just like the ones she and Mykhal had so recently received at the Free Lancers Guild. She Appraised one.


    Free Lancers Identity Token


    Common Rarity


    Common Quality


    Bearer: Hammdal of Stalking Leaves, deceased


    They were all Free Lancer Identity Tokens, and they all listed their bearers as deceased.


    Cerise closed the pack and did not look any further into it.


    Her family had been looking over her shoulder, Mykhal most excited of all, and now the most somber.


    "Where did this pack come from?" her father asked.


    "The Lady Whisper in the Leaves, the land god, said they were things men left in her woods, and asked me to take them away." She looked to Mykhal. "We''ll need to take this to the Free Lancers Guild in Va''Velton.


    Mykhal nodded.


    <hr>


    Before Cerise went to sleep that night, she checked her Profile out of habit. She wasn''t up for meditating on any skills, but a quick glance at her changes was usually encouraging.


    She had two open class skill slots. That was the first thing she noticed. Then she saw that her Heal Wounds, Heal Toxins, and Heal Diseases skills had collapsed into the broad Heal skill. The third thing she noticed was that her new broad skill was at Practiced-9 (Intermediate-2). She had reached level 15 and of her class slotted skills, only Slumber and Paralyze were not capped into the Intermediate rank.


    She didn''t know which skills she should pick to fill the new empty slots, so she held off for now on choosing. Perhaps she would unlock something new soon.

 Chapter 29: I won’t repeat what’s getting said about plumage

    29: I won��t repeat what��s getting said about plumage


    Bread, fresh baked, and steaks from a recently butchered pig were served at breakfast along with sliced apples and small beer. It wasn''t her mother''s cooking, but it was fresh and hot, and Cerise thanked the innkeeper for the generous portions.


    There was a Ma''deron factor in town, and they went to settle accounts there, receipt from the Hundred Year Stew in hand. Heral surprised them by purchasing riding horses and tack from the factor. During the conversation, it was mentioned that Arlcyr Cadlan was away in Va''Velton on the Hirsel''s business, which seemed to relieve Heral for some reason.


    They departed from Sa''Cadlan back the way they came, Daisy pulling her cart with a happy prance while Cerise''s family learned to ride.


    Cerise''s mother, as their family''s Speaker, had protested the expense, but Heral insisted that it was for the best. "Speed is needful diplomacy. And it will make catching back up with the caravan easier when our business is done."


    Heral had asked for saddle horses that were good for Beginner-Low riders on the road. They got sweet gaited older horses that had managed to avoid mana rich fodder. Cerise listened to them and the dire horses, and realized she much preferred Daisy''s sassy attitude to the timidity of the saddle beasts.


    ?Uh-oh! Bigger herd!? had been signaled by the gelding her mother was riding, Socks by name, for his white markings on his hind legs against an otherwise brown body.


    Cerise was riding a bay mare with a whitish blaze from her nose to her ears named Fox Lily after the flower. She didn''t have the awareness to say anything more complicated than stringing simple concepts together, like ?you big? and ?we herd??


    Her father''s spotted gelding mount was the same, but Mykhal''s gelding, a dappled gray, could speak a bit more intelligibly. He mostly chose not to, being a rather placid sort.


    Daisy and the Honorables'' dire horse mounts had a more frolicsome attitude, as well as a bit more of a rivalry. The saddle dire horses kept teasing Daisy for pulling the car, saying things like, ?Weak back has to pull!? and ?Not going to run fast like that!? to which Daisy laughed and said, ?You couldn''t pull my cart! You''re so clumsy your people have to sit on your back to keep you with the herd!?


    The background chatter, along with the occasional woodland chittering of ?Food here!?, ?Sex here!?, and ?Danger!? distracted Cerise from the Etiquette lessons Heral tried to impart. It reached a point where Heral said, "You seem to be having problems listening."


    "Yeah," Cerise agreed. "There are so many speakers around us that even though they aren''t talking to me, I''m having a hard time ignoring them to hear you."


    Heral frowned, but Cerise was starting to think that he was just too serious, and not necessarily a mean spirited person. "What other speakers?"


    "Oh, I thought you heard all of our talk with Mahayan. The Guardian gave me Beast Speech so there are the dire horses goofing around, the almiraj nattering at the Honorable Misses, and, well, a lot of calls from the woods. Those are the most, um, disturbing ones. About half are danger calls, but the speakers sound small, maybe birds or squirrels?"


    Mykhal looked at Cerise and slowly started chuckling. "That''s not what has you distracted, is it?"


    "Ah, a little on edge, but, no. That''s not disturbing," she admitted, blushing. "And, no, I won''t repeat what''s getting said about plumage and tails, but ''smell my funk''? I am so glad I''m not whatever kind is saying that!"


    The humans all ended up laughing, which earned prances from Daisy and confusion from the other horses until Daisy explained, ?My people playing!?


    <hr>


    They camped to the side of the road that evening, and made it to Va''Velton in the early afternoon of the next day. Cerise''s mother insisted Cerise Cleanse them all before riding into the city. "If we are being presented to the Hirsel of these lands, we will be clean and respectable!"


    Cerise just opened the spigot on the small water collecting barrel mounted to the side of their cart and sent the water over her family first, before offering the magical bath to the Honorables.


    Mahayan and Izrai eagerly accepted while Heral looked conflicted before consenting. Izrai was the first to emit a startled squeak when the water swirled around her body.


    "Is everything okay?" Cerise asked. She had long since learned to ignore where the water went when she Cleansed a living body. It wasn''t as if the water provided her with any sensation, which made that a lot easier.


    "Ah, fine," Izrai said with an embarrassed trill to her voice. "It just tickles is all-ahh-ha-ha-ha!"


    Cerise looked on, baffled. It was just water. Maybe the older Honorable Miss was just sensitive?


    The other Honorables soon had similar straining-to-be-composed expression, so Cerise wrote it off as them being maybe sensitive to the mana in her Cleanse skill, or maybe them having more delicate skin than Freeman?


    From the Honorables she moved on to Cleansing the horses. Hairs that were already shed came out of their coats, though the merely loose hairs a brush would have picked up remained. Cerise warned each of the horses as she began, ?Bath time! The water is safe and will clean you. Tell me if there''s an itchy spot.?


    ?Bath time?!? Daisy perked up. ?Ears cleaned?!? She lifted one foreleg. ?Shiny hooves!?


    Cerise laughed. ?Shiny hooves,? she agreed.


    During the baths, the horses whinnied and sighed, and they all pranced happily after the Cleansing.


    The trio of almiraj, witnessing this, demanded their bonded masters learn how to do this magical bathing, and in the meantime permitted -- in a demanding fashion -- Cerise to bathe them, too.


    The critters'' delight buoyed Cerise''s spirits all the way into the city. Then they turned toward the Hirsel Velton estate and nerves began to stomp dance in her belly. Mykhal and Heral were the only members of their group that seemed perfectly at ease as they rode up to the guards blocking the gate to the hirsel''s estate grounds. A man in a fancy jacket stood by the guards and watched them approach.


    Heral announced to this man, "Heral el-Treborant escorts the new Miss ban Silverwood to be introduced to Hirsel Jedais Velton."


    "You are expected, Honorable Misters and Misses," the man in the fancy jacket said. "My name is Perth, and I am an Aide to the hirsel. Please come to the house with me and we will see to your beasts."


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    "It is a pleasure to see you again, Aide Perth," Heral said, but they fell into silence after a few polite exchanges as they followed to the house.


    Heral was down from his horse and helping Cerise before she got farther than trying to recall which side she was supposed to dismount. Izrai went to help Cerise''s mother while stable hands from the Velton estate arrived to help Mahayan, Mykhal, and her father.


    Daisy did not like the stable girl that reached for her head harness. Cerise nickered a stern, ?No biting!? followed by, ?What is the problem??


    ?Not herd!? Daisy griped.


    Cerise when over and tapped Daisy on the muzzle. ?Be nice. No biting. Do that and I will be back by sunset to give you an apple.?


    ?A whole apple?? Daisy asked, ears perking forward.


    ?Not the core, but all the rest of it, yes,? Cerise agreed.


    A chorus of ?Apples!?? came from the rest of the horses.


    ?Only for good horses who go nicely with these fellows and do not bite or kick them!? Cerise said, staring down the beasts.


    Then she turned to the stable girl. "This lot love apples, but if any bite or kick, they are not to have any sweets."


    The stable girl ducked her head in acknowledgment, a touch of awe in her gaze as she looked at Cerise.


    Daisy pranced off with the girl, and the wind blew the words of one of the younger stable hands their way. "How much easier our jobs''d be if we could talk to the beasties like that!"


    She grinned, if only briefly, before swallowing back her anxiety and following Aide Perth into the very big stone building. Everything inside the castle-mansion -- it did not quite sprawl enough to be a palace -- was exquisitely beautiful, if not artistically interesting. They went down a few hallways before arriving at a door guarded by two knightly looking people. The exaggerated breast plate on one indicated a lady Sir, and the codpiece on the other knight''s armor was no less exaggerated in indicating a lord Sir.


    The lady Sir stomped her polearm''s butt onto a bronze clapper, then opened the door. "Aide Perth with guests, seven," she announced into the room. She left the door open as she stepped back into position.


    "Enter," an older man''s voice called, and Aide Perth smiled and nodded his thanks to the lady Sir guard.


    The room was large enough to contain two of the houses Cerise had grown up in, and had a wall lined in shelves filled entirely with bound books. A desk faced into the room before the wall, a massive furnishing with three seats, one in the middle facing the room and one at each end. The seat closest to the door was unoccupied while the seat by the windowed wall was filled by a woman only a bit older than Cerise''s mother. Aide Perth silently stepped back, taking the unoccupied end seat at the desk and began going over ledger books.


    In the opposite side of the room, several couches were arranged around an unlit fireplace along with a matched pair of arm chairs. An older man rose from one of the chairs, a posh man of an age to be Cerise''s grandfather. "Heral, boy, good to see you again, though I confess I had not expected the opportunity to come so soon."


    "Lord Jedais, you honor me. I, too, did not expect such a pleasant opportunity to come so swiftly, and I hope the introduction I have the honor to make leads to greater prosperity in your lands."


    The hirsel inclined his head and Heral continued. "Miss Cerise ban Silverwood is a [Healer] that was recently called upon by the Guardian of the Silverwood Grove to render assistance. In return for her efforts, she has been granted the ban Silverwood name and the Authority of the Silverwood Grove."


    Hirsel Velton inclined his upper body in a stiff bow. Cerise bit her lip to keep from stopping the elderly hirsel and urging him to sit. Older people, and nobles, could be very prideful, but even with her Triage Aura shut down because of being in the city she could practically feel the ache in the elder''s bones with her own body. Instead, she returned his bow with her own, as Heral had instructed them on the road.


    Heral introduced her parents and Mykhal, and reminded the Hirsel of the prior introduction of his cousins. Astrid, Glatadia, and Tomas all poked their heads out of the carry harnesses Cerise''s mother made for the almiraj during Cerise''s time healing the Guardian wolf, and Cerise handled their introduction. Heral barely contained his pained look, but Hirsel Velton laughed and bid them be seated.


    Cerise''s new Arcane Senses felt the hirsel''s skills reaching out to them, putting them at ease. He drew the story of their departure from Trall from them. The full story, including the finding of Drakeblood ore that sparked the rebellion in the village. Cerise still wasn''t sure what the import of that was, but it was significant enough that the Hirsel sucked in his breath through his teeth.


    Once the tale was told, Hirsel Velton addressed her parents first. "Well, with that in your past, I shall have to ensure I do not provoke the arlthanes before I may extend covenantuer over you, but I can grant you residency within my lands. That grant will authorize you to purchase without levy twenty fields each. You will still be subject to the material liens, but only at the rate applied to the Freeman bound by covenant.


    "Miss ban Silverwood and Mister Mykhal, you present me with different circumstances. As youths, you cannot be held to any sort of group accountability. As Free Lancers, you cannot be bound to a Druerjan liege. You can be granted Writs of Residency, as I am doing for Miss Bergin and Mister Rhene, and I will happily do this for Mister Mykhal.


    "Miss ban Silverwood, however, as an authority bearer, you are a diplomat for the Silverwood Grove. The Grove Lady of the Silverwoods has not established any diplomatic embassy in Druerjan yet, and thus I am required to provide you with a contiguous plot of land, that has no other claimants, of as much as forty fields in area, in a location of your preference within my domain upon your request. This applies to every noble in Druerjan up to His Majecty, King Ahrahm, and especially the arlcyrs, cyrs, and landed knights under vassalage to me. There can be no leins or levy laided against the land so claimed.


    "There are restrictions upon the use of such land, however. For instance, you may not lease or sell the land to anyone, nor operate a shop or foundry or noxious craft hall thereon. If you farm the land, surplus must be offered to the noble most directly responsible for the surround lands at the local market value first before you may attempt to sell to anyone else. You are responsible for protecting the lands from monstrous invasions. The land rights are not inheritable, and I am required to revoke the land grant if you lose your diplomatic status.


    "And only the king may grant a diplomat residency. That does not prevent you from following the example of the Honorables, and leasing lands subject to liens, though you personally would still be exempt from levy counts.


    "I will write you letters of introduction to Lady Solange. To be honest, had this matter with your villages happened in my domain, I would have held you blameless and applied to our arlthane to strip such a cyr of title and land, and I shall so say to Solange. She is a prickly woman with a compassionate heart. Allow young Heral to guide in the introductions and all should go well.


    "Now, I insist you stay with me while you conduct whatever business you need in Va''Velton. I won''t trouble you with a formal dinner. I realize they can be stressful to those still in the Beginner rank of Etiquette."


    With that, they were dismissed, but Cerise wasn''t quite ready to go. "May I speak a moment with you in confidence, Hirsel Velton?" she asked, and received his interested appraisal.


    "Of course, Miss ban Silverwood. Perth, Ronala, please escort our guests to our House Master." The two aides glanced up from the papers at their desks and bowed even as they rose, complying.


    Cerise barely waited for the door to close before she bent her head and said, "I apologize if this is too intrusive. I am a [Healer] and I cannot help but notice your pain. I would need to use some invasive skills to determine what I could do for the cause of that pain, but I''m pretty sure I can do a thing or two to ease the pain itself. If you choose to accept my assistence, I would prefer that you only have people you trust with sensitive matters present, and a contract for my silence at the ready."


    "You are showing quite the care for my privacy." He spoke in a way that made Cerise think he was stalling.


    "Lord Jedais, I don''t know a lot about nobility, but I do know it''s better to be on good terms with a good landlord than in the right with a bad on. I don''t want to give you a reason to doubt the compassion you''ve shown my family. During our travels, I''ve seen how rumors of a lord''s being in ill health can unsettle their people. If such a rumor starts about you, I want you to know it didn''t begin with me."


    The hirsel nodded. "True enough reasons. When you say intrusive skills, what do you mean?"


    "The first skill is called Diagnose and it will tell me of specific physical ailments. The second skill is called Arcane Senses and wil synergize with Diagnose to show me any problem points in the mana cycles of your body."


    Forty minutes later, with a contract of confidentiality signed between them, Cerise put away her silverwood surgical needles while the hirsel stretch with a vigor and joy he hadn''t felt in at least a decade.


    "The prognosis is that if you respect the limits of your body, you should have at last two years before the pain returns."


    "Two years, understood," he agreed, laughing.

 Chapter 30: We share with those whom we want to prosper

    30: We share with those whom we want to prosper


    It was too late when Cerise rejoined her family for her and Mykhal to go to the Free Lancers Compound. They dined in their suite of rooms together and planned their next day.


    Mykah had tried to ask why she stayed, and Cerise gave himthe answer she and the Hirsel had agreed on. "All I can say is that I had a gift from the Silverwood to share, and we discussed some things about skills for which he and I signed a mutual confidentiality contract. I don''t want to be a contract breaker."


    <hr>


    Before sunset that evening, Cerise stopped by the stables and got out apples from their cart to give to all the horses. She talked to each of them and reminded them to be good for the stable hands.


    A mister of about her father''s age came by to see what she was doing, and paused as he heard her talking in Beast Speech. She felt the wave of his Identify skill, one of many from teh stable hands. In a respectful tone, he asked, "Lady ban Silverwood, is there aught we can do for you?"


    She looked up and used her Appraise for his name. "Oh, I just made a promise to Daisy here, Mister Davi, and I hate not keeping promises. I''ve also promised her and our other horses that if they''re good they can have sweets, but if the dire horses especially are ill mannered, they''re to only get bitter forage. And it''s each horse on their own merits."


    "We don''t have a lot of bitters, Lady," Mister Davi said.


    "Oh, I''m sorry! It''s Miss, not Lady. And, give me a moment." Cerise  finished seeing to Daisy''s scritches, then headed back to their cart. She pulled out a pannier style basket of sorted forage and found her bag of unsorted gather, along with a gather basket she had only finished making before their first visit to Va''Velton, and so still empty. She made short work of sorting out all the gather and soon had a basket of bitter mana herbs safe for the dire horses.


    Mister Davi looked a bit surprised when he inspected the herbs she had set aside as punishment feed. "You ... feed these ... to horses?"


    Cerise shrugged. "Dire beasts need mana, and these are safe for them to eat and only take a bit of searching out."


    "Theses have to be worth at least a gold!" he protested.


    Cerise chuckled. "I wish, but nope! We traveled with a Nykimopia Consortium caravan and also with a Ma''deron caravan. Both of their trade masters already said these herbs are of limited use to alchemists, and they''re at best good for some weak, minor healing salves. The best I''ve gotten from a pannier of that size is a hand jar''s worth of Uncommon quality minor healing salve."


    "That''s--. You made the salve? How?"


    "Potion Brewing is a specific skill under the broad Alchemy skill, and happens to be a [Healer] class skill. Anyhow, that''s maybe a day''s gather and will suppliment all four of the dire horses for a few days. Even though they''re bitter, the dire''s will eat it for the mana, which is why I use it while telling them why they''re eating bitters." Of course, before getting Beast Speech, Cerise had only been doing that with Daisy and she rarely had cause to withhold sweets.


    "But, you''re a novice tier [Healer]? And still a youth? How did you have time to learn it all?" the stable hand seemed confused.


    Cerise shrugged. "Put in the work. Be curious. Try things. Think about what you see. Skills depend as much on what you know as on what you can do. As my father says, the path to Mastery is laid one stone at a time. Also, ''appreciate the challenges the gods send your way as they are opportunities to learn. Granted, some are about learning how to run from things beyond you.'' That''s Dad''s favorite saying."


    Mister Davi laughed. "Well, should you be interested in selling some healing salve, we can always use more."


    "Got a jar to store some in?" Cerise asked. "Your hirsel is a generous man. The least I can do is return that generosity to his people."


    In moments, Cerise had pulled out a good sized wooden canister and divided off half of the contents to a ceramic jar Mister Davi produced. "Oh, miss! That''s more generous than my budget affords!"


    She waved him off. "This isn''t a sale. As I said, this is merely a return of generosity. We share with those whom we want to prosper."


    "Thank you!" he said.


    Cerise smiled, feeling good to be able to give.


    <hr>


    Cerise and Mykhal rose with the false dawn and got ready for the day. They wanted to get to the Free Lancers Guild early so they could be back to go with Cerise''s parents to the Temple of the Gods and seek out Fortuna''s priests for guidance on how to best show their gratitude for her smiles. They went by the stables to pick up their packs and found two stable boys poking at their cart.


    Cerise was ready to charge in, feeling like this was a poor repayment of her kindness the night before, but Mykhal stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, and signed for stealth. She pulled on her Stealth skill while Mykhal did his disappearing into the background thing. They approached close enough to hear the boys whisper-arguing.


    "Stop this! That belongs to the hirsel''s guests!" one of the boys said, poking at the other.


    The other boy waved him off. "You''re such a worry wort! We''ve got at least an hour before anyone shows up! I just want to see!"


    "Marl, you stop now or I''m telling Stable Master Davi!" the first boy warned.


    "Hey! I thought you were my friend! You do that and I lose my job, and then how will I feed Masha?" The boy called Marled scowled at the other boy. "It''s just a look!"


    "I am your friend! That''s why I''m giving you the chance to stop before you earn a slave brand! Or worse!"


    "You know, if you had just gone along with me, we''d''ve already looked and been done! You''re the one wasting time here, Karl."


    "Because it''s not going to be just looking! I''ve listened to you all night going on and on about how valuable the herbs we''re supposed to fee their dires are and how rich they must be and how they''re just ''peasants like us'' -- except they aren''t! They are guests of our lord! You''re talking yourself up to stealing from them! I know you! And what you haven''t thought about is what our lord will do when he finds out someone in his House stole from his guests! A slave brand will be his generosity! And you know what? You have dragged me down too many times. I''m done." Karl ended his impassioned speech by turning his back on Marl and heading for the stable doors.


    Marl''s eyes rounded with panic. He looked around and grabbed a bucket, swinging for the back of Karl''s head.


    Mykhal threw something, maybe a brush? Cerise only saw that it knocked aside the bucket.


    Karl glanced back over his shoulder, saw Marl''s stance with the bucket and his expression caught between panic and rage, and bolted. Marl leapt after him, passing by Cerise.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    She broke her Stealth and closelined the sticky-fingered boy, laying him out flat with a bruised windpipe and minor external bruising on the back of his head from bouncing off their cart on his way to the ground.


    A loud ringing gong sound out from beside the stable door. Karl was banging on a brass plat as if his life depended on it.


    Stable Master Davi, the man to whom Cerise had given the healing salve, was the first to arrive, quickly followed by two half awake stable hand and five guards in Velton''s colors of brown and gold.


    Cerise held her hands up to show her lack of hostility, backing away from the boy gasping on the ground at her feet. Mykhal took down his camouflage, leaning on the other side of the stall holding their cart, his arms casually crossed over his chest.


    It took a moment for everyone to calm down, and even longer for Karl. He kept repeating, "He was going to bash my head in! He wanted to steal from the lord''s guests and I wasn''t going to stand by, and he was going to bash my head in!"


    They were still trying to calm Karl down when Marl recovered enough to start lying, coughing and croaking to drown out his former friend.


    And then Aide Perth arrived. He demanded silence and got it. Then he spotted Cerise and Mykahl. He bowed. "Miss ban Silverwood, you are early to rise. May I ask what you know of this matter?"


    "Mykhal and I needed to retrieve an item from our cart. We spotted these two boys beside it, the cart cover partly removed. I wanted to run in, but Mykhal wanted to watch a bit first. I am glad for my team leader''s wisdom because when we Stealthed and got close enough to hear their whispered fight, Mister Karl was arguing for Mister Marl to respect their liege and leave his guests'' belongings alone. When he saw that wasn''t going to work, Mister Karl headed to get someone in authority and Mister Marl picked up a bucket and swung it for the back of Mister Karl''s head. Mykhal and I stepped in at that point, and you were summoned."


    Aide Perth looked nauseated by the implications. "I see," he said. "My deepest apologies, Miss ban Silverwood. Do you want the thief hanged?"


    Cerise blinked. "I am not inclined to hasty decisions. Lord Jedais Hirsel Velton has impressed me as a compassionate, generous, and just man. I see no need for me to interfere in how he chooses to administer justice in his lands and among his household. My only commentary is that I find the assault to be a more grevious matter.


    "We will look over our things and let you know if there has been any theft. We had planned to go to the Free Lancers Guild this morning. Do you need us to put that off?"


    Aide Perth bowed again. "No, and speaking for myself, I can only say how much I appreciate your grace in this matter, Miss ban Silverwood."


    Cerise dipped her head, not really sure how to respond to that. She and Mykhal moved over to the cart and finished removing the cart cover. They examined their goods, finding nothing out of place. Nothing had been taken.


    After informing Aide Perth of that, they gathered the lesser holding pack and the few commissions Mykhal had so far collected, and walked to the Free Lancers compound.


    <hr>


    Cerise and Mykhal managed to be among the first teams through the door. The clerk eyed their packs dubiously. "If you''re dropping off commissions, you need to do that at the Consortium door and bring your receipt here for credit."


    "We''ll do that after this," Mykhal said. "Please Inspect my teammate."


    The clerk raise an eyebrow, but did as Mykhal asked, the roll of her Identify skill not too shabby. Her jaw dropped, then she swallowed and regained a semblance of composure. "Please meet me at the door, and I will bring you to a private room."


    Mykhal and Cerise looked at one another, shrugged, and followed directions, ending up in a nicely appointed sitting room. A few minutes after being shown in, two men joined them. One was Colin Ironfist, the officer that approved their admission. The other was a burly man with blond hair and green eyes.


    Cerise and Mykhal rose. She smiled and said, "Mister Ironfist, it''s a pleasure to see you again." Her smile dimmed, and she added, "Though I could wish for more pleasant circumstances."


    "Becoming an authority bearer is not pleasant?" he asked, looking ... odd.


    Cerise reached down to the pack at her feet and flipped open the top, revealing the guild tokens. "Returning these is a somber occassion."


    Both men turned grim. "How did you come by these?"


    "The Whisper in the Leaves, Lady of the Silverwood Grove, told me the pack contained ''things of men'' that had been left in her woods. It was given to me as an act of friendship before she rewarded me with a name and a token of her authority. We did not look beyond the identity tokens. Honestly, we don''t even know how to identify what equipment when with which tokens or how to get the belongings to their heirs."


    Colin raised an eyebrow. "You haven''t finished reading the rules of conduct, have you?"


    Both Mykhal and Cerise shook their heads. "We barely got ten, maybe eleven leagues with the caravan before the Guardian of the Silverwood Grove snatched Cerise to heal him of Sleeping Sickness," Mykhal explained.


    "Is that tale why you asked for a private room?" the blond man asked.


    Cerise belatedly remembered that Free Lancers didn''t introduce each other; they Identified each other. She used Appraise.


    Name: Duonal Two Strikes


    Race: High Human


    Strata: Compound Master, Free Lancer, Freeman


    Class: [Warrior] Rare, Adept; [Laborer] Uncommon, Initiate; [Laborer] Common, Novice


    Health: High, Full


    Stamina: High, Full


    Mana: Good, Full


    "No, Mister Two Strikes. We didn''t ask for the room. Mykhal just asked the clerk to Identify me and she brought us here. Everyone''s been saying I''m now some kind of diplomat, and I don''t really know what to expect at this point, so we just followed along."


    Duonal nodded, looking a touch more relaxed. "Why don''t you start at the beginning, give us a straight run through, and we''ll ask questions to clarify after?"


    Colin cleared his throat. "We are required to notify the hirsel about anyone we cone across bearing an authority."


    Cerise nodded. "That makes sense. We''re staying at Lord Jedais''s estate."


    Duonal held up a finger. "Start at the beginning."


    Cerise looked to Mykhal, and he shrugged. "Well, if I''m starting from the beginning, there is something I think it''s worth the Guild knowing about that isn''t related to the Lady of the Silverwood. We were getting our classes at the start of this hot season when the miners of our village found drakeblood ore in a mine that Cyr Wendynhelm claimed. They revolted, and were cleaning up after killing our neighbors when we came back from classing." She hit the highlights of their journey, including healing the patrollers and meeting Heral el-Treborant, transferring to Mister Aldo''s caravan, mentioned joining the Guild, and Heral catching up with them, having been sent to go train in the Sea Crest dungeon. The almirajs that hatched for Heral''s cousins came up in passing as the reason for the hunt that attracted the Silverwood''s Guardian''s attention, and from there she gave more details about the abduction, healing, and gifts of the Lady of the Silverwood, though she very specifically did not mention the seed she could not Identify, nor that the lady had an interest in the dungeon they were heading toward.


    Then she went over collecting her parents and Heral insisting that he had to take her to Va''Velton to introduce her to the hirsel. It took a couple rush marks for her to get through the whole telling, ensuring she had hit the salient points.


    Duonal said, "That was both more detailed and more concise than I expected."


    "We did go through it all with the Hirsel last night. I''m not clear about what was significant in the drakeblood ore find, but the hirsel knew what it meant, and found it politically significant, hence why I thought the Free Lancers could benefit from the knowing."


    Colin snorted. "It means that the [Profaner] encroached on draycon lands. The treaty between Druerjan and Ethekastria recognizes any mines bearing drakesblood ore as digging into the burial sites of the draycons, which are higher into the mountains than most humans care to live. The metal from the ore is drakesteel, only a touch better than regular steel, but sacred to the draycons."


    "Ah. That would explain the panic," Cerise said. Draycons were quick to kill over the things they called sacred.


    Duonal asked, "What is Hirsel Velton''s response to learning all this?"


    Cerise and Mykhal explained what they knew.


    Duonal asked, "Do you want to delve with the el-Treborant?"


    "Not if he''s dragging his cousins along," Mykhal said.


    Cerise nodded. "He''s competent and we could learn a lot from him. Mahayan am-Affel is the [Mage], and she probably should stay out of combat. At least for now. She was expecting to be a [Scribe] and hasn''t made the mental adjustment yet, I don''t think."


    "And Izrai Affel is undisciplined and impulsive and will get someone killed if she can''t get her head out of her ass." Mykhal''s rudely blunt statement had Cerise wondering what more to their interactions she had missed while occupied with healing the Guardian of the Silverwood.


    Still, she nodded as she winced at the rudeness.


    "So you''re still looking for a [Warrior] to complete your party?" Duonal asked.


    They nodded.


    Mykhal added, "We''re hoping for patience, competence, and experience, but we''ll take the first two if we can''t get all three."


    "Patience?" Duonal asked with a skeptical look at the pair of them.


    "''You gotta live to spend the gold''," Mykhal said.


    "''Fools rush in where Masters fear to tread''," Cerise quoted.


    "''Only fools bask in Fortuna''s smile.''"


    "''When you''re paving the path to Mastery, each stone matters.''"


    Mykhal opened his mouth, then pivoted his attention from Cerise back to Duonal. "Yes, patience and competence. Basic respect for team mates is one our, um, basic requriements, I guess. Enemies are hostile enough so we don''t need it on the team. Did you have someone in mind?"


    Duonal smiled.

 Chapter 31: Where there’s history, there’s future

    31: Where there��s history, there��s future


    The Delving Lights left the Va''Velton Free Lancers Compound with forty-four gold in their account, and significant headway toward their Bronze Rank proving commission. Each had a lesser holding pack of Uncommon quality, which gave a temporal slow down of 1:100, and leather armor. Mykhal had a new bow and runic arrowheads to attach to his arrows for monster hunting. Cerise had a book on Basic Runes, several blank journals, and her own portable alchemy lab -- that is to say, a small burner and cauldron. She also had a box of loose paper, a graphite mark stick, and a worn, little blue book titled "Lady Resala''s Book of Manners".


    They had an appointment to return the next day to meet Duonal''s candidate for their party third.


    Cerise wanted to make a "team" like Mykhal and Cerise so they could know the general location of their daughter and almost-son. To that end, Cerise had paid for a [Scribe] to prepare a contract for her parents like the one she and Mykhal had signed on establishing their duo.


    For the team name, she debated between something funny and something poignant. Mykhal suggested teh Guiding Lights as a play off their own team name, and Cerise loved it. Of course, her father was the team leader. Her mother might talk more and make a lot of the decisions, but her father came up with the plans and steadied them when they got overwhelmed. He kept them following through when they got discouraged, and he did a great imitation of the voice of reason when they needed advice.


    They were back to the Hirsel''s estate by mid morning. Perth greeted them at the door. "My lord would appreciate a moment of your time, Miss ban Silverwood, Mister Mykhal."


    "By all means, lead on," Cerise agreed.


    Perth led them back to the study where they met the hirsel the prior evening. Lord Jedais rose from the center seat at the great desk this time, came around, and bowed to Cerise.


    "My most humble apologies for the outrage this morning. I am deeply aggrieved to learn that a member of my household would be so churlish with anyone''s belongings, let alone my guests''!" He rose from his bow and asked, "How may I make this right between us?"


    Cerise scratched the back of her neck. "Lord Jedais, I''m going to have to plead ignorance of the Etiquette here. May we speak plainly and without making any decisions?"


    "Of course! Would you care to sit?" he gestured to the seating area. They sat, Cerise and Mykhal setting their new packs down.


    "Thank you. So, starting the plain speech, I don''t feel qualified to pass judgment on anyone. I know what worked in our village; this is not our village. Travelling as we have been, we''ve see that different people have different customs and different ideas of what a righteous punishment is. The next problem is that I''m not sure what we saw."


    "Wait!" Mykhal said. "They had the cart top off! Marl was trying to paw through our things and his friend was trying to stop him!"


    "True enough," Cerise said. "My confusion is that Karl was the only one speaking of stealing. Marl kept saying he just wanted to look. When Karl talked himself into raising the alarm, he convinced himself that Marl was going to steal something. Snooping and stealing are two different things, both not great, but to different degrees.


    "Now, I don''t have mind magic. I don''t know what Marl was planning to do. I know Karl prevented him from having the opportunity to steal, and we verified that none of our possessions were missing. So, he was definitely snooping. Did he intend to steal? I think there''s enough room for doubt there that I will refrain from judging. However! Marl attacking Karl was wrong -- just wrong.


    "And, on a complete aside, Marl said something about using his wages to feed someone named Masha. I want to know who Masha is. Sibling? Friend? Stray cat? I don''t know, but if there is a person who will now starve, that is a problem."


    Mykhal signed and shook his head. "Karl sounded like he had experience getting in trouble for Marl''s actions. Where there''s history, there''s future. I think I believe Marl intended theft."


    "You''re not wrong," Cerise said. "In fact, I''m more inclined to think you''re right than not. But! History points to the future; it doesn''t write it. There''s still enough doubt for me to not let thought become judgment."


    "You''re being weird," Mykhal complained.


    Cerise considered, then said, "Yeah. And, what Marl planned to do isn''t as important as what he did do. Trying to cave in the back of Karl''s head to keep him from raising the alarm was just--. Two levels of wrong. One for the assault itself and two as a wrong being done to cover up another wrong."


    Mykhal nodded. "Yeah."


    Cerise turned back to Lord Jedais. "So that''s where Mykhal and I are coming from on what happened. In all seriousness, I think you took more harm from Marl''s actions than we did, and I find the sincerity of your apology sufficient salve for the snooping, and Karl''s actions to be proof that Marl is not representative of your household. If there is some Etiquette that should be observed, I would appreciate your guidance, or Honorable Mister Heral''s guidance if you think that more appropriate."


    <hr>


    The Honorables and Cerises'' parents were brought in and the situation explained -- for the first time for her parents, which annoyed Cerise, though she kept that to herself. It was the first word to the Honorables, too, but they weren''t immediately involved. Knowing her parents'' absolute intolerance of thievery, Cerise made sure she explained, focusing on actions, then stated, "Lord Jedais has already give a sincere apology, for which I am satisfied, but apparently there are some matters of Etiquette to observe. Honorable Mister Heral, may I ask for your guidance?"


    Heral nodded. "I am honored to do so, Miss ban Silverwood. First, to clarify, this was an act of ''snooping'' not of stealing? You are sure of that?"


    Cerise locked gazes with her mother as she answered Heral. "Nothing was missing!" Then she sighed and looked with resignation to Heral. "But accusations were made and the opportunity specifically denied."


    "Oh, that''s much better," Heral said, drawing gasps from her parents. He turned to them and explained, "Snooping is another way of saying spying, which is a threat against one''s domain, and frequently a prelude to war. Thievery is an individual being an opportunistic parasite. Neither are good, but better the thief than the spy."


    Cerise made a silent "oh" of understanding, glanced around her family, then turned to Hirsel Veltan. "We believe Karl when he said Marl was planning to steal from us. I still think you took more harm from Marl''s actions and--." She looked to Heral, thoroughly out of her depth.


    "As Hirsel Veltan has already offered an apology, Etiquette requires you be given a say in the punishment of thief and agree upon an appropriate token of apology. In this case a value of ... four gold?" Heral looked to Lord Jedai, who dipped his head.


    "When we talked bluntly before," Cerise turned to Lord Jedais, "was that sufficient to satisfy the say?"


    "Yes, Miss ban Silverwood, and I am flattered by your confidence in me."


    "Four gold?" Cerise asked, taking in her mother''s horrified expression. Both noblemen nodded.


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    Cerise looked around, then spotted her new pack. "In our village, one never gave away blades or an empty pocket. The Free Lancers Consortium charged us three branches and five leaves for our packs. If that is a reasonable market price, then a pack like this with mana rich grains for our horse would be something touchable to remind us of your generosity. Does that sound reasonable?"


    The hirsel''s Inspect skill flowed over Cerise''s pack, and his eyebrows rose. "That was a generous price, more in line with a minor holding pack of the same quality, but reasonable for a lesser of Common quality. Which has no time mitigating effects."


    Cerise felt a childish glee at her mother''s expression. "I don''t think the time mitigation is as useful to us as the capacity, though Mama does want to open a food hall at some point and preserving effects could be useful then."


    Mahayah piped up. "If I may ask, why those customs?"


    Mykhal said, "Curses."


    Cerise shook her head. "Ill wishing. The given blade as a way of saying you want to cut ties to a person. One of the punishments for causing another''s death or great harm is to banish them with just a knife and the clothes they''re wearing. The empty pocket is an ill wish to see all their pockets empty. They''re Northern customs; I wouldn''t expect you to follow them here."


    A few more politenesses were seen to, but as far as Cerise was concerned, as long as the Hirsel felt his honor was satisfied, the matter was settled.


    <hr>


    Cerise and Mykhal left their packs in the suite and rejoined her parents at the front door. Heral had asked to join them in their trip to the temple.


    He told them, "The Messengers Corps always locate their major hubs by a Temple of the Gods. Quite a number are dedicates of Kiz-am-el, Maroth, and Lunaria. If you''re in need of confidential service, don''t use the Corps, but for things you don''t mind being common knowledge, those gossips will spread the word almost as quickly as they deliver your message. I''m merely updating Father on our travels. It is my duty to inform him of your rise in strata, but we have catch phrases we can use for various situations."


    Cerise asked, "How are the messages sent? Are they spoken? Or letters?"


    "By letter," Heral said.


    Cerise perked up. "Oh! You could have fun writing in cyphers or using different alphabets! And if you did it all the time, even when just saying things you don''t mind people knowing, that would --. Well, no, it probably wouldn''t discourage gossips."


    "Cyphers?" Heral asked, eyebrows raised.


    "It''s this fun game for learning math and letters together! So, there are 28 letters in the standard alphabet of Dreurjjan. Pick a number between 1 and 27 and shift which letter you write by that many places in the alphabetical order, looping around when you get to the end. For a time, in my practice journal, I used the day in the lunar cycle for my offset, counting the Dark Moon as the first day. Did you know that there are between 27 and 29 days to the lunar cycle? Mostly it''s 28 days, but you''ll get at least two short months and a long month in a year."


    "What order of letters do you use?" Heral asked.


    Cerise sang him the alphabet song that Mykhal had taught her.


    Mykhal looked at Cerise with an enlightened expression. "You''re doing that in our new journals with your sound glyphs!"


    She grinned and nodded. "But only when I''m writing about Skills. And dreams."


    Cerise''s mother sighed and looked to her father. "How did we end up with such strange children?"


    "Just lucky, I guess," her father answered.


    Heral asked a few interested questions about using cyphers before switching to more mundane conversational topics.


    <hr>


    Fortuna''s priest had them all roll dice to determine which prayers Fortuna desired from them. Cerise and her father rolled to receive [Benedictions], a lesser form of a Blessing, which the priests could impart. Mykhal rolled to be led through a prayer ritual, which cost a silver leaf in materials. Her father asked if might partake, too, and was welcomed to join Mykhal. Her mother rolled to use one of her Skills for the temple''s benefit. Cerise volunteered to help her make some potions, and so came to the attention of a rather fierce pair of Lunaria''s dedicates who were mixing up some Healing Salve in the temple''s Herbal Lab.


    "What are you doing back today? Fortuna have another dedicate needed her twin''s intervention?" the male half of the Lunarians asked. He was a young man, though settled into his full growth.


    The female half, older and a bit tired, ran an Identify Skill over Cerise and her mother. She tipped her head to the side. "Rare [Healer Novice]? What Hall are you with, girl?"


    Cerise returned the Identify, getting the woman''s name as Honorable Miss Katyel Erahl and the man''s as Honorable Mister Casaad Erahl.


    "That was rude," Cerise said. "Or, is your Identify skill so low that your disrespect for the Authority I bear was done from ignorance?"


    Cerise felt the woman''s Identify skill fire off with more oomph to it, and Katyel Erahl sucked in breath before bowing. "My apologies, Miss ban Silverwood. Pray tell, with which Hall of Healers are you enrolled?"


    "None, Honorable Miss Katyel." Cerise then turned to the priest that had shown them over, but before she could speak, Katyel blurted out her surprise.


    "How can you have a rare class without belonging to a Hall? You don''t resonate like a dedicate!"


    Cerise ignored the rude question. "Fors-el, where would you like us to start our service offering?"


    The priest gestured to the dedicates of Lunaria. "These Honorable dedicates of Lunaria mentioned a need for healing potions." The priest then turned to the two Honorables. "Please make available the ingredients, tools, and work surfaces these fortunates require."


    "Fortunates?" Casaad asked, looking offended.


    "Fortunates," Cerise firmly declared.


    Katyel said, "Son, watch the salve. Misses, what tools and ingredients do you require?"


    "Grind stone, pot, heat source for tools, Honorable Miss," Cerise''s mother said. "If possible, a set a piece for the both of us. I know recipes for Minor and Lesser Healing Potions. My daughter tells me the Minor is of more use in a surgical situation and the Lesser for when surgical application is not an option. Which would better serve the Temple of the Gods?"


    "The Lessers, please. And surgical? What is this?" Katyel asked.


    That snapped Cerise''s attention back to the rude woman. "You''re an adept rank [Healer] and never heard of the Surgery Skill? How do you manage alchemical poisoning when there are more injured than the [Healer]s have mana to treat or heal?"


    Katyel took her turn looking at Cerise like she was something strange, like a dancing almiraj. "Stabilize those you can first and pray Lunaria grants you the ability to prevent as many deaths as possible."


    "Do you have a means to inject potion into deep wounds?" Cerise asked, hoping the answer was yes.


    "I don''t know know what you''re talking about," Katyel admitted. "It must be an aspect of your class. What is it?"


    "Katy!" the priest of Fortuna exclaimed, outraged.


    "What? She''s not bound to keep a Hall''s secrets!"


    "You''re being rude to Miss ban Silverwood! Do you want to pay the El-Ahrandies to get anything from those woods again?" the priest asked.


    Katyel''s jaw jutted forward, but she shushed as she went about getting their tools and opening the doors to their reagent closet.


    Cerise Appraised every reagent, and she presumed her mother did the same. She took a moment with her Profile open to consider how the reagents new to her might interact with the ones she knew, then let her Brew Potions Skill take over.


    The dedicates at least left them in peace while they worked. Cerise turned out Minor Healing Potion, Uncommon Rarity, Rare Quality and her mother produced Lesser Healing Potion, Uncommon Rarity, Uncommon Quality.


    While they were decanting their brews from the brew pots to storage vessels, another, older [Healer] came into the Herbal Lab. He looked exhausted.


    "Katy! Are you--? Oh. Hello. New dedicates?" he asked, wearing a hopeful look.


    He was looking at Cerise and not using his Identify Skill, so Cerise smiled. "We''re fortuantes providing service. You could use a restorative, it seems. Nothing with mana; no need to court soreness, but maybe a cyr-lace and mint tea?"


    "I haven''t used mint before for that. May I ask why you include it?" he asked.


    "Your belly''s tight and the flavor compliments the pucker of the cyr-lace. Medicine should taste like medicine, but it doesn''t have to be a torture," Cerise said.


    He chuckled. "So you''re a [Healer], I take it?"


    Cerise dipped her head. "Yes. And ... done! Let me clean the pot and I''ll start the tea brewing for you."


    "I most appreciate that. And I forgot my manners. My name is Ludak, and I''m a senior dedicate of Lunaria serving the Temple''s Hospital."


    "Cerise ban Silverwood, and my mother Bergin," Cerise responded, distracted by trying to be subtle while using Greater Cleanse on the pot. The quality of the silence behind her registered, and Cerise glanced to Ludak. "Is something the matter?"


    "My apologies, I''m--. Did you say ban Silverwood?" he asked, flicking glances to the other two dedicates in the room.


    "Yes," Cerise said. "It''s very recent and one of the many reasons my family had to ensure we paid proper respect to the god who has so generously smiled upon us."


    "Ah, well. If Fortuna led you here, what''s your Lend Vitality Skill up to?"


    "Avoided," Cerise admitted, finding the tone of Ludak''s questioning to be more respectful than the demand of Katyel''s.


    Ludak blinked. "That''s a core of every [Healer] class! It''s a prerequisite skill for all of the Greater Treat skills, not to mention the Cures!"


    "Ah!" she said. "But you had a reason for asking?"


    He nodded. "One of our  patients is in need of extended healing. We''re blending his treatment as much as we can, but barely making any progress.


    Cerise felt a touch of whimsy seize her. "I am here as a fortunate. Let''s flip a coin. If it comes up rune sided, take me to see your patient and see if my Surgery Skills and some potion I just brewed can help. Otherwise, I''ll take Lend Vitality now and do what I can with that Skill. Good enough?"


    Ludak chuckled. "By all means," he agreed, and pulled a small copper from his pocket. He tossed it into the air with a flip of his wrist.

 Chapter 32: High Champion

    32: High Champion


    Ludak led Cerise into the Lunarian hospital attached to the Temple of the Gods. She carried a pot of water and jug of the freshly made Minor Healing Potion with her. Her mother accompanied them, and along the way the Fors-el of Fortuna who had originally showed them to the Herbal Lab, a Lun-am of Lunaria, and a Venator-am of El-Ahrand joined them.


    After a rushmark of navigating through hallways and courtyards, they arrived at a room from which poured a noxious odor of rotting flesh. The Mort-el who had met them on the steps the day Noq-el blessed Cerise was leaning against the wall by the archway leading into the room. He straightened on seeing them, then blinked at spotting Cerise. A bright smile lit his face and he clapped his hands under his chin.  "Miss [Blessed]! Such a pleasure to see you again!" Then a look of epiphany widened his eyes and dropped his jaw. He drew in a long, happy gasp and tapped his fingers over his gaping "O" of a mouth. His gaze darted between Cerise and the room, and slowly his expression relaxed into a sultry, joyful smirk.


    The Lun-am asked, a touch crossly," What are you doing here, you old crow?"


    "Going where my god wills, naturally. Don''t worry, I wasn''t told to bring my mortician''s robes." He winked at the Lunarian priestess before sweeping an amused look over the other priests. "I believe we all have business on the other side of this arch. Let''s not delay."


    "Please," the Fors-el said, looking to Ludak. The Healer dedicate led the way inside.


    The room held a man that felt to Cerise''s Arcane Senses like Mid Summer sunshine. He lay in a wide single bed, propped up to sit with special made pillows. A table extended over the bed, supporting a book presented for reading in a special holder. Illness had taken mass from the man, leaving skin that should have stretched over muscle to hang from bone. Despite the tang of Bruise Balm in the air, Cerise ached with sympathetic pain for the endurance of agony visible to her [Healer]''s gaze.


    The man glanced up and asked, "What brings you back so soon, Ludak?" Then he spotted the priests and his face fell. "Is it my time, then, Gamais?"


    The mort-el snorted. "I rather think not, my favorite little sun ball! I get to bear witness today! Please don''t let me hold things up!"


    The man swept his gaze over the new occupants of his room and stopped at Cerise and her mother. She felt the blaze of mana as he Identified them. "Ban Silverwood, I am honored, if confused, to know why you would choose to visit me."


    "The ban Silverwood name is new. Fortuna has been smiling on my family, so we came to see how we might properly pay our respects. As Mama and I were finishing our service, Fortuna introduced us to Ludak and led us here. My [Healer] class is rare and I am not a dedicate of any god. There are skills in my class that don''t even seem to be Uncommon among the other [Healer]s I''ve met. I will need to use a few diagnostic skills to determine if I can aid you. If you consent, I will use my skills and inform you of my findings. Do I have your consent?"


    He raised an eyebrow. "What is the cost of your care?"


    It saddened Cerise that people immediately asked that question, but she did also understand it. She gave her answer. "Pay it forward. Whatever debt you feel owed at the end of my aid, don''t pay it back to me; pay it forward in kindness to the people you find in need of Fortuna''s smile. I did, after all, come into her house asking how I might thank her for her kindness, and here we are."


    The man dipped his head. "Please proceed," he requested.


    Ludak moved the book to a chest of drawers along one wall. Cerise set the water and potion on the table it had just rested upon. She focused on synergizing her Triage, Diagnose, Arcane Senses, and General Anatomy skills as she examined the man.


    "You mana is like sunshine, and your mana body should radiate light, but there''s a dark mana around your spine. Not shadows, to be clear; but dark mana eating your light. It''s similar to Sleeping Sickness, and ... there. Okay. I see what the cause is now. Yes, I can help. I would very much appreciate having a [Healer] well versed in spinal injuries near to hand.


    "The dark mana belongs to a very small parasite that has attached itself to your spinal column. That parasite is still in a juvenile state, but appears to be nearing adulthood. I''m not sure what will happen when it matures, but my intuition is that it needs to come out before that happens.


    The Lun-am growled, "Parasite?! We already identified it as a curse!"


    "Do you have any kind of mana sense and Diagnose?" Cerise asked the priestess.


    "I do!" she snapped, offended.


    Cerise ignored that, turning to the man. "May I have your consent to show her through our skills what I''m seeing?"


    He nodded, an interested gleam in his gaze. "Please do."


    Cerise looked back to the priestess, gesturing her to come closer. "If you cannot follow the focus of my skills, then look near the interior side of his spine just below his bottom ribs."


    The woman frowned, but used her skills. After a moment, she pulled her head so far back on her neck that she appeared to lose her chin. "That is a parasite! And a mana eater! That''s why this curse is such a bloody pain in the--!" She stood up and stomped out of the room, yelling at the top of her lungs.


    Cerise looked up at the man, shocked at the priestess''s display. He returned her look with one of amusement and burgeoning hope. As she watched, hope overtook amusement and tears beaded up on his lashes.


    "You can help me," he said the words as if he didn''t know if he was asking or stating them.


    "I can," Cerise affirmed. Then she explained. "What I can do is called Surgery. It is a contrary [Healing] skill because it involves cutting into your body. Healing works best the more directly it is applied." Cerise brought out her set of surgical needles. "I will block as much pain as possible and use Paralyze on you to prevent you from moving during the surgery. " She held up the fattest of her needles. "The parasite is about as big around as this needle, according to my skills. I will be using Greater Cleanse to get it to unlatch, but depending on how the parasite is attached, there may be damage to your spine. That''s why I would like an expert in spinal injuries present. Bluntly stated, I can get the parasite out, and you will be alive at the end of the surgery, but I cannot guarantee that you will walk again."


    The man nodded. "Whenever you are ready, begin."


    Ludak suggested the use of a masseuse table when Cerise described the position she would need to put her patient in, and then quickly got one, and a few other [Healer]s to stand ready to Lend Vitality. The Lun-am returned with another priest, a Lun-el, making him do the same bit of discovery.


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    The other [Healers] were informed of the diagnosis and looming treatment, and were eager to see a new kind of healing. The Lun-el was introduced then as her spinal expert. Cerise called on a few of the gawking [Healer]s to help thoroughly Cleanse the room, the masseuse table, and the patient.


    The patient asked why the cleaning, and Cerise said, "Think of your body like a city. Your skin is the outer wall, and walls keep out most of the monsters, right? In this case the ''monster''," and she held up cupped hands as she said "monster", "is infection. Surgery will involve putting holes in your skin, the walls of your body, and cleansing everything means there is less chance of the cause of infections to take advantage of the breach." The other [Healer]s nodded along.


    Then they transferred the patient to the table. Cerise made sure he was as comfortable as he could be. He wore only loose pants, his upper body bare for the procedure.


    Cerise wrapped an absorbent bandage around her forehead, knowing that as she burned her Stamina she would sweat. She didn''t want the distraction of Cleansing to keep the sweat out of her eyes, or off her patient.


    And then she began. She described what she was doing the entire time, as she had done for the Whisper in the Leaves and her guardian. She asked her patient to describe the sensations he felt as she carefully advanced the first needle into his back, stopping twice to apply Healing potion and guiding it with her Heal skill to address small nicks in the larger blood vessels.


    "I''m almost to the parasite. Can I get someone to take over Block Pain? It should be the full whammy, disassociated from the body level. Not the Lun-el, though. If you would please begin monitoring his spinal health?" Cerise directed the other [Healer]s with an absent focus.


    The Venator-am stepped behind Cerise and intoned, "[Hunter''s Aim]." Then she stepped back.


    A surge of competence filled Cerise, and as soon as everyone was in place, she drove the surgical needle forward, into the parasite, and withdrew it.


    Her Greater Cleanse skill rose to Intermediate-1 while she peeled back the barbs sunk into the patient''s spinal cord, then prevented them from catching on any other part of her patient as she extracted it. An instinctive aversion reminiscent of her hatred for ticks prompted Cerise to keep the parasite,  a Talamayan Curse Bearing Worm according to her Identify Skill, encased in water after the extraction. The mort-el produced a rune-scribed black jar, opened it, and presented it to collect the worm, which was thinner than an eighth-nail, but two hands long.


    Noq-el''s Blessing whispered encouragement, so she deposited the parasite into the proffered jar.


    Then she and the Lun-el began to patch up as much of the damage as they could. At first, he snapped an angry glare at Cerise when she reinserted her freshly cleansed needle. Then she asked him to direct his skills through it, and angry turned to excited. Cerise dribbled small amounts of healing potion down the needle and went to work on fixing the tissues around the spine. The Lun-el soon began to appropriate the potion she was using so she just had him tell her when to apply more, adding, "The Surgery Skill favors using small drops spaced out for lessening the risk of alchemical sickness. It lets the body acclimate to the mana passing through it via the potions."


    After a rushmark, Cerise had done what she could, but the Lun-el was still working. She warned him before she started cleansing his own sweat build up and got good at predicting when he would ask for more potion.


    Three rush marks later, the Lun-el swayed back. Serious faced, he said, "I''ve done all I can to repair what the curse blighted. Time and Solaris''s favor will be needed for a full recovery."


    Cerise nodded and put her Block Pain skill again. "I have the pain block. Please release." When she felt that the only foreign mana in the patient belonged to herself or Triage type skills, she slowly reduced the pain block, asking the patient at each step down what he felt. She reminded him that she still had Paralyze up so he shouldn''t be able to move anything.


    "Haven''t forgotten," he said. "It''s strange that I never realized how much I talk with my chest. And my jaw."


    She got the path of the needle nicely healed, enjoying with a craftsman''s delight as the entry wound pinkened, then paled, and then faded away.


    "I''m taking Pain Block and Paralyze down. I''m going to then run through another diagnostic check, and let you know the results. Barring the need for any immediate actions, I''m going to use Slumber on you, because you may not feel it right now, but your body has taken a beating and needs some quiet recovery time." Cerise then suited actions to words.


    After the Diagnose, she said, "The Lun-el did an amazing job reconstructing your spine and your mana body where the curse worm ate it. You mana pool has suffered damage, but that can be recovered. You should be bed bound for at least a week. I''m going to try to get you to sleep for a full day. After that, first three days you have someone help you do reclining exercises to restore muscle memory. Two rushmarks of exercise, two hours of rest, four times a day, and get your natural sleep. After that, if everything looks good, you can try walking about. It''s going to be a while for you to recover your Might and Endurance. Especially at first, you have to listen to your body or you will do damage to yourself that will impede your recovery. Any questions?"


    "Could you write that down?" he asked.


    "Absolutely."


    "Thank you, Miss ... ban ... Silv ... er...." He was asleep before Cerise used her skill. She still used it anyhow, to help him stay asleep.


    <hr>


    El-ahrand''s priestess was gone by the time Cerise had the presence of mind to thank her for the support spell, and the Mort-el had taken off as soon as he capped the lid on the worm.


    As soon as Cerise finished writing down the recovery treatment, she told the two Luns of Lunaria, "These are the instructions my skills point me to. I realize I''m still a Novice rank. By all means, adjust these as your greater insight and experience leads you to."


    Fortuna''s priest stepped up. "And now your service of thanks-giving is done, so let me reunite you with the two misters you came with."


    Cerise smiled, looking around to make sure she hadn''t forgotten anything. Her gaze swept over the sleeping patient, and she realized she hadn''t gotten his name. She used a quick Appraise to rectify that.


    Name: Marsen of the Order of the Dawn


    Race: Human


    Strata: High Champion, Dedicate of Solaris, Freeman


    Class: [Champion of the Dawn] Legendary, Expert


    Health: Excellent (Depleted), Bruised


    Stamina: Good (Depleted), Low


    Mana: Good (Depleted), Very Low


    An Expert? Under the illness, he barely looked old enough to be her father!


    Well, anyhow, she had her needles. The pot and the potion belonged to the temple. The room was cleaner than when she entered, and the patient healthier. She gestured for the Fors-el to lead the way.


    Her mother was uncommonly quiet as they returned to the section of the Temple of Gods dedicated to Fortuna. Mykhal and her father were also being led by a Fors-el, who happily turned them over to Cerise''s guide. He took them to the exit. Before he left them, the Fors-el turned to her mother. "Did you see?"


    "I did," her mother said, her voice rough.


    Cerise''s whole family looked to Mother Bergin in alarm. Her mother ignored them and bowed deep enough that she had to brace her hands on her thighs. "Thank you."


    The priest pointed to the sky, winked, and left.


    Her father asked, "What was that about?"


    "There was a High Champion of Solaris. Cerise healed him. I--. Well. Surely, if anyone would know how to find her, it would be a High Champion. Right?" There was that look in her mother''s gaze. It was the yearning, pained look she got whenever the miscarriages or her elder sister carefully weren''t talked about.


    "You didn''t--!" her father asked, cutting himself off.


    Her mother shook her head. "No! No, I ... I want to--." She stopped and breathed. "I don''t know what I want, but surely she should at least know where we are!"


    "Bergin," her father signed.


    "It was nine years ago! Nine! She''s an adult now! They can''t just turn her out!"


    "Bergin," Her father said again, compassion and pain in his own voice. "That wasn''t what we sacrificed for."


    Her mother''s shoulders slumped.


    Her father continued. "When we''re back to our rooms, we''ll write a letter. We will be careful not to break our oaths, but we will fill it with truth, and we will see how the dedicates of Solaris value that truth."


    "What just happened?" Cerise asked, even as her mother''s dejection turned to squared-shoulder determination.


    Her father shook his head. "Nothing we can talk about until you''re of Age."


    Cerise''s eyes rounded. "Sissa?" she breathed.


    Her father flicked a glance at her before ostensibly ignoring the questions to slide an arm around her mother''s shoulders. He led the way back to the Hirsel''s estate.

 Chapter 33: You’re just now noticing?

    33: You��re just now noticing?


    Cerise spent her evening transcribing skill books. She had taken the Lend Vitality skill now that she knew it was a prerequisite skill, and she immediately gained access to Restoration and Death Watch to go along with Resistance skills for Toxins and Diseases.


    Restoration would allow her to help people regain the use of badly damaged body parts, things that had malingered into the balance of a body. It just felt too right, so she selected it, too.


    She felt a mild Mana Soreness that was over in an hour.


    Her parents had closeted themselves almost immediately, claiming some of the loose paper and the mark stick they had just gotten. They barely came out for dinner, and that made Cerise think of the little blue book.


    A part of her grouched at the thought of the book while the rest of her reminded Cerise that she needed to know the rules by which nobles interacted as she was no longer "just" a freeman.


    She made Mykhal listen while she read it, trying to make the recitation of rules fun by coming up with stories for why some of the rules came to be. For all that it was a relatively thin book -- not quite a nail''s width of pages between the covers -- it was dense with rules, and they were only a quarter of the way through it by bed time. That quarter had taken Cerise from Basic Etiquette Beginner-4 to Etiquette Beginner-6.


    Her dreams were full of fancy parties, weird fashions, and odd utensils, polite conversations and screens showing "talking heads" discussing charisma.


    She wrote down what she remembered from the dream and then pulled out one of the books she was working on copying. She opened her profile for the skilling up aid and noticed her skills list had changed again. Her newly advanced Etiquette was gone, as were Oration and Acting. In their place was a skill called Diplomacy.


    Considering her Acting had been capped from the top of the Intermediate rank, and Oration had been at the top of Practiced, she was a little curious, though not ungrateful, to see she was capped until Intermediate-3. Without any growth, she would be uncapped in just a few levels.


    Cerise went over the time of the year. There were thirteen moon cycles in a year, with a full moon falling within three days of the Winter Solstice. The year began at the Winter Solstice, and there had been five moon cycles between the New Year and her classing. They had been on the road for six moon cycles, during which she had gained ten levels, the last one coming in quietly during her healing of the High Champion.


    That was great, wonderful even, but Cerise was also just realizing that she was fourteen, and there were two more moons before the Winter Solstice, but she hadn''t seen the trees turn colors for the Harvest Season. How could they have Winter without Harvest coming first?


    In Trall, they would have already had snowfall.


    She brought this up to her parents over breakfast. Her parents exchanged knowing looks, though Mykhal''s expression gave away his own surprise. Her mother asked, "You''re just now noticing?"


    Her father said, "We''re south enough that in the plains there is no snow and there is no freeze. Many things grow year round down here because of that lack of freezing. I''ve seen you wear two shirts some mornings. You''ve felt the heat going. From what we''ve heard, it might get cold enough to want three shirts, but not much more than that."


    Cerise and Mykhal shared looks of stunned disbelief. "No snow?"


    <hr>


    Name: Jaxin


    Race: High Human


    Strata: Freelancer, Freeman


    Class: [Warrior] Uncommon, Novice


    Health: Moderate, Full


    Stamina: Moderate, Full


    The subject of Cerise''s Appraisal was Duonal''s suggestion for their party third. The man looked a little older than Heral and was still growing, but near the end of his growing. His hair was as brown as most of the people Cerise had so far met, though his eyes were as green as the Compound Masters.


    "I''m sorry if I''m being rude," Cerise began. "but what is a High Human? What makes a High Human different from a regular Human?"


    "Apotheosis. It''s one of the heritable changes a human can experience when they reach a Superb capacity for mana," the Compound Master answered Cerise, his mellow mood undisturbed by her curiosity.


    She and Mykhal had arrived a bit early for their meeting, bringing skill books to copy if they needed to fill time. They hadn''t. Instead they were brought to a sand yard behind the public facing building, where Duonal and Jaxin awaited them.


    "As for differences," Duonal continued. "We age slower. Jaxin here is thirty years of age and just become an adult. Through he only classed last year, he''s got all of his class slots opened, and he''s had a chance to gain a sampling of skills from across class types. Also, all High Humans are born with Enhanced Senses, and have an easier time training their pools."


    "Ah! So, High Humans are like a ranked up kind of human?" she asked. "Or more like a difference in grades, like Common and Uncommon?"


    "The grade one''s more accurate," Duonal said. "Would you like to be introduced?" That was a sly prod. Free Lancers used Identify; they didn''t wait for introductions.


    Cerise didn''t let the prodding provoke her, and Mykhal appeared oblivious. She said, "Hi, Jaxin. Do you want to be here? Meeting us?"


    His lips twitched. "I''ve got my reservations," he admitted.


    "Such as?" Mykhal asked.


    Cerise had felt the wash of Jaxin''s Identify when they entered the sand yard. It therefore did not surprise her that he could call them by name or knew their class types.


    "For one, [Healer]s looking for parties are usually more hindrance than help. Otherwise, they would be recruited and not doing the recruiting. [Scouts] also tend to have an easier time joining parties. You look too good to be true, which is reason enough to look with caution at you."


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    Mykhal nodded. "For two?"


    Jaxin tipped his head to the side. "For two, you''re coppers. That''s for newbie and unreliables. Either one is dangerous."


    Cerise raised a finger. "What''s your rank?"


    Jaxin squared his shoulders. "Bronze."


    "How long have you been in the guild?" Mykhal asked.


    "I joined as soon as I got my class at New Years. I was Bronze by the end of the rains."


    Mykhal said, "We''re from up North and a bit unsettled that it isn''t snowing already. How many moon cycles is that?"


    Jaxin''s head pulled back and angled sideways. "Three?"


    "Four," Duonal corrected.


    Cerise said, "Okay, so a moon before we classed. Okay."


    Jaxin frowned. "Do you have all your class slots?"


    "I''ve opened Intermediate, and he''s close behind me, so, yes."


    "Oh," Jaxin said, his mind adjusting.


    Cerise nodded. "So, a little about us. We''ve been friends for four years, five now? Five years. We classed together in the fifth moon, came back to our village and discovered it was destroyed by rebellion and Myhkal was orphaned. My parents had been standing for us, saw what happened, and said, ''Okay, let''s go.'' We stopped long enough to warn a nearby village and declare ourselves no longer under covenant, and decided to go check out the new Velton dungeon.


    "It has always been Mykhal''s dream to join the Free Lancers, and mine to become a [Tamer], especially a [Beast Healer]. Becoming a [Healer] first has been a pretty rewarding surprise.


    "We joined the guild half a moon past with sponsorship, and as of yesterday, we''re a quarter of the way to earning our proving commission, maybe more if the ranking office in Sea Crest is willing to accept Master Duonal''s recommendation in full. We''re not going to count on that, though."


    Mykhal piped up. "Do you want to go to Sea Crest, whether you join us or not?"


    "Yes. That''s the main reason I agreed to meet you," Jaxin admitted.


    "Oh, good! Then we can travel together under an informal hunting party. We''re not committed to you joining the Delving Lights, and we split credits on commissions we take down together, say half for you, as a Bronze ranker showing Coppers the ways? If we''re hunting together and find a spawn point, that''s under the half and half share, but what we find solo is our own to claim. If there are eggs, Cerise knows how to keep them viable and unhatched. If you find them solo and let her keep them alive, she gets half credit. Sound good?"


    Jaxin relaxed. "That sounds good to me, though maybe a bit dreamy about finding spawn points."


    Mykhal let the "dreamy" comment slide and said, "We''ll get a [Scribe] here to write us up a set of matched contracts, then."


    Jaxin raised an eyebrow. "You don''t trust me?" he asked.


    "The best memory is no match for faded ink, or so my mother taught me. And, as you pointed out, we''re copper rankers, newbies. Why should you trust us?" Mykhal smiled as he spoke, calm at the challenge.


    Jaxin laughed. "When do we depart?"


    Cerise said, "We have to give our host at least some notice, so mid morning tomorrow is the soonest. We''re riding on regular horses and traveling with a trio of Honorables, cousins, who are also going to Sea Crest."


    "You''re not supposed to be taking requests outside of the guild until Silver rank," Jaxin said, straightening his spine.


    Mykhal snorted. "Oh, we aren''t escorting them or anything of the like. In fact, I''m pretty sure the Honorable Mister of the trio thinks he''s escorting us. We met him back in his father''s lands, and Cerise put the patrol he was with back on their feet after a surprise run in with migrating goblins. She got Letters of Recommendation from their commander and the [Healer] she put back together for them. Personally, I think when he got handed his cousins to shepherd through training, he got told to look Cerise up for their [Healer] and if it weren''t for the older sister who''s supposed to be the younger''s [Shieldman], I''d''ve jumped at the chance, but if that girl can''t learn discipline, she''s going to get someone killed, and it won''t be Cerise or me."


    Cerise shrugged. "Pretty much my read. On our own, we like to train in the mornings. We''re used to being up with the dawn and traveling with a caravan, so the riding horses are new to us. We have a cart and Mykhal and I have armor and weapons and a good start on our delving kit. How are you situated? And when would you be ready to leave?"


    Jaxin said, "I have a full kit, and tomorrow is fine. You said you have a host? Where should I meet you?"


    "You caught the ban Silverwood in my Identify profile?" Cerise asked.


    "Yes. I also saw you''re a Free Lancer," he said, looking like he though she was trying to pull rank.


    "It makes me a diplomat under Dreurjan law, so the Hirsel insisted we stay with him. It''s all very new to me, so I''m still learning how much I have to deal with noble attitudes. If we end up as teammates, I prefer relaxed and easy going relationships. Some of the Etiquette Mykhal has been helping me read up on is just--. Eh, it''s fussy stuff."


    Jaxin relaxed and nodded. "Fair enough."


    They went in and got a short term contract for collaboration. That was apparently standard enough that they just had to answer a few questions to fill in the template. Each verified the copies were identical and set their marks. Cerise only had to sign because of the added clause about her keeping any eggs Jaxin might find viable.


    They agreed on how to confirm the departure details and that concluded Cerise and Mykhal''s business for the day.


    <hr>


    Mykhal tried to get Cerise to explore Va''Velton with him, but she remembered too well the sense of losing herself to the need to heal. She declined. Besides, all the people creeped her out. Mykhal even tried his sad puppy eyes, which only made Cerise tear up to tell him no.


    He gave an exaggerated sigh, hugged her about the shoulders, and acted the goof ball as he escorted her back to the Hirsel''s estate.


    Izrai practically ambushed them on their way to their suite. "Astrid won''t eat! She says she hurts! What''s wrong?!" she demanded, thrusting her almiraj at Cerise.


    Cerise reflexively took the fuzzy bunny. She triggered Diagnose, and pursed her lips to keep from laughing. "Honorable Miss Izrai, how big do you think Astrid''s belly is?"


    Izrai drew back. "What?"


    Cerise was tempted to repeat her questions, but just gestured for Izrai to trail her into the suite. She headed over to a pair of doors that led to a balcony and took them outside. Once out in the open air, Cerise applied her Heal skill to the colicky horned rabbit.


    Astrid let loose a nigh toxic fart. ?Oh! Better!? the rabbit sighed.


    ?Why did you eat so much? And I''m guessing some things you don''t like?? Cerise asked.


    ?My master got sad when I no eat,? the bunny monster answered.


    ?Are you going to overeat for her again? Knowing how scared she is because you hurt from it??


    ?Yes. I no make master sad,? Astrid told her. ?She not hear well.?


    "From the mouths of the innocents," Cerise sighed.


    "What?" Izrai asked.


    "Before we start in on the long term care, Astrid is going to be fine, just farting and uncomfortable until she finishes digesting the stuff you pushed her to eat." Cerise looked around and asked, "Where are my parents?"


    "Herry''s showing them Va''Velton. Mahayan wanted to go, but she still needs to teach you her scribing thing," Izrai said, much of her intensity seeping out of her on hearing her companion would be fine.


    Cerise smiled. "Hey, Mykhal! Why don''t you check out the city with Mahayan while I show Izrai how to hear Astrid better?"


    He perked up. "Oh! That''ll be fun!" The door nearly closed on the last word.


    Cerise sat on one of the balcony benches and patted the bench seat next to her in invitation. "Come, sit. This may take a while. Open your Profile and keep it open while you focus on learning how to listen."


    Several hours later, Heral accompanied her parents into their suite in time to hear Izrai shout, "I got it! I got the Basic Listening skill!"


    Then Astrid let loose one of her loud farts. ?Oh! I learned skill, too! Stinking Cloud!?


    And Cerise and Izrai started laughing.


    <hr>


    Mykhal and Mahayan returned in time to join everyone for an en suite dinner, where their departure time for the next morning was firmed up, their extra traveling partner discussed, and the four youngest were teased good naturedly. Heral took it upon himself to inform the hirsel of their plans.


    That led to the hirsel stopping by their rooms to wish them well on their travels as he would be meeting with some of his nearer vassels the next day and might not be able to see them off. Their apology gift had been placed next to their cart. He personally handed them the letters and writs he had promised.


    Cerise''s family thanked him again for his generosity, and when he took his leave, Cerise was pretty sure they were on good terms with a good landlord.


    Her sleep that night was filled with trees and bushes and flowers, whimsical illusions of fanciful creatures cavorting, and her mother''s face smiling at her from a Silverwood tree trunk.

 Chapter 34: Get apple?

    34: Get apple?


    Their horses were frisky when they set out, and Daisy especially seemed eager to be away from the stables. She kept looking around, commenting happily over all the sights and sounds. When the other dires, and Socks, tried to mock her excitement, she called them broken toothed old swaybacks for failing to have fun.


    Their play gave Cerise something to concentrate on other than all the people. She still kept close to Daisy, feeling a bit safer with the bright eyed mare. Foxlilly, her own mount, also seemed to appreciate being closer to the dire mare.


    Jaxin was waiting for them in front of the Free Lancer''s Compound. They made introductions for the rest of their traveling group, and were about ready to go when Heral asked, "Those [Tamer] guides you mentioned, Mister Rhene, would they be sold here?"


    "Oh!" Cerise brightened. "I forgot to check for those!"


    Mykhal said, "I didn''t. They are sold here, and Honorable Miss Mahayan and I picked up a copy for her and Honorable Miss Izrai yesterday. I was planning on giving you the copy I picked up this evening to add to your kizamelium."


    "I don''t have that many books!" Cerise said, blushing.


    "Mm-hmm. Yet." Mykhal teased.


    "Called to Kiz-Am-El?" Jaxin asked.


    Cerise shrugged. "Respectful of them, not a dedicate. Papa''s warned me of how jealous gods can be of their dedicates, and I want to be sure before I make any such choice. There''s so much to thank each god for."


    They didn''t say much more until they were out of the city. About a league out, Cerise put up her Triage Aura.


    Heral found that an agreeable enough point to ask, "Shall we discuss our travel formation?"


    Mykhal asked, "What do you mean?"


    Heral nodded to each person as he named their specialty. "We have one [Scout], three [Warriors], a [Mage], a [Healer], and two [Laborers]. [Mage], [Healer], and [Laborers] should be with the cart and protected. These are fairly settled lands, so one of the [Warriors] can take the vanguard while our [Scout] watches for anyone coming up behind us. In more wild lands, we should reverse that, and we may tighten up the formation to maintaining line of sight in more hostile lands."


    Jaxin nodded his head in agreement, and Mykhal said, "Reasonable enough. We''re on a well used caravan route so around every three or four leagues we should find resting places where cattle are unhitched and cared for to allow them to recover their Stamina. We should stop there for our own recovery, especially new riders."


    Cerise said, "You know, Daisy and your mount are close in size. If you''re going to be riding solo, I would be happier with her partnering you. The horses are yours, Honorable Mister Heral. Would this change be agreeable to you?"


    "By all means," he agreed. "Though, how well does she respond to a rider?"


    Cerise turned to Daisy. ?Daisy, my beauty, have you been taught saddle and rider signals??


    ?Of course! Daisy smart horse!? the dire mare said, arching her neck.


    ?Alright. When we stop, we''re going to switch you and Dapples. Mykhal will need your support when he rides to the back to watch for trouble. We know how well you can stop out trouble.?


    That praise got Daisy prancing.


    Dapples asked, ?Pull cart??


    ?Yes, you''ll pull the cart,? Cerise confirmed.


    ?Get apple?? he slyly asked.


    ?Apples?? all the other horses asked, including Jaxin''s.


    Cerise laughed. She looked around her human traveling companions. "Before I make any promises, is there a reason not to give the horses apples at the break?"


    Jaxin asked, "Is that what perked up this old nag of mine?"


    "Dapples wants a treat for becoming the cart horse, and all the rest of the greedy guts want in on it," Cerise confirmed.


    "Should be fine," Jaxin agreed.


    "I have no objections," Heral said, and his cousins echoed him.


    ?If you''re all good, you can get apples,? Cerise said.


    All the horses began prancing. ?We good!?


    Jaxin looked at his horse with a confounded expression covering his face. Then he turned a sober mein to Cerise and said, his voice deep and serious, "This power you have must only be used for good."


    Cerise turned a bright-eyed, inquisitive look his way, then imitated the Mort-el and practiced a sultry sly smirk. "Define ''good''." She winked then burst into giggles at Jaxin''s slack-jawed response.


    When he laughed with them, Cerise figured Jaxin could be a friend.


    As the laughter settled, Mykhal asked, "Training and hunting times -- better in the morning or evening?"


    "Morning training, evening hunts," Heral replied. "We should be able to cover a caravan''s pace in half the time on horseback, and I estimate that the beasts that aren''t dire yet will be in a few seven-days. Once we''re all on dire horses, we can easily triple a caravan''s pace, and double-double it at a push.


    "We will be slowed by the need for Miss ban Silverwood and me to stop at all the nobles we pass for diplomacy''s sake, but with our party composition, we can at least decline their hospitality with grace and giving no offense."


    Jaxin shrugged. "I''m willing to try that, and adjust as needed. I have Hunting as a general skill and Observation as a re-list from it. Point out what you think to be one of these caravan stops and I should be able to recognize one when I see it again."


    Heral asked, "Are you looking for a [Scout] and [Warrior] synergy for your Initiate class?"


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    Jaxin smiled, but shook his head. "Not really. I''ve just had time to gain a breadth of skills."


    "Then I suggest we [Warriors] rotate. If you want to lead today, then tomorrow I shall and," Heral glanced at Izrai, then back to Jaxin, "when Izrai earns back her swords, she can join us in switching off."


    "I-- Hey!" Izrai exclaimed.


    Heral calmly stated, "I have a lot to teach you before you''re ready for such responsibilities. Your class is excellent for high damage, but you need more than just combat skills to be an asset to a team or to gallivant alone. You wouldn''t risk Cousin Ilyse''s wrath, would you? Why should I?"


    Izrai''s shoulder''s slumped, and she looked away, but accepted the chastisement. Then she sputtered. "I got a division in listening for that!?"


    Everyone bit their lips to keep from laughing.


    <hr>


    At the first rest stop, Mykhal took the Honorables and Jaxin around to point out the signs of other well used such stops, and the road manners of using them, like not destroying the fire rings, and setting up to the side in case of another caravan coming along.


    While he did that, Cerise went around with her parents and Mahayan, seeing to the horses, including giving them apples. She had seen bit-bridles on other beasts, but dire horses could bite through metal easily enough, and were too stubborn and, frankly, aggressive to respond well to being pulled around by their corners of their lips. Instead, dire horse bridles included a chest piece through which a reinforced strap rap, and could be shortened if the rider needed to exert more control. It worked on the premise of ''control the head, control the body''. The strap might not be able to force the dire horse to turn, but any horse -- dire or not -- with his nose in his chest could neither rear nor run, and bucking and walking like that became difficult.


    That meant their mouths remained unimpeded and that could be both a blessing and curse. Dire horses ate, needing a larger volume to make up for their need for mana-rich forage. Their hunger could be managed by providing nutrient dense foods, especially mana-enriched grains, but they still had a horse''s need for roughage, too.


    Still, this was just a rest, not a full stop over, so the cinches on the saddles were loosened, but no tack actually removed. Cerise uses small applications of Greater Cleanse to take care of spots of irritating dirt or vegetative matter that got into their coats, especially under the tack. Then she checked their hooves. After all that was seen to, then she gave them each half an apple, and a small bundle of mana-rich grasses, bitters mixed sparingly in with the more palatable sweets and starches.


    When Cerise reached Dapples, however, she stripped him of all of his tack, Cleansed it all with simple water, and then again with an alchemical oil her mother made for leather care, and set it aside. Her mother had unharnessed Daisy, and Cerise gave the same treatment to the cart tack, though she also used a wax for the wood parts.


    By that point the [Warriors] returned. Jaxin looked surprised that his horse was calmly grazing with the dires and riding horses, already seen to. He thanked Cerise and her parents, and got handed one of her mother''s recent cooking experiments. Today''s was leaf roll, a broad pamas leaf the size of a woman''s outstretched hand covered in mashed trail loaf and then rolled up.


    While he was distracted, Cerise asked the group at large, "Do you think it would be a problem for me to ride in the cart for a bit? I have an Etiquette book to read if I''m going to be presented to nobles at every town along the way."


    "Which book?" Heral asked.


    Cerise pulled it out of her pack and showed Heral "Lady Resala''s Book of Manners".


    His lips twitched. "Are you comfortable reading aloud?"


    "As long as folks are kind when I stutter my way through new words, that''s one of the ways Mykhal and I have worked to grow our Scribing skill. After all, the better one reads, the better one writes." Cerise wasn''t sure she wanted to have to read this particular book in such a way, but learning was learning.


    "Oh!" Mykhal perked up. "Maybe you Honorables can tell us the real stories behind those rules! Cerise and I couldn''t figure out why [Warriors] rise when a [Mage] in their House enters a room."


    Izrai''s shoulders slumped. "Wait, really?"


    Heral grinned even as he shook his head at his cousin. "The [Warriors] of a House are the ones who fight any challenges to the members of their House. They stand for not just the [Mages] but also the [Administrators] and [Artisans] and the non-combatants of their House as a declaration that they will defend their House from insult, violently if need be."


    Izrai perked up.


    Heral continued. "The standing should be an instinctive reaction, so even though it is formal manners, many Houses insist upon that behavior at all times."


    That did not diminish Izrai''s happiness. "Hey!" she said. "When Miss Cerise reads out some of the rules, could you tell us the story of them?"


    Cerise looked up at him with hopeful, bright eyes.


    Heral smiled. "It would be my honor."


    <hr>


    Heral''s estimate of their speed failed to account for the cart. While the horses could certainly go faster, the road wasn''t paved, and so even at a trot, the cart bounced along in a haphazard fashion that threatened to break the axles.


    They did still beat the caravan standard of eight leagues a day between towns, but only by two or three leagues. That meant they reached Va''Savine in six days of travel instead of the ten Mr. Aldo had expected, with layovers at two of the bigger towns.


    Cerise and Heral were able to ride ahead, perform their diplomatic duties, and then rejoin their travel group without holding up their travel schedule.


    Sadly, Cerise calculated that they reached Va''Savine about the day they would have made it to their turn off, had they been able to stay with Mr. Aldo''s caravan. They over nighted in Va''Savine and Cerise''s mother decided to take advantage of the last big town on their way to the Sea Crest Dungeon Village.


    When Jaxin heard her listing out her shopping wants, he said, "Hey, you know something great? You''re family. Cerise can buy things for you from the Free Lancer''s Consortium at her rate." He looked to the Honorables and said, "Our contracts prevent us from doing the same for you. We can ask that you be extended Companion rates, but there is no haggling that cost, and if you have haggling skill at Intermediate, you can probably do better."


    Turning back to Cerise''s mother, Jaxin said, "You can probably also get a discount or do some in-kind trade if you''re willing to sell fresh brewed Healing Potions. Even the Healing Salve Cerise makes for the horses is worth a lot to those of us without healing skills."


    Cerise asked, "Do you want healing skills?"


    Jaxin blinked. "Doesn''t your Hall prevent you from teaching ...."


    He trailed off because Cerise was laughing and shaking her head. She calmed down quickly and explained. "You heard the fast version of our story. I''ve never been in a [Healers] Hall, and we''ve been on the road from the day Mykhal was classed. No, and I''ve no idea how these Halls can be the only places you find [Healers]."


    She sighed and shook her head, the smile on her face one of bemused incomprehension. "You need the desire to heal, an understanding of anatomy, Herbalism, and practice making bandages and splints and putting them on people. The anatomy skill you can get by paying attention while butchering meat for the cook pot, if that''s your intent. Cleaning skills and something with Sewing, Tailoring, or Leatherworking help, but General Craft will aid with the splints. That will get you started. With it being that simple, how do these Halls have such a strangle hold on [Healers]?"


    Jaxin said, "Probably because the Halls know how to get [Healers] out of their Novitiates. That you''ve opened the Intermediate rank without a Hall to explain how, that''s rare. Abyss take it, that might be Legendary rare."


    Heral added, "The [Healer] Halls also protect [Healers] from themselves and those who would exploit them. It is not a simple or easy matter to resist the core purpose of your class, and often requires the familiarity of an Adept, someone of High Advanced or Expert skill ranks."


    Jaxin nodded. "The Halls do benefit from keeping their secrets, but the [Healers] protected by those Halls also benefit."


    "Sadly, at a cost, though," Heral added. Jaxin quirked an inquiring eyebrow his way, and Heral explained. "The Halls keep their Novices sequestered, especially from family, and a good number of Initiates, too. Family, after all, are the hardest people to deny."


    Cerise stilled. "Deny what?" she asked.


    "The Hall''s secrets," Heral said.


    Suddenly, the monopoly on healing that the [Healer] Halls had took on a more sinister cast in Cerise''s mind. "How much danger am I in from these Halls? Will they kill to keep their secrets, or kidnap me, or threaten my family?"


    Izrai and Mykhal looked horrified, and Jaxin disturbed. Mahayan''s expression turned sad, but Heral and her parents took on a grim countenance.


    Heral said, "Were you not an Authority bearer, they might be quite heavy handed in attempting to convince you to join their ranks. As it is, they are more likely to pressure the Free Lancers guild to put you in situations that make their aid seem more beneficial or your silence the wiser course."

 Chapter 35: maybe those hadn’t been platitudes

    35: maybe those hadn��t been platitudes


    The shopping Cerise''s mother wanted done took them until a little after mid-morning to complete, but it took nearly as long to verify the receipts for their commissions, meaning they left Va''Savine a little after high noon.


    On the fifth day after that, they reached Tripshire-on-Road, a bustling new town that might soon see a Knight-Protector assigned to them to handle the affairs of the landward trading hub from the Sea Crest Dungeon Village.


    They overnighted in the town and were informed by the local tavern gossips that Tripshire-on-River, a bit north of them, was trying to get their newly appointed mayor to wager against their village chief for the right to the Tripshire name. Of course, their mayor had been informed of the standing rivalry between the towns, nothing mean-spirited, mind you! But no one with any sense would wager their name! The rumored Knight-Protector might not look too kindly on them for taking such a bet!


    Cerise wanted to head to Sea Crest Dungeon Village, but the diplomacy thing meant they needed to travel another day to reach Megareholm and introduce themselves to Cyr Megare Lady Solange.


    The cyr''s seat was a nice town. Not as nice as some they had visited, but cleaner and more orderly than most. The Lady was not at her estate so they took rooms at the inn her Aide suggested, the Pork and Pine. A messenger arrived shortly before dusk inviting Heral and Cerise to breakfast with the cyr. They, of course, accepted.


    The cyr was a severe woman, thin in the way of people who can''t stop moving. She had a hawk-like face, and barely any ability to smile. She refused to discuss anything more serious than the conditions of the road or the weather until everyone had eaten their fill. After the meal, she invited them into her office.


    She opened serious talks by saying, "Honorable el-Terborant, I was advised of your arrival a moon or two back, but word only reached me a ten-day back to expect you, Miss ban Silverwood. Those notices were brief. Please do advise me, what interests you both in my domain?"


    Heral had coached her on this possible outcome so Cerise knew it was her place to speak first. "Lady Solange, I have not been the ban Silverwood for a full moon yet. I have here letters of introduction from Hirsel Velton. Would you care to review them before I speak further?"


    The Lady accepted the letters. She maintained an impassive expression as she read through them and returned the writs of residency to Cerise. "Those are most interesting circumstances. Why did you not leave the letter of introduction yesterday?"


    "Lord Jedais said I was to give the letter to you. I''m of commoner stock, Lady Solange, and only begun learning formal Etiquette this month. I hoped it wiser to err on the literal interpretation of his words."


    The rest of their meeting was a rehashing of the events leading Cerise''s family to seek a new home in the Sea Crest Dungeon Village. Heral revealed that he was shepherding his cousins as a proving challenge which involved mentoring them into capable leaders while training them in a hopefully lower risk dungeon, as the Dungeon Covenant had yet to be reinstated.


    Cerise continued to keep the second seed and its purpose a secret. She hadn''t mentioned it to anyone outside her family, and even to them she had only show it that one night in the Hundred Year Stew, and never actually spoke of it again.


    At the end of things, Lady Solange said, "Well, I welcome you into my domain. Stay a moment and I shall write you a letter of introduction for Sir Brais, the Knight-Protector of Sea Crest.


    While the cyr was writing the letters, Cerise quietly asked Heral, "Would it be rude to ask for a [Healer''s] confidential moment with the cyr? There''s something tickling my senses, but I don''t want to be ... indiscreet?"


    The cyr spoke up from across the room. "That was already indiscreet, but forgivable given your ages. I believe I know of why you speak. It''s not much of a secret that I have a voracious appetite yet gain no weight. I''ve suffered enough purges to be quite sure it is simply my body and not an outside influence."


    Cerise bit her lip and glanced at Heral. He, smiling, said, "Lady Solange, might I step outside for a bit of wind while you write?"


    The Lady looked at them, her impassive face never shifting. "By all means, please be at your comfort."


    Heral rose and gave an incline bow to the Lady before stepping out the door.


    Cerise asked, "Have you had a great appetite for all of your life?"


    "Yes."


    "May I use a diagnostic skill synergy on you? I would be happy to sign a confidentiality contract if that would make you more comfortable?"


    Lady Solange quirked an eyebrow. "Let''s worry at that later. Use your skill."


    "Thank you, Lady Solange." Cerise rose and approached the cyr. When close enough, she laid a hand on her shoulder. It took a moment for Cerise to confirm her suspicions. "You''re starving," Cerise said bluntly.


    "Excuse me?" Lady Solange asked, her forehead creasing.


    "You have broad mana veins, which are drawing out all the mana your body produces, leaving your flesh constantly craving more mana. You need to start eating mana rich vegetables and meats, and I think you''ll find them far more satisfying meals. It may cause some gastric distress while switching over, so add the mana rich foods slowly to give your flesh time to get used to the changes. You may want to also practice physical skills within six to ten rush marks from meals. If you feel a headache or tremors in your muscles, you''ve eaten too rich of a mana infused meal, and need to avoid using skills until the headache passes."


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    The cyr arched an eyebrow. "And where do you suggest I get these mana-rich foods?"


    "If a monster has a cryst, its flesh will hold mana for as much as a moon cycle from its death. Fresher is better. A lot of alchemical herbs make good mana-enhancing spices. A cook with Alchemy and Cooking skills at Practiced can synergize to preserve more of the mana for longer, but it will dissipate, even in a stasis pack. I would start with small cryst-bearing monsters.


    "Really, what''s going on is that your soul''s capacity for mana exceeds what your body naturally makes. The diet will aid in increasing that production while getting your flesh used to moving that much mana through. It won''t be fast. You''ll need to pay attention to when discomfort turns to pain, but it will help in the long run."


    The cyr arched a brow. "Are you trying to flatter me?"


    Cerise tipped her head to the side. "My apologies, but what was flattering about the problems you''ve endured?"


    Lady Solange''s expression softened. "You are being genuinely sincere. How novel. I shall take your advice under consideration, and you are welcome to share our conversation and your diagnostic report high and low."


    Cerise and Heral left with a new letter in hand, and they all were back in Tripshire-on-Road by that evening.


    <hr>


    The "road" from Tripshire-on-Road to the Sea Crest Dungeon Village was rough. The caravan road might not have been paved, but it had been worn to a smoothness by the constant travel, and the caravan vanguards who came out to clear rocks and roots and fill in holes. No one was doing that for the tract -- not even a full road -- to the new dungeon village.


    That meant that though the distance from Va''Savine to Tripshire-on-Road was nearly the same as from Tripshire-on-Road to the Sea Crest Dungeon Village, it took them eight days to get to the village.


    Mahayan actually enjoyed this part of their journey. Her studies had helped her gain a new level, and she decided she wanted to learn earth magics. With that in mind, she took the Geomancy skill for her new skill slot, and practiced by smoothing the tract as she had the mana to spare.


    In the evenings since leaving Va''Velton, Cerise and Mykhal had studied the Free Lancer Guild''s Code of Conduct and Druerjan''s Dungeon Laws. During the day, Cerise continued to read for her parents and the Honorables. They had finished the Etiquette book and begun upon the Tamer''s Guide book, finishing that halfway to the dungeon village. Cerise gained several divisions to both Tame Monster and Animal Handling, and even one to Diplomacy despite the cap, but it was her experiments with Lend Vitality and Restoration that gained her level 17.


    Thinking of Lend Vitality, it felt actually like it used her Stamina to push her own pattern of health onto someone else, rather than her mistaken impression that its use involved her taking on a patient''s wounds or ailments. Cerise didn''t like that idea of imposing her vital pattern onto another person, so she was experimenting with finding synergies with her General Anatomy and Diagnostic skills to form a pattern more suited to her patient''s healthy body, and then push that pattern through the skill.


    Her Restoration skill, they discovered, was actually detrimental to someone trying to build up their Pools, but her parents and the older horses adored the rejuvenating effects of that skill on their joints.


    She also learned a general skill called Massage, which she quickly taught to her family. Her mother''s Anatomy skill was better than Cerise''s, and the two skills synergized so well that her mother was quickly hailed as the best giver of massages.


    Also skill-wise, on that leg of their journey, Mahayan learned the Teaching skill as she finally figured out how to teach her scribing skill mutation to read and write magical text. That filled in the missing piece Cerise needed to learn how to prepare a piece of paper to receive an imprimatur, which in turn unlocked, but did not learn, the Contract skill.


    Cerise finally felt comfortable enough with Heral to ask him just what skill he though she helped him with. It was, by necessity, a day when Jaxin trailed them, as Izrai had yet to earn her swords back.


    She made sure to use every bit of proper Etiquette Heral had taught her, and when he answered, her Diplomacy skill gained another division awaiting her to uncap it.


    "My class is [Noble Warrior Novice] and the one core skill I have been struggling with is Noblesse Oblige." He pursed his lips, as if unhappy to have said so much.


    Cerise felt one of the fragments of memories she regained with leveling poke her. "Noblesse Oblige ... Noble''s Obligation?"


    Heral started to shake his head, but stopped. He spoke slowly, as if feeling his way through his words. "Noble Obligation is a skill conferred when one accepts a noble title. Noblesse Oblige is related, but not the same."


    "Is Noble Obligation limited by the covenants the noble upholds?" Cerise asked.


    "From what I have been told, yes," Heral said.


    "If one is tied to title and covenant, then perhaps the other is not," she said. "After all, we have stories of nobles before covenants. Papa, you know the story of Leland the Northern Shield? Would you tell it?"


    She turned to her father as she asked, and caught him exchanging that poignant, sad look of unspeakable griefs with her mother. He turned to her when he felt her attention, cleared his throat, and tried to shake off the sorrow weighing down the corners of his eyes. "Leland, huh? Oh, I think I can do that."


    And he stretched a bit as he settled into his storytelling voice, and brought to life the tale of one of the first Thanes to arise along the border of human and draycon lands.


    <hr>


    Heral listened intently to the stories that Cerise prompted her father to tell. The heroes ranged from serfs to priests to nobles, and a number of elevated freeman. They were blunt or sly, [Warriors], [Artisans], [Administrators], and [Laborers]. They found solutions to their problems in stoic determination and subtle diplomacy. What they all had in common, however, was an unyielding sense of justice and the innate understanding that humans prosper together or not at all.


    Cerise also shared with him her trick of contemplating her skills with her profile open. When he lay down that night, he opened his profile and considered what he had heard.


    Noblesse Oblige advances to Practiced-2


    [Noble Warrior Novice] levels to 15.


    He sucked in a breath and bit back tears of relief.


    Progress! He had made progress! He wouldn''t have to re-class! After the relief had run its course, he frowned at the ceiling of his tent. He didn''t know how what he had considered today was all that different from what he had known before. The only things that stood out to him as possibly being profound were, first, the idea that his skill was an unbound version of the covenant granted skill instead of a lesser version and, second, how much importance justice held for freemen.


    Heral hadn''t considered justice as a unique concept before. There were laws, rules, that people followed to maintain order. Rules imposed sense upon a senseless world, and that was something he dearly appreciated. He hadn''t stopped before to consider the order, the sense, being imposed.


    Nobles ruled because someone had to step up and lead people, or else everyone had to worry about their neighbors deciding to just take what they wanted instead of everyone working together to prosper together. Noble heirs were trained from birth to lead, educated not just about their own domains, but those of their neighbors. Such an education required dedication and resources that simply no domain was rich enough to distribute to every child.


    Heral had been told every day of his life that he had obligations attached to him by his birth, and the warning of his obligations had been attached to platitudes about his good fortune to be born Aleron Treborant''s child, to be born to a noble House. For the first time, he began to wonder if maybe those hadn''t been platitudes.

 Chapter 36: That’s not a village

    "That''s not a village," Cerise said when they spotted the wooden walls of the Sea Crest Dungeon Village.


    Jaxin laughed, then laughed harder when he saw the agreeing looks on her family members'' faces. He calmed down to chuckling, and said, "It can''t be a town until it''s been established for at least ten years, and Sea Crest is only maybe four years old. It is bigger than a typical village, but it hasn''t quite grown to town sized. Not yet."


    Cerise took down her Triage Aura, just to be safe, and they made their way all together to the gate into the town. Two men in matching hardened leather plate stood on either side of the opened gate, and a guard tower was visible on the inside of the village wall.


    "Hail and state your business," one of the guards said, stepping forward to block the gate.


    Heral stepped his horse to the front. "These good freemen intend to take up residency, and my cousins and I shall remain to train in the dungeon until such time as we are recalled to our lands."


    "The entrance fee is a large for each person and a grand for each horse. Are those ... those almiraj are tamed? They''re a leaf a piece," the guard said. "And you will need to peace-bind all your weapons while within the town limits."


    Heral narrowed his eyes. "My name, as you so obviously failed to use an Inspect skill, is Heral el-Treborant, and my first stop will be to deliver letters of Introduction from Hirsel Velton and Cyr Megare to Knight-Protector Sir Brais. When I ask him about these entrance fees, will he confirm that you are asking for the correct amounts?"


    The guard swallowed and Cerise felt his Identify flow over all of them. He looked nervous after Identifying Heral, but paled on Identifying Cerise, Mykhal, and Jaxin.


    "Ah, um. Did-- Did I say a leaf? I meant a leaf will cover your entire party," he back tracked..


    "And how many others?" Heral asked, quirking an eyebrow.


    The other guard stepped up. "Keit, you''re an idiot. Honorable el-Treborant is an expected guest of our Knight-Protector. Apologize for failing to remember he is on the guest list, and hence no entrance fees are due from his party."


    The guard called Keit stammered out an apology, accompanied by a bow, and stepped out of their way.


    The second guard gave them directions to Sir Brais''s manor.


    Cerise Appraised both guards. "Keit" was actually Keiteral and the other was named Gaboral.


    Jaxin broke away at the first branch in the street, saying he would see them at the Free Lancers Guild.


    They hadn''t gone very far when a young boy darted past them. Cerise spotted that same boy leaving from a side door at the manor estate they eventually arrived at.


    Heral drew up before the guards at the estate gate and held up a calming hand as he peered down the drive visible beyond the gate. A man in a fancy jacket was Quick Stepping their way.


    The guards looked a bit nervous. For their benefit, Heral said, "I believe our escort is on the way."


    Cerise smiled at one of the gate guards. "Please pardon me for my ignorance. In our travels, I''ve found people who find it rude to use Inspect skills on strangers and those who find it rude not to Inspect strangers, as well as those who don''t care either way. What is the predominant attitude in Sea Crest?"


    The gate guard returned Cerise''s smile with a tight-lipped one of her own. "Inspecting without permission is rude."


    "Thank you for remedying my ignorance," Cerise said with a polite incline of her head.


    Heral looked with surprise to Cerise, but before he could speak, the man in the jacket arrived.


    "Honorable el-Treborant! What a pleasure it is that you have finally arrived! Open the gates for our Honorable guests!" the man smiled broadly in a way that didn''t reach his eyes. "Sir Brais has been quite excited about your visit to our humble village! I''m his Aide Isbrigal! We''ll get your horses seen to, show you to your rooms, settle your servants--."


    "I did not bring any servants," Heral said.


    Cerise smiled kindly and said, "You have my permission to Inspect me."


    The Aide paused, looked uncertainly from Heral to Cerise, then fired off his Inspect skill. His smile became even more of a grimace as color fled his cheeks. He bowed, hands braced on his knees. "My apologies, Lady ban Silverwood. I meant no disrespect!"


    "It''s Miss, not Lady, and there''s no need for apologies. You did nothing wrong. My parents here can tell you how very new this all is for all of us, and there is so much Etiquette to learn! It gets a little overwhelming. Honestly, right now if you want to offend me, you''re going to have to work at it. It''s just so much easier to assume good intentions."


    Aide Isbrigal rose from his bow looking more relaxed than when he greeted them. "You honor me with the generosity of your spirit."


    "That is a lovely phrasing! I''m going to add that to my list of ways to say thank you!" Cerise tried to put an infectious joy into her smile, and she counted it a win when the Aide''s return smile reached his eyes.


    As they got back under way, Cerise tried to imitate her mother''s friendly attitude as she introduced each member of their party. As soon as her mother was pulled into the conversation, Cerise got to relax. Aide Isbrigal turned out to enjoy recreational fishing and was happy to educate her mother on the types of fish they could find locally.


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    "The cliffs around here far outnumber the ocean front beaches, so the ocean fish we get fresh primarily comes from the dungeon''s fourth floor. We are twelve or thirteen leagues to Port Gyolgoin, two days by wagon, so salted ocean fish is easy to obtain."


    A large man near her father''s age awaited them on the steps leading up to the manor''s front door. He wore mostly leather clothing of fine quality, and looked more at home with a club than a quill. Aide Isbrigal smoothly introduced Sir Brais to everyone, and the knight failed to keep the surprise, or unease, off his face when his aide introduced Cerise.


    "My apologies, Miss ban Silverwood. It will be a bit to fix up rooms for your party as I did not know to expect you. Normally, I would try to give you time to refresh yourselves from your journey before discussing business," Sir Brais said.


    Cerise offered up her cheerful smile. "Well, we have some Letters of Introduction to share to you, as well as some need of direction. Probably a story or two as well. If it''s not too much of an inconvenience, I think my family and I are up for that business first before figuring out our accommodations. I wouldn''t presume to speak for the Honorable Cousins Treborant."


    Heral smiled his own kind smile. "Your assistance on our travels have made them quite refreshing. Whatever schedule best suits our host would be most agreeable."


    "Then please allow my House Master to see you settled into your rooms while I speak with Miss ban Silverwood and her family," Sir Brais said.


    Not long after, Cerise, her parents, and Mykhal were seated in a study that seemed spartan in comparison to the noble studies she had had to sit in throughout the journey here. It was still far nicer than any of the inns they had stayed in, let alone their home in Trall.


    They enjoyed a bit of silence while Sir Brais read the letters and looked over the Writs of Residency Lord Jedais gave them. The Letters hadn''t been sealed, so their contents were known to her family.


    "That is quite a journey you''ve been on," Sir Brais commented when he set the letters aside, returning the writs to them.


    Cerise nodded and smiled. "I think the most amazing part of it all, at least for me, is that the Winter Solstice is just a little over a month away and we''re not neck deep in snow."


    Sir Brais barked out a laugh. "I''ve heard of snow, but aside from white caps on distant mountain peaks, I''ve never seen any."


    "We haven''t yet seen the ocean," Cerise said.


    A distant touch of awe relaxed the Knight''s features. "It is a humbling experience, even for those of us who live by the coast." His posture shifted as he returned his focus to the room. "Do you plan to claim the full forty fields for your diplomatic residence?"


    Cerise grew serious. "Frankly, until I feel capable of defending the land, I don''t plan to claim any of it. Our intent is for my parents to purchase the land they can make use of, and for Mykhal and me to lease from them while we train and grow stronger. If I receive any different instructions from the Lady of the Silverwood Grove, well, then our plans will change."


    Sir Brais nodded. "That is wise." He looked to her parents. "Do you intend to farm?"


    Her father said, "Not beyond our needs. I heard there''s mining to be done in the dungeon. If it is safe enough and profitable enough, well, I find mining to be a good fit for me, and Bergin has dreamed of opening her own Food Hall, however they''re called around here."


    Sir Brais''s eyebrows rose with interest. "You have Intermediate skill with Cooking?"


    "Expert, actually. I''ve been getting synergistic experience from learning Alchemy on our journey," her mother answered, almost bashful.


    Eagerness widened the knight''s gaze, and his mouth opened. Then he seemed to recall something that took the excitement out of him. Not all the way, however. "I shall be delighted to try your cuisine," he said. Then he sighed and turned back to Cerise. "Well, it was too much to hope that I could make use of your diplomatic residence to form a hard boundary for the town''s expansion toward the dungeon."


    "Oh?" Cerise tried to do that thing her mother did, that interested lean forward that invited people to continue on and confide in her.


    Sir Brais''s expression took on elements of frustration. "Everytime I get the walls expanded to include plots for farming, the Free Lancers lead the charge to build more inns and smithies and craft halls. I appreciate the commerce, but we have to feed everyone, and they''re encouraging people to buy up all the best farm land for non-farming purposes! It''s very frustrating!"


    Cerise''s odd memory fragments suggested something. "I''m not clear on the laws of Druerjan, Velton, or the Megare Cyrlands. As the knight-protector, do you work with a mayor or village chief to plan the development of Sea Crest town? If so, what prevents you from plotting certain zones out for particular purposes?"


    Cerise''s father added, "As someone without a combat class, I cannot imagine too many [Farmers] want to be closer to a place that''s known to spawn monsters when they could have an entire village''s worth of [Warriors] between them and danger, regardless of soil quality."


    Cerise''s mother said, "Improving soil is one thing [Alchemists] learn early and while there are some faster ways than mixing rotting cuttings into the soil, that only takes a season to show results."


    The knight smiled. "You''re solutions people! How pleasant! As for the purpose set zones, the problems is that the penalty for not complying with such zoning is a fine which they''re happy to pay. I hadn''t heard of improving soil."


    Something else tickled Cerise''s curiosity. "How far is the Sea Crest Dungeon from the Village?"


    "Two leagues or there-abouts, which is why I''m looking for a better excuse to halt the Free Lancers from expanding that way. If they had their way, they would build all the way to the miss-begotten entrance and damn the consequences!"


    Cerise and her family exchanged surprised looks. Her mother said, "Up on the Northern border, it''s most common for people to gain their classes from holy places. When I learned that most people south of the Katias Hirsellands gained their classes in dungeons, I thought that dungeons might be a different kind of holy place. Northern holy places require at least three and better five leagues of wild lands around them to stay benign."


    "Benign, how?" Sir Brais asked, intrigued.


    "Gods defend their holy places from, how did the Sol-el put it? Murky intent?" her father chimed in. "If people build too close, there will be more spawn points that show up between the people and the holy place. If you build right next to a holy place, and try to live there, the holy place seals itself away, and no one gains classes there any more."


    Sir Brais took up a resigned expression. "One league is the minimum no-build rule for dungeons in Druerjan by the laws based on the last Dungeon Covenant. The king his majesty Ahrahm has decreed that we shall uphold all such laws until a new covenant is affirmed."


    A servant tapped the door and poked his head in. "Rooms for your guests have been prepared, Sir."


    "Ah, good! You will stay with me while you search for a plot for your permanent residences, won''t you?" Sir Brais invited.


    Cerise gave him a bright smile. "We would be honored."


    "Please allow my man to show you to your rooms. I planned for dinner to be served en suite tonight, and breakfast should be available near an hour after sunrise on the morrow. I''ll have one of my aides escort you to the Mayor''s Hall and go with you for picking out your land plots."


    Cerise glanced to Mykhal, then back to Sir Brais. "I think the Hirsel Veltan mentioned that Mykhal and I joined the Free Lancers Guild a week before I earned the ban Silverwood name. We are a copper rank duo, essentially very new and still proving our reliability, so we have commissions to turn in some time tomorrow.


    "For what it''s worth, I have no intention of being drawn into any disputes with the Free Lancers Guild that do no directly involve my team, and should I get sucked in anyhow, my sympathies prioritize the defense of the town."


    Sir Brais nodded. "I appreciate that."


    They retired to the rooms prepared for them in short order.

 Chapter 37: a deposit of good faith

    Aide Isbrigal confided that he had leapt to volunteer as their guide around the town, and he and her mother quickly resumed their conversation about fish.


    The Mayoral Hall was one of the few stone buildings, and room to grow had been maintained by putting up a split rail fence around an extended yard. That expansion was happening even now as log-frame additions brought the total size of the building to about the size of the fronts for the Free Lancer Compounds in Va''Veltan and Va''Savine. It even had shallow steps up.


    Isbrigal led them up and into the building, and then down a hallway to the left. They passed two closed doors before the Aide knocked at the frame of a third door and opened it, revealing an office with a map of the town on a side wall, and shallow rows of drawers behind a broad desk.


    "Isbri, what can I do for you?" the man sitting at the desk asked after barely looking up from the ledgers in front of him.


    Their guide performed introductions, identifying the man as Mister Kesturn, the Head Land Clerk. "Kes, what plots are available to purchase at this time?" he finished by asking. Kesturn gestured to the map on the wall. "I''ve marked the sold plots in yellow, red for growth reservations, and put bare pins in the promised lots. No one has been willing to lay down a claim fee for the unmarked lots, and as these are Sir Brais''s guests, if you let me know which plots you want to look at, I''ll put viewing pins in them to give you till the end of tomorrow to lay a claim on what you''re interested in."


    Isbrigal explained the different parts of the city as they reviewed the map. He turned to Kesturn and asked, "Am I reading this right that only the new farming plots are available for sale?"


    "Yes."


    "How long have some these claims lingered?" Isbrigal frowned at a large number of bare pins clustered to the northwest, near the farm plots.


    "Since the rule change Mayor Thumbrad instituted preventing people from shifting their claims just before the farming plots were established. It''s the abyss damned Lancers trying to monopolize the pathway to the dungeon. They''d''ve tried to claim the farming plots already if they could get more lackeys to put down the claim fee, but they are having troubles finding more pawns." Kesturn sounded aggrieved.


    Cerise asked, "What is the claim fee? Does it apply toward the purchase of the land, or is it something else?"


    Kesturn said, "The fee is a deposit of good faith. With the malarky the Free Lancers have put us through, it''s now a branch for every field, which is five times the purchase prices. Use the land for the purpose under which you receive the title and that will purchase the land and pay your liens for the next decade."


    "How many [Farmers] are able to afford that?" she asked.


    "Sadly, so far none," Kesturn admitted.


    "And how many [Farmers] would be willing to work the land if someone else paid for it and then leased them the land for produce from their farming equivalent to that annual lien?" she asked.


    Kesturn grinned. "I can provide you a list of at least thirty [Farmers] who would leap at the chance."


    "How much of that land has to be under cultivation and how much may be used for housing and personal work spaces? Also, if there is a produce shop on that land, is that reasonable? If so, could the shop also sell prepared foods and home crafts from the [Farmers''] families?" Cerise held up a hand at the frown she saw developing on Kesturns'' face.


    "I ask because my father would rather mine and my mother cook and make alchemical aids, but we also want to be good neighbors, and helping to ensure that everyone can eat is a good start. It''s also, I think, self evident that [Farmers] don''t just marry [Farmers], nor do their children always grow up to be yet more [Farmers]. Denying those family members opportunities to prosper in their own pursuits just doesn''t sit right with me."


    Kesturn''s frown softened into thoughtfulness. "Isbri, I''m going to trust you to watch my office while I go get the mayor."


    Two hours later, eight [Farmers] entered the Mayoral Hall, heard the pledge being offered, and immediately offered their imprimaturs. Cerise handed over eight gold coins, leaving her with two gold coins and the equivalent of five more in smaller denominations, funds she and Mykhal had withdrawn quietly in Va''Savine after considering whether Sea Crest would even have a gold coin if the dungeon was only dropping large coppers at best.


    The [Farmers] collected their families while the Mayor walked with them to their new land, along with two [Surveyors] to help mark out the sub-leased plots. The western plots were under her mother''s writ and the eastern ones her father''s. The shop would be on her mother''s lands and so would the house they would build for themselves.


    On their way, they heard yelling. A yip of pain and thick voice slurring a shouted, "leave me alone!" had Cerise and Mykhal racing to the scene, quickly followed by her parents and Mayor Thumbrad.


    Cerise saw three boys and a girl taunting a young man with a distorted face, throwing clods of dirt at him. They were jeering, "Soft head''s a stupid head!", "Go feed the monsters!", and "Dance for us, soft head!"


    The young man was pressed up against a building, his arms up to shield his head from the pelting.


    Cerise grabbed two of the boys by their arms and twisted them up behind their backs, making the boys scream in shock more than pain. Mykhal grabbed the other boy and her mother caught the girl before she could run.


    "What Abyss-spawned horror infested your souls to even think of doing such an abominable act!?" Cerise''s mother roared.


    The boys sniffled and gasped. Cerise released their arms and grabbed their ears.


    "I''m waiting for an answer!" Bergin roared.


    The children started crying. "Please! We didn''t mean no harm!" "It was just some fun!" "No one got hurt!"


    "You blind idiots! What kind of fool do you take me for!? That wasn''t ''fun''! That was harming a member of your village! That was blasphemy before Solaris and anathema thrust into Lunaria''s lap! Do you want the gods to forsake us all as less than goblins?! Because not even goblins throw rocks at their own! Do you?"


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    Cerise turned the two boys to face her mother. "You heard her! Do you?"


    "No!" the children cried, now earnestly weeping.


    "Where are your parents?" the mayor demanded, stern faced and grave.


    "They''s working! Please don''t bother them over this! Dad''ll skin my back! Please! I promise I won''t do nothing like it again!"


    Cerise looked to her father. "Papa, would you please take hold of these two brats? I need to see to the young man."


    He nodded and took a grip on boys by the backs of their necks. Cerise crossed to the young man, who was still crouching against the wall. He had at least lowered his arm to stare at her, his eyes wide and frightened in a way that broke her heart.


    She tucked that sympathy behind a stern [Healer''s] face. She did not want to waste time convincing him she was safe, so she presented herself as an authority, allowing the young man no opportunity to argue with her or question her right to act as needed. "I am going to use a diagnostic skill on you. If you are sensitive to mana, it will tickle. You may laugh."


    The fear in his eyes turned to confusion, then his eyes widened as her Diagnose skill traveled over him. He didn''t laugh, but he made some weird faces.


    Cerise pulled out a jar of her latest batch of Healing Salve and unstoppered her water bag. "You have some bruising and the start of a nasty bump. I''m going to clean you up and apply some of this salve. Can you use an Identify skill?"


    "Yeah," he said.


    "Good. While I''m cleaning you, Identify this salve and tell me what you see. You may also Identify me. I give you my permission. May I Identify you?"


    Slowly, unsure of himself, he nodded. While she Cleansed him, she used Appraise.


    Name: Matais of Sea Crest Dungeon Village


    Race: Human (Simple)


    Strata: Freeman


    Class: (None)


    Health: Low, Hurt


    "You have a big name," he said.


    "Can you say ''Cerise''?" she asked, done with the Cleansing and moving on to applying the Salve.


    "Cerise," he said, having a hard time with the sibilant sounds.


    "That''s all you need to call me, though to be polite, you should probably call me Miss Cerise, and I shall call you Mister Matais. Do you like that?"


    He smiled, laughing as the magic in the salve obeyed Cerise''s Heal skill to fix the bruises. There was still fear in the back of his gaze, as if he had learned too well to be wary of strangers


    Cerise stomped hard on the rage that thought brought up. The young man didn''t need her rage right then.


    While she was working her skills, a man came running up. "Matty?" he was yelling, parental panic in his voice.


    "Over here, mister!" Cerise called.


    The man charged toward them. "What are you doing to my son!?"


    "Healing him, good mister. You may Identify my. Pay attention to my class," Cerise instructed.


    She felt the wash of his mana. "I--ah. Miss ban Silverwood, I--."


    "Cerise. She said to call her Miss Cerise," Matais said.


    "Yes, I did. Is this man your father?" she asked.


    "Yes, he is! His name is Jiotian and he is a mister, like me!" Matais said, a lot of the fear disappearing with his father''s arrival.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, Good Mister Jiotian. Mayor Thumbral has the miscreants in hand who abused your son. That matter shall be taken care of. Mister Matais permitted me to Identify him, and I noticed he is as of yet unclassed. Is it too rude of me to ask why? I''m new to the south and the reliance on dungeons for classes, so I''m not sure how that affects classing rites."


    Cerise''s calm manner and authority befuddled the man, and he choked on his words a little as he began to adjust. He answered, obviously distracted, "No one will take him through to the classing room. We don''t have enough to pay for a Silver team and none of the Bronzes will take him because they say it''s too dangerous."


    "You have to pay the Free Lancers to go through the dungeon?" she asked.


    "The dungeon is too dangerous for those of us without a combat class," Jiotian said.


    Cerise frowned. "Well, that''s just wrong! Mister Matais happens to be mana sensitive. Did you know that? A lot of the simple are." She didn''t wait for an answer, just continued. "Any how, when my team leader and I finish our assessing run, we''ll have a better idea of what may be needed to bring Mister Matais through safely."


    Her healing was done, and Cerise suddenly realized she had been rude. She capped her salve and said, "My apologies, Mister Matais, for failing to ask, but do you want to be classed?"


    "Yes!" Matais said. "Yes-ye-yes-ye-yes, yes!"


    Cerise smiled at his enthusiasm. "Mathias, look at me." She waited until he calmed enough to meet her gaze. "It will be a long latter from now." She shook her head. "Not today. Not tomorrow. Mykhal and I need to go through the dungeon first so we know what we need to watch out for when it''s time to bring you. After we know that, we may need to train with you."


    Her father came over. "Cerise, how is everything here?"


    She introduced everyone around, and explained about the classing. Her father and Jiotian were soon speaking friendly, and they learned that Jiotian was a [Mason] and a [Miner] who had come to Sea Crest after his wife''s death, hoping to find work. They had only found simple labor as Jiotian couldn''t leave Matias alone for as long as a trip into mine in the dungeon would entail, and all the building going on was with wood.


    They weren''t engaged today, and Matais had slipped away. The young man shame facedly admitted that he had wanted to buy a pastry. Her father asked what the rate for simple labor was and he and Cerise were surprised to hear it was about a large copper a day.


    "Oh, you may think that''s a lot," Jiotian said, misreading their expressions.


    "No," Cerise''s father said. "Not after food and lodging. I tell you what. We''re going to be needing help building on our new land, field fences and simple homes. We can pay you a large each and feed you. Can''t do much for lodgings at this point, but if the labor is agreeable enough to you, we can keep you on to the spring equinox."


    "We don''t need pity," Jiotian said.


    "Good," her father answered. "I don''t have much of that. What I do have is a lot of work in front of me and a need for assistance."


    And like that, they resumed their progress to take possession of their new home.


    The land hadn''t been stripped of trees, but quite a few had been felled to expand the wall to encompass the fields. There were stumps that would need to be ripped out to clear fields and construction sites. The [Surveyors] got to work sectioning off the lease areas and the [Farmers] weighed in on which parts of the plots needed to be cultivated fields. Each plot was five fields in size, of which three fields had to be actively cultivated to comply with the zoning.


    Cerise''s family were keeping eight fields, one for their use and seven for a grazing commons for their tenants and themselves. They were leasing the rest under a village sanctioned lease. That meant that they had paid the claim fee and were entitled to two silver leaves worth of produce from each [Farmer] while the village gained one silver leaf''s worth of produce. These lease fees were due annually. Each plot should easily produce that much in a year, assuming only two decent harvests. The [Farmers] stood to make a good profit if they got the more normal three to four harvests in annually, the benefit of living where it did not snow.


    The [Farmers] were all of at least initiate level so three fields each was taking it easy. The seven fields to be used in common were intended to be pasture for draft beasts, and possibly a pond for attracting migrating ducks or geese.


    Cerise and Mykhal stuck around long enough to ensure her parents had everything in hand. Then they returned with Isbrigal to Sir Brais''s manor to collect their belongings. Cerise knew her father would at least have the start of their house done by night fall.


    It would be weird, she thought, to sleep in her own bed once more. When it was built, that was.


    Sir Brais and the Treborant Cousins rode back with them, enjoying Isbrigal''s description of the deal her parents had struck. Sir Brais looked to her at the end of the telling. "You suggested all that?"


    "Oh, no!" Cerise denied. "I asked questions to figure out what the needs were. I''m not a [Farmer]. I wouldn''t know where to begin sorting out how they do the magic they do. Nor do I have any idea how much food a village or town really needs, especially in a land without snow. I''m glad my questions helped the people who know more to come up with a happy plan, and even happier that my parents were willing to go along with it."


    When they got to the newly purchased land, Mahayan asked if she might be allowed to practice her Geomancy by forming bricks from the dirt inside where Cerise''s father had marked out the hole for their cellar.


    Cerise and Mykahl departed for the Free Lancers Guild with their commissions to turn in before they could be handed a pickax or a shovel.

 Chapter 38: “Hey, [Healer] girl! You looking for a real party?”

    Jaxin met them in the tavern section of the Guild Hall, at which point Cerise snagged a token for the counters.


    "What took you guys so long? It''s after lunch!" Jaxin complained with a smile.


    "We had to buy land and get our things moved over. We''ll be camping while we build the house, and I think we already promised to help a neighbor get to the classing room," Mykhal said the last with a wry smile to Cerise.


    "Escort missions are dangerous," Jaxin said, scratching his chin.


    Cerise pulled out her copy of the Dungeon Laws of Druerjan and flipped to the back. She found the passage she was looking for and turned the book to Jaxin, tapping where she wanted him to start reading. "I''m not so sure it will be so bad, but I want to confirm that here in the covenant copy where it says, ''those who remain with peaceful hearts may with suitable sacrifice depart'' that it means something like the priests say about the holy places."


    Jaxin looked at her skeptically, but things were slow at the counter right then and their token lit up. Cerise took back her book and they went up to talk to the clerk.


    He was a shorter guy with an aesthetically pleasing face and well groomed beard. He went from looking bored to mildly interested on spotting them. The roll of his Inspect skill passed over her and he got a panicked expression.


    Cerise held up her hands. "It''s okay! You saw the Free Lancer part, right?"


    The clerk''s reaction had not gone unnoticed, and waves of Inspect skills fired off. There may have only been the one clerk helping guild members, but there were two others behind him handling paperwork and one bolted for a door deeper into the building. Cerise sighed and let her shoulders drop. She continued to the counter with Mykhal, who was pulling out receipts, since they had already gone over to the Consortium side to turn over their commissions.


    Mykhal had to wave at the poor clerk to get him to look away from Cerise. His gaze still flickered between the two of them uncertainly, so Cerise pointed with both first fingers to her team lead.


    "H-how can I help you?" the clerk asked.


    "Miss Cerise and I are the Delving Lights, currently a duo. Mister Jaxin traveled with us from Va''Veltan, and we have a contract to share commissions. Here is the contract. Here are the receipts. We arrived yesterday. Jaxin, have you already filled out the residency papers? Because Cerise and I need to do that."


    The poor clerk looked a lot overwhelmed, but managed to stumble through getting together some paperwork. However, before he could hand anything to them, the door to deeper into the building opened and a tall woman wearing heavy robes swept into the room. Cerise suspected she knew the woman''s strata, but she still used her Appraise.


    Name: Yanasi


    Race: Human


    Strata: Compound Master, Free Lancer, Freeman


    Class: [Combat Artisan] Uncommon, Adept; [Administrator] Common, Initiate


    Health: Good, Full


    Mana: Good, High


    The woman''s own Inspect skill rolled over them, and she smiled at Cerise while cutting a semi-hostile-maybe look to the clerk.


    "Hello, Miss ban Silverwood. It''s a pleasure having you in our guild hall. How may we be of service?"


    Cerise smiled. She pointed to herself. "Free Lancer, turning in commissions and establishing residency. If I need to do any diplomatic stuff, I''ll come in the client door. I do appreciate the personal greeting, and I will be sure to mention the respect you''ve shown for the Lady of the Silverwood Grove, Whisper in the Leaves, Daughter of El-Ahrand, when next I converse with her."


    Yanasi''s smile just did not reach her eyes. "Why don''t we discuss what that residency will look like in one of the private rooms?"


    "Mykhal is my team leader. Is he invited, too?" Cerise asked.


    "Of course," Yanasi said.


    Mykhal asked, "Jaxin, are you okay if we leave the receipts with you?"


    "Not a worry to be had," their traveling companion answered.


    A few moments later, Cerise and Mykhal were seated in a private room with the Compound Master.


    Cerise opened things up by asking, "Are we here, having this conversation for any reason other than the authority I bear? I mean, Mykhal and I are a duo of emancipated youths, barely two months with the guild, and still turning in commissions to earn our chance to prove for Bronze Rank, so I can easily see being called in for an interview on those grounds, but we do recognize that we are youths with quite a lot we haven''t had the time yet to learn, so I prefer to ask over assuming." She delivered that with a relaxed cheeriness intended to disarm the tension she could practically taste from the woman.


    Yanasi''s smile relaxed in turn, though her eyes remained wary. "The sole reason we are speaking is your authority. As a copper rank team, you will either rise or stagnate on your own accomplishments. That is the point of the commission system and rank advancement requirements."


    "Good!" Cerise said. "Let me tell you the stances the Lady of the Silverwood Grove has asked me to take." Cerise waited for Yanasi''s dipped head. "First, avoid the politics of mankind as much as possible. The Lady views all mortal sapients, natural or magical in birth, as mankind, by the by. Second, if I am dragged into such politics, I am to favor that which favors the wilds or the interests of El-Ahrand would promote. Those are my two big directives.


    "Now, because of the whole diplomat under Druerjan laws thing and having the el-Treborant present when I came back with the ban Silverwood name, I''ve had to stop off and make nice with nobles all the way from Va''Veltan to here. That includes Sir Brais.


    "He seems very concerned that Sea Crest be able to support itself, which means farm land. That was of personal interest because my parents are with us and they have Writs of Residency from Hirsel Veltan. We went this morning to buy land, and the only plots available were the new farm plots. They are all five fields to a plot, non divisible. That was problematic because my parents are not [Farmers]. The concerns Sir Brais raised about potential food shortages if he can''t get [Farmers] working decent farm lands is of a larger concern to my mother, who wants to open a Food Hall.


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    "My parents were able to work out a compromise where they leased parts of the plots they purchases to [Farmers] for equivalent yields to the annual liens, and got authorization from the mayor to do so for a fee of half the liens paid in produce to the village.


    "Now, Sir Brais heard of this when we went to collect our things and came with us to congratulate my parents. Along the way," Cerise dropped all of her cheer, assuming an expression and tone of grave severity. "he reiterated the request he made of me last night to get involved in local politics by claiming my diplomatic residence in the full forty fields of land due me under Druerjan law. This land cannot be used for commerce or noxious crafts, cannot be sold or leased, and reverts to the local noble upon my loss of authority or death. He wants me to claim this land between the walls of the Village and the dungeon."


    Cerise relaxed just a bit at the squint trying to manifest around Yanasi''s eyes. Cerise continued on. "I refused him. I told him, honestly enough, that I do not want to make such a claim until I can defend the land. I did not tell him that I will not be the one defending any such land, because it will become an extension of the Silverwood Grove, and the authority I bear belongs to a Land God who does not concede a single nails width of land she claims."


    Cerise sighed, letting her reluctant acceptance of what she was about to say show clearly. "I also did not tell him that if I am forced into politicking, that I will have to make that claim and do so in a way that prevents further expansion of the town. He seemed frustrated enough not to care how permanent that restriction of expansion would be. "


    Making an obvious attempt to be cheerful once more, Cerise smiled brightly. "So, as long as you''re not trying to drag me into politicking, the Lady who anointed me ban Silverwood will be perfectly fine with you treating me as an emancipated youth, a [Healer] of the Delving Lights, and a Free Lancer freeman.


    "Would you like some time to consider the information I''ve shared with you? I''m happy to schedule a time to come back through the client door, in my diplomat''s face. I was probably being a bit naive thinking that I''d simply be treated like a Free Lancer when I walked in the guild''s door, but that is my preference."


    Yanasi leaned back and took a moment to think. She had let her fake smile fall away during Cerise''s speech. The woman''s serious, unsmiling countenance was, in Cerise''s opinion, more suited to the woman. "I think," Yanasi began. "That you have addressed all of my concerns quite directly, except for one. If you want to be treated as a Free Lancer, you will have to answer challenges to you as a Free Lancer, and not as an authority bearer."


    "Reasonable," Cerise conceded. Then she added. "Challenges to my family, who are not Free Lancers, will be assessed by the Lady of the Silverwood Grove. If she decides to intervene, well, I bear her authority; I do not dictate it."


    Yanasi raised her eyebrows. "So you have a way to speak with her?"


    Cerise thought of the seed token, and the hints of sylvan speech that she felt more than heard from it. "Communicate, yes. Speak isn''t quite the right word." Cerise stopped herself from admitting that she believed the Lady understood far more than Cerise was currently capable of understanding back.


    Yanasi appeared far more relaxed without her fake smile. "Good enough. Now, you mentioned your parents bought land today?"


    "Yes," Cerise said.


    "How much were you charged?" the Compound Master asked.


    "One gold per plot was due to receive the deeds. My parents aren''t [Farmers], but with only farming plots available, they had to work out a compromise to secure the land. The were ecstatic to hear there is already a local farming cooperative, and were talking about inviting the co-op to run a small produce market on a part of the commons fronting the street, probably near to where Mama sets up her Food Hall.


    "Once we get our house built, Mama said she will be over to post a request for [Alchemists]. We''ve been collecting seeds from wild gather all the way down from the North, and a lot of them are from magical plants. We don''t know which are worth trying to grow beyond the ones Mana uses to make her Healing Potions."


    Yanasi''s eyes brightened. She help up two fingers. "Your mother makes healing potions? And you have magical seed stock?"


    Cerise glanced to Mykhal, who shrugged with her. Together they turned back to the Compound Master and nodded.


    The smile that lit up Yanasi''s face now started at her eyes. Aesthetically speaking, her face really was more suited to severity, but in the emotional sense, that smile was beauty. Cerise decided she preferred the emotional to the aesthetic sense.


    "Why don''t I just relieve her of the need to make that trip and go see those seeds now?" Yanasi asked.


    Cerise considered a moment and said, "Mama probably won''t be able to speak with you today, and Papa will be busy building, but we could probably grab the seeds and return. To be clear, though, Mama decides what happens with the seeds. I know she wants to know what they are, special properties, commercial uses, and any growing instructions. Mostly, she wants to know what the plants may be good for beyond monster fodder. Most of the magic plants we picked up because our horse went dire on us during our journey and they were the plants she wanted to eat."


    That last bit only seemed to brighten Yanasi''s day even more.


    <hr>


    Cerise and Mykhal quickly found themselves back in the guild hall. Jaxin was waiting for them and handed a receipt to Mykhal. "You seem to have made a good impression on the Compound Master."


    "We mentioned needing to learn more about the seeds of the plants Daisy likes," Mykhal said, not bothering to keep his voice down.


    Jaxin said, "Ah!" with a smile. "She''s an [Alchemist], did you know?"


    Cerise shrugged. "I kind of guessed from the [Combat Artisan] description. Seeds are one of their things?"


    "Seeds that attract dire beasts are their thing," Jaxin clarified. "Most of those are reagents." They headed for the door.


    "Well, we''re off to collect the ones that we need more information on, and probably we''ll bring back some of Mama''s Healing Potion to get assessed for the Consortium. I''m also hoping they can help me find someone who can make the injectors I want for Surgical applications of potions," Cerise said, recalling the syringes she dreamt of from that life before this one.


    A woman blocked them from leaving the foyer.


    "Hey, [Healer] girl! You looking for a real party?" she asked.


    Cerise pause and Appraised the woman while looking her up and down, not bothering to hide her skepticism. "Hildai, do you know why you don''t piss off a [Healer]?"


    "Hey, I''m just asking a fair question here," the woman said.


    "No, you''re not, and you''re too stupid to pull off an ''aw shucks, I''m just a blunt [Barbarian]'' routine. Now, you will step out of our way or we will be stepping over you."


    Jaxin looked at Cerise like she was crazy, but Mykhal just smiled.


    "Move me," Hildai said, puffing out her chest. Then her eyes fluttered closed and she toppled over, flopping to the floor.


    Some people started to splutter and chairs scrapped back. Cerise ignored them, stepped next to Hildai''s prone form, and clearly said, "[Triage]," as she assessed the woman for harm, using a poke with her booted toe for dramatic effect.


    "What did you do to Hildai?" a man asked looking warily at Cerise.


    She glanced over, Appraised him, saw he had the same party name. "Are you claiming her? As a party member?"


    "Yeah, now what did you do to her?" he demanded.


    "She''s asleep right now. She''ll have a new bruise from falling over, but that''s the extent of her damage. She might even wake up by the time we get back. Until she apologizes for her rudeness, any party she''s in will be on my nuisances fee list. That means, if you''re not dying, I''m not healing you, and any healing I provide costs you double." Cerise delivered that with a professional cheer, then stepped over the downed woman and walked on, Mykhal right behind her.


    She heard Jaxin saying, "You''re going to want to get your [Warrior] to apologize. Miss Cerise is usually much nicer than that, but even if she weren''t, she''s the only [Healer] I''ve ever heard of to earn Noq-el''s Blessing, and she''s Blessed by El-Ahrand. You don''t want the darling of multiple gods pissed off at you, do you?"


    Cerise and Mykhal didn''t linger to hear the rest. Jaxin had apparently decided to stay for soothing ruffled feathers, and she trusted him to know when to stay and when to go.

 Chapter 39: “What do you think you’re sorry for?”

    Back at the new land, Matais and Jiotian were happily breaking up soil, which Mahayah magicked into dense bricks. Cerise''s parents were going about with the [Farmers] and [Surveyors] to establish the lease lines, a task that involved putting down the boundary spikes and setting imprimaturs from the [Surveyor], the land owner, and the leaser.


    Sir Brais and the mayor had left, but Israi was slicing at trees that needed to be cleared for field cultivating and Heral was helping her, explaining something about building up endurance and stamina. It kind of sounded like a cadence.


    Cerise and Mykhal decided to avoid that. Daisy and the Honorables'' dire horses were hobbled over at a quick-made corral, and their cart was set inside with the dires to guard it. A few of the [Farmers] waiting to mark off their lease lines were standing near, but not too near, the corral. A smaller few of them raised their hands in greeting, and Cerise and Mykhal waved hellos, but continued to the corral.


    "Them beasts be fierce!" someone with the [Farmers''] group yelled.


    Cerise nodded. "Yep. Puck''s been trained to bite," she agreed. She nickered to the horses, ?How have you been??


    ?Good! Guarding!? they whinnied back.


    Mykhal went to the cart while Cerise went to greet the horses and check them for irritants. She found a few fly bites, and called over, "Mykhal, remind me to ask Mama about making up a batch of her fly bane. In the meantime, hand me Daisy''s cloak, please?"


    "Alright," he said, setting the cart cover aside. He pulled out the cloak, and Cerise took it, putting it on Daisy. She also got out the face brush and went over each dire''s head, murmuring praises and reminding them what good beauties they were.


    "Hey, Cerise, which seeds need to be assessed?" Mykhal asked.


    "Give me a moment to finish here and I''ll pull them out," she said.


    The [Farmers] had drifted closer, curious it seemed, and one asked, "What seeds are these?"


    Cerise answered, "Ones we''ve collected all the way down from the foothills of the Northern Sartalg Mountains to here. We can Identify them just fine, and most are for plants we or the dires here dined on, but if there are uses for them other than eating, there are some we aren''t sure of. Mama has Expert Cooking and she''s working on her Alchemy, so she''ll be the one deciding what we do with them. On the road, she mentioned finding an [Alchemist] to help sort out reagent from spice, and when Mykhal and I were over getting our guild paperwork sorted, I brought up Mama''s interest, and it turns out Master Yanasi is an [Alchemist]. She''s eager to see what we gathered."


    "Well, mind if we look at them?" the man who had taken it upon himself to be the [Farmer] spokesman asked.


    Cerise shrugged. "I need to sort out the ones we want an [Alchemist] to assess from the rest. If you can use your skills while I''m doing that, you''re welcome to do so in as much as I''m concerned. And if you see any seeds you''d like, talk with Mama. I know she''s not so interested in growing plants as in cooking them."


    She finished with the horses and went back, returning the brush to the box of horse gear. Then she pulled out her scribe box and several panniers of cloth pockets and pouches. On a whim, she also brought out the panniers of fodder.


    "What''s your Herbalism up to?" she asked her friend.


    "Practiced-3," Mykhal said.


    "Bundle these up while I sort the seeds, please?" She pulled out enough of the magic herbs for a single daily treat. "Vary the herbs, but about this bright to your Hunter''s Sense. Try to keep the bitters well mixed with sweets and starches."


    "Those for some Alchemy thing?" the spokesman asked.


    Cerise shook her head. "That''s wild gathered forage to keep the dires over there sweet tempered. Dire beasts need mana or they turn monstrous. I think it was Papa who asked about how easy it would be to grow dire grains. They''re the only reason we even knew such was possible. I did get the seeds that were ready to come off from those."


    "That''s good coin going into their bellies," he protested.


    "Gather is good coin we didn''t spend to feed the beasties, and the one that''s ours went dire on us while we were on the road. She''s a good horse, and I hope we can keep her. Daisy takes to the harness well. I''ll be interested to see how well she does as a plow mare."


    The [Farmer] pursed his lips and turned a thoughtful gaze toward the dire horses.


    Cerise set up her scribe box as a surface to sort the seeds onto. She pulled out a few sheets of paper and folded two to make pockets. She also drew out her mark stick, but set it and the papers aside for the moment. Then she went through the seeds, pulling out two sets of seed samples.


    One set was just the seeds of the magical plants and the other contained a seed from all those they had gathered. She wrote the name that her Appraise skill showed her as a list, putting a sparkle mark (*) next to the magical plants.


    Cerise only had to ask the [Farmers] once to not block her light.


    They discussed the wild gathered seeds, and Cerise soon added two more marks, a down pointing arrowhead (��) and an up arrowhead (��). The down was for the plants the [Farmers] were interested in and the up for the ones she knew her mother had liked, or that Cerise could use for Potion Brewing. Where interests aligned, the arrows turned into a diamond (?), some filled with sparkles.


    Her mother returned during her sorting, and Cerise gave her the long version of why she was sorting the seeds now instead of after their house was built. Mother Bergin pursed her lips at her daughter, but conceded that good relations with the Free Lancers Compound Master was an acceptable reason.


    She claimed one of the waiting [Farmers] and they left to go settle his lease boundaries.


    Cerise''s father showed up, frowned at Cerise, but accepted her quick statement. "Already talked with Mama. It''s Free Lancers related." He, too, left with a waiting [Farmer].


    Mykhal finished with the bundling and took over Scribing, but by that point Cerise was nearly done with the sorting. They restored order to the cart and Cerise gave the horses each a quarter of an apple as a treat before they took off with the lists and more than a few of the paper pockets filled with seeds. Cerise had marked the magic-only set with sparkles and left the other set unmarked.


    <hr>


    When they returned to the guild, Hildai was awake again and her party was drinking with Jaxin. She slumped when she spotted Cerise and Mykhal walk in. The clerk was with someone, but paused and called out, "Delving Lights! Master Yanasi''s waiting for you. Sarah, would you take them up?"


    Cerise and Mykhal politely called back their thanks for the message and followed the older woman who got up at the clerk''s request. They were led to office on a second floor of the building, to a largish corner office. Sarah knocked on the door frame and then opened the door. "Master, the Delving Lights."


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    "Thank you, Sarah!" Yanasi said, sounding gleeful. She smiled enthusiastically as she stood up and showed the duo to a round table to the side of her office. "You did bring them with you, right?" she asked.


    Cerise pulled the paper pockets from her belt pouch, along with one of her blank journals, the list tucked in the front, and a mark stick. While she sorted the pockets into their sets, she said, "I wasn''t sure what to bring and leave, so I just made two sets. These marked are the seeds harvested from only the magic plants while the unmarked came from just about all the plants with seeds we gathered." She pulled out her list and explained about having the [Farmers] looking over her shoulder and the mark meanings.


    "You have as neat a hand as some of the clerks," Yanasi commented as she glanced over the list. Her eyes stopped on several entries, then she picked up one of the unmarked seed pockets and looked at Cerise. Cerise nodded, and Yanasi spilled the seeds out onto the table. Cerise sensed the precise passage of a skill, and Yanasi sorted the seeds into two piles.


    "The smaller one is just food seeds. These have some alchemical use."


    Cerise pulled the food seeds to her and added a new note to her list to denote simple food seeds, this a box (?). She put them back in the paper pocket.


    Yanasi had kept her skill up as she examined the seeds in the pile in front of her. About half were set to the side. "I''ll need to experiment to find out what those can be used for. These here are well documented in the herbal guides at the Consortium."


    Cerise looked at the experiment pile and pulled one seed out. "That''s Crabble Briar. It''s a common plant up North. The juice is used to soothe bug bites, but it''s mostly cultivated for natural fencing. The thorns deter anything larger than a fox from crawling through, and crabble berries are a sweet-sour taste."


    Yanasi nodded. "I still want to experiment."


    They were done going through the seeds in a few rush marks with Cerise and Mykhal sharing what they knew of the Northern seeds. At the end, Cerise indicated the set of unmarked seeds and asked, "I mentioned Mama planned to post a request. Would these be a good request reward?"


    Yanasi laughed. "You two really are new! If you had posted this as a quest, you would have been guided to set the reward around two to five large. The value of all those seeds is easily a silver leaf, and possibly up to a branch."


    Cerise nodded. "What about a request for skill mentoring?"


    "For yourself?" Yanasi asked.


    "For Mama. She has Alchemy and is a [Generalist]. I only have Brew Potions, so making glues or varnishes does me no help on advancing my class."


    "That would be coin and contract."


    Cerise asked, "Do you want to experiment with these?"


    "Ah," Yanasi said. "Yes, I do. And you are used to bartering, not trading. Currency, trade, is far more beneficial to Free Lancers in general and so as the Compound Master, it is my job to promote that. If you want me to experiment with the unknown seeds and provide you with my results, here''s how you go about it as a Free Lancer."


    Not a rush mark later, they were downstairs in the guild hall, at the counter, filling out a request form. Sarah was now manning the counter, and when she realized what their request was for, she burst out with a loud, "Oh, blessing upon you! This will have Master Yanasi dancing for joy!"


    While they were filling out their forms, people began to trickle in, grabbing tokens for the counter queue. By the time they were done, half the tables were occupied by sweaty, dirty people, many bruised and banged up. Cerise swept them with her Triage Aura and found one in need of attention. She marched up to their table and asked, "Who''s your [Healer]?"


    Inspects fired off on her, and she returned them on the people at the table. None had a [Healer] class. One of the two [Scouts] said, "I am."


    "Miss Warrah here has a concussion. Do you know how to treat that?" Cerise asked.


    "She''s wobbly, but ... no," he admitted.


    Cerise nodded and said, "Miss Warrah, my apologies. I am going to be talking around you to your party''s [Healer]. Mister Lowel, her pupils are dilating out of pace, and there is swelling across the temple here." Cerise then asked for the [Scout''s] healing skills and showed him how to use those skills to treat the concussion, including how to monitor for things going worse.


    "Can we pay you to heal her up, Miss ban Siverwood, and what would that cost us?" their [Warrior], who appeared to be evenly between Mykhal and her father in age, asked.


    "Mykhal and I joined the guild recently enough that we''re still Copper Rank, and the Code of Conduct, if you pay me, that''s taking a request, which we aren''t to do until we''re Bronze. So, no, you can''t pay me." As she spoke, she brought out her needles and a jar of healing potion she had intended to take over to the Consortium for assessment. "However, you can think kindly of us and be willing to offer a helping hand should we get in over our heads in the dungeon. Mykhal, would you please see if there''s any salt at the bar? I only need two pinches in a cup."


    "Okay," he said, taking off.


    Cerise went into her spiel about her Surgery skill, and Mykhal returned at the tail end of it with a cup. Cerise added water from her water bag and used Brew Potion to transform the mixture into sterile saline, which she then used with a piece of gauze to mask her use of Greater Cleanse to clean the concussed woman''s skull and her needles.


    Inspect skills were firing off all over the room, and more people were entering and being informed of the spectacle. Someone whistled and said fairly loudly, "Damn! That needle is an Artifact!"


    Cerise, already more focused on healing than speaking, said, "I thought something of the like. The Whisperer in the Leaves gave it to me for healing her Guardian. It''s not much use to anyone without the Surgery skill, which so far as I''ve met or heard of, is just me.


    "Now, Miss Warrah, I''m going to tap you with a Paralyze skill. Surgery is all about doing the least damage on the way to the problem site. I don''t want you moving and causing more harm. I will be keeping up skills that prevent infection in the wound I will have to make. I will also be using a pain blocking skill, but you will still feel pressure. Are you ready for this?"


    "Yeah! Do it!" she cheered.


    Cerise did. It took a rush mark, and Cerise put the patient to sleep afterward, catching her and gently repositioning her to sleep at the table. "I''ll Dispel the Slumber in a rush mark or two."


    Lowol the [Scout][Healer] said "I just got a skill called Triage from watching you work. What in the Abyss?"


    Cerise laughed and said, "Good on you! If you fire that off just under your regeneration rate, within a moon or two, you should get the Aura mutation. Be careful where you have that Aura up because it can get overwhelming. On the bright side, it''s a [Healer''s] advancement of Sense Life in the Aura form."


    Hildai stomped over, reluctance in every line of her body. "Hey, [Healer] girl, I''m sorry," she barked out.


    Cerise felt her entire body go flat. She turned, contemplating dropping the woman with another Slumber, but held off. "What do you think you''re sorry for?" she asked instead.


    "I offended you I didn''t mean to, but I did, I''m sorry you were offended."


    "No, you''re not," Cerise said, coldly angry. She kept going, not pausing for Hildai''s sputtered protests. "If you were genuinely sorry, you would have asked yourself why walking up to complete stranger like a noble expecting bowing and scraping, obviously having used an Inspect skill to know my class, but choosing to call me ''[Healer] girl'' like I''m a slave and not deserving of a name or the respectful ''Miss'' of a Freeman, you would have thought about maybe why that would be offensive.


    "If you were genuinely sorry, you would have asked yourself how you would feel if someone came up to you and said, ''Wanna join a real party?'' like the party you''re in isn''t real, like your teammates never bled for you, never watched out for you, never shared the last scrapes of their food with you. Or worse, like you were some parasite willing to gorge on the yields of their sweat and bruises and blood, then abandon those teammates for some idiot who won''t concede to you the the dignity of calling you ''Miss''.


    "No-no-no-no! I know you didn''t know any of that!" she said, still rolling over Hildai''s objections. "Because you did not ask yourself those questions! You still are not looking beyond your own nose to see that you are face to face with real people!


    "Now, your party is off my nuisance list. They got you to apologize, and they have to deal with you. I''d say that''s punishment enough. You, do not come to me for healing unless that''s the only way you''re going to get the [Survivor] achievement. And if that does came to pass, thank Noq-el for his generosity!


    "Now, go away." Cerise waved a dismissal at the narcissistic [Warrior] woman.


    Hildai fumed for a moment, flexing her hands, and Cerise was angry enough that she wanted the [Warrior] to swing on her. Hildai, though, controlled herself, turned, and stomped back to her table.


    There was a moment of silence from the crowd, broken shortly by a man clapping giddily. The crowd turned to stare at him. He looked back, his excitement making him bounce in his seat. "Guys, there''s a [Healer], a true [Healer], blessed by the God of Death! In our guild! If anyone can learn True Resurrection," he held out his hand toward Cerise. "that''s her!"


    Cerise shook her head as the crowd''s gaze swung back to her. She turned to Lowol. "I have some business at the Consortium. I''ll be back to Dispel Miss Warrah''s nap. In the meantime, it''s probably at least of benefit to you to keep watching her with Triage up." She and Mykhal left.

 Chapter 40: it isn’t the authority

    Walking back to their new home, Mykhal told Cerise, "You''ve changed a lot since getting that authority."


    Cerise considered his words, then said, "Yeah, but it isn''t the authority. It''s the Diplomacy skill, and some of it is about growing into being a [Healer]."


    "Um, I hate to tell you this, but that whole scene back at the guild hall was not diplomatic," Mykhal said.


    "Oh, no, Mykhal! It was highly diplomatic," Cerise disagreed. She then explained, "By putting herself in our faces like she did, Hildai gave me the opportunity to be quite dramatically diplomatic with the whole of the Free Lancers Guild."


    "Wait. What?"


    Cerise ticked off points on her fingers. "First message sent: I will not be pushed around, disrespected, or disregarded. That is necessary for me to make clear as a [Healer] because if I have to tell someone to do something as a [Healer], I do not have time to fight for basic respect right then. I have a patient in front of me who will suffer or die, or both, because of needless delays. So I will fight that fight now, while I have time to spare.


    "Second and third messages: I am loyal to my party because my party has earned by loyalty. Honestly, I was irritated at her disrespecting me, but the way she insulted you? That''s when I got mad.


    "Fourth message: I am not weak. I can and will make people regret showing me hostility." She frowned and sighed, adding, "Something I learned by watching when you moved to Trall is that people have a pecking order, just like chickens. I don''t know if I told you, but I was afraid of you when you first moved in next door to us."


    "You were scared? Of me?" he asked, gaping at her with shock.


    Cerise nodded. "I didn''t know what kind of person you were, if you''d be mean like some of the [Miners] or nice like my parents." She smiled and hip bumped him. "Then out you walk that first day we played together, and you have this angry frown on your face, and you stomp on over to Varise and you say, ''Why are you scatching yourself? Did something bite you? Are you hurt? I can get one of the parents if you need help.'' You went from being this scary new guy to the big brother I always wanted."


    He got this look on his face, like when someone bites into something they expected to smoosh, but it crunches, and that look while the person is trying to decide whether that was a bad crunch or just unexpected. "But, you don''t let people think we''re siblings. Why?"


    Cerise stopped. She put a hand over her mouth as she thought. After a moment, she looked to Mykhal and admitted, "I don''t know. Do you want to swear siblinghood? You''re my best friend no matter what. Kaspea and Kasper were pretty nifty as siblings, but I think that''s more because they''re best friends than family. And seeing how Mahayan and Izrai get along, I''d rather be friends, but we''re awesome. We can do both!"


    The weird look faded behind laughter, but it clung around the corners of his eyes.


    Cerise regretted the emotional hurt she could feel in her friend.


    <hr>


    It took half a moon to build their home. Mahayan came to practice her Geomancy "in a practical fashion", and sometimes Izrai and Heral joined her "for Stamina training", though they were often off on their own doing [Warrior] training things.


    In the end, their house had an open room that served as foyer, parlor, and family room, with an arch separating the cooking and dining spaces. On the other side of the great room from the entrance were three doors. The center door led to her parents'' room. The door nearer the food room, to the left, went to Cerise''s room, and the right hand door led to Mykhal''s room. It was a grand mansion by Trall standards and of a decent size by merchant standards.


    The [Farmers] put up their own houses in that time, too, and got started clearing out new fields.


    The next building to go up was a barn on the commons with a fenced in paddock. That took only a few days because, despite the size of the building, no one had to dig out a cellar. Also, by then her father, using Cerise''s profile trick, had taught both Matais and Jiotian a goodly amount of Carpentry. While Matais was still bound to Basic skills because of not having a class, Jiotian was already working his way through the Practiced ranks of the regular Carpentry skill under her father''s tutelage.


    Her parents were still engaged in a Long Talk over building a place for Jiotian and his son to live on their land, so Cerise and Mykhal decided they had put off exploring the dungeon long enough.


    <hr>


    "This dungeon is actually really good for training in, " Jaxin told them as they Quick Stepped to the entrance.


    "Are you still okay with us trying my approach first?" Cerise asked.


    Jaxin grinned. "Absolutely! If it works, it will make life so much easier!"


    Four [Warriors] in Sir Brais''s yellow and gray House colors stood guard at the dungeon entrance. They lounged under a gazebo. The trio recognized two of them.


    "Hail, Guards Keiteral , Gaboral. Not at the town entrance today?" Jaxin asked, wearing an expression of pleasantry like a mask.


    "Mister Jaxin. A pleasure to see you again." The way Keiteral said that announced that it was anything but a pleasure. "Please declare--."


    "No," Cerise cut him off.


    "Hey, what?" Keiteral asked.


    Cerise ignored him. "Mister Gaboral, please use your Inspect skill on me." She looked at the other guards. "The Free Lancers Code of Conduct instructs Free Lancers to ''Inspect; don''t assume'' because assuming an introduction is accurate is a good way to end up dead. If anyone claiming to be a Free Lancer objects to being Inspected, that instruction is on the very first page."


    She felt four separate rolls of Inspect flow over her, and turned back to Gaboral. "Do you know what an authority bearer is under Druerjan law?"


    "Eh, no, Miss ban Silverwood," Gaboral answered, looking less than sanguine.


    "A diplomat. Do you have your copy of the Dungeon Law of Druerjan?" she asked.


    Gaboral nodded.


    Another group of delvers was coming up the road. Cerise noted them, but ignored them for now. She rattled off the code section and waited while Gaboral flipped to the correct page. He read, haltingly, aloud the law noting that diplomats and their delving parties were immune from search or taxation while Druerjan was at peace with their nations or authorities.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "But it''s an entrance fee!" Keiteral complained.


    Gaboral slapped the back of his helmet, sending the unsecured equipment flying.


    Cerise smiled to Gaboral. "Thank you for being reasonable. Would you like me to mention you kindly to Sir Brais the next time he comes to dinner?"


    He shook his head. "Oh, no, Miss! I wouldn''t want to bother him so! The less the good Sir hears about me, the better I''ve done my job! It''s been long enough for the queue to clear, so there''s no reason on our end to keep you."


    "Very well. May Fortuna smile upon you this day." Their trio departed to the dungeon entrance.


    Before they crossed the threshold, they clasped their hands with thumbs crossed and fingers wrapped around the edges of their palms. They said, all together, "We come with peace in our hearts and a sacrifice to be given in the classing place. May we enter?"


    <hr>


    ?Gods Above and Abyss below! Nobody does that! Who does that!? Nobody does that!? shouted a voice so high pitched the decorative crystal in the chamber vibrated in dangerous sympathy.


    ?What''s happening? Why? Why is there a huge build up of divine mana just outside me? Are we under attack?!? the voice that threw out its own question was as deep as the rumble of rocks grinding leagues under the surface.


    ?Sacrifice! We''re going to get a sacrifice! Open the door! Open it! Let the supplicants in! Don''t let your constructs attack!? the high voice demanded. ?I''m going to greet them!?


    ?Wait! The door!? But! ... And he''s gone already.?


    ?Yes! The door! I can''t greet them! No one does that! But it''s happening!?


    <hr>


    The dungeon entrance was obviously not natural. A boulder as tall as three big men standing on each other''s shoulders pushed up from the ground, and wide enough it would take at least thirty adults, maybe fifty, to encircle it with their arms outstretched and only fingertips touching. In that boulder, an arch-like cavern opening stood, smooth despite artistic weather and creeper vines.


    At least, that was the entrance everyone was used to.


    Cerise felt the magic rising through the ground, and, soft voiced, warned Jaxin, "Stay bowed. The guardian of the holy place is responding."


    He flicked a glance in her direction, but humored her.


    And then stone ground over stone, and a second, smaller entrance dilated open. The guards shouted, panicked, scrambling for weapons, and the second team stopped, also readying for an attack.


    Cerise waited for the magic to calm and the sense of a barrier to retract from the new opening. Then she rose from her bow and, clearly, in a carrying voice, said, "We thank you for your invitation," and led the way into the previously closed entrance.


    Mykhal followed her without hesitation, but Jaxin took a moment.


    The mana dilated closed behind them, masking the new entrance under an illusion of stone.


    Jaxin couldn''t see the mana making up the solid illusion and jumped, panicked, though he calmed when he saw the relief in Mykhal and Cerise''s expressions.


    "Did you--? Did you know that would happen?" he asked.


    "I hoped," Cerise admitted. "Holy places fall under the aegis of different gods, and each god has their own way to ensure the clarity of intent the holy places need to thrive. We come with ritual and respect, observing the rites that the high gods'' priests have shared for a peaceful supplication."


    Mykhal said, "The walls are almost like the Grotto of Ascension."


    Cerise looked and saw the purity of the stone and the dim yellow light that illuminated the passage. She nodded. "Not granite, but no striations like the Grotto. Let us not try the guardian''s patience."


    <hr>


    ?What''s a Grotto of Ascension?? the earth voice asked.


    ?She''s Blessed, but not a priest. Is that why she''s here?? the owner of the high voice had calmed enough that the decorations need no longer fear shattering, but had obviously fallen into a speculative fugue.


    ?Guess I just have to watch,? the earth voice grumbled.


    <hr>


    The tunnel was long, and noticeably sloped downward. It had ledges hiding the corners of the ceiling, but they encountered no monsters and no traps. Like the Grotto, it opened into a room filled with light, a quartz spike hanging from the ceiling, but unlike the Grotto, this room was finished, the walls smooth, the floor tiled in geometric patterns.


    Cerise stepped over the threshold between room and tunnel and walked to the center, directly under the quartz. She pulled out one of the packets of magic seeds. She knelt and laid out her sacrifice, one seed at a time, explaining what she knew of each of them, explaining their province and the purposes humans had for them. When the last seed from the pocket had been offered, she rose and stepped back.


    Mykhal was to go next, but he paused when the seeds began to sink into the tiles. He waited until the magic was done, then went to where Cerise had knelt and followed suit. He laid out fangs and claws from some of the creatures he had hunted along the way. He, too, explained what he knew of the creatures, as Cerise had done with the seeds. When he rose and stepped back, Jaxin knew to wait until the offering was accepted.


    Jaxin went to one knee and unsheathed a plain knife. "My father told me that anytime I enter a classing place, I should demonstrate my respect for the training a dungeon grants us by the gift of my blood. We did not come by the violent path, yet my respect is no less. I am told that blood letting, though, is a breaking of the peaceful heart of this path, and so I offer up a knife I forged, made from ore I mined and refined." He laid down the knife and stepped back.


    The knife, too, sank into the floor.


    Cerise bowed. "Thank you for accepting our gifts. We three may not yet be ready to come for our own classings yet, but we will be standing for a young man seeking his first class. The young man is a simple human, with a sensitivity to mana. He may not understand all the proper rites and rituals.


    "Our request is that you permit one of us to accompany him, as we three have come today, to guide him. If your door remains open when we bring him, we will know you have granted your consent."


    Cerise straightened and switched to Sylvan Speech, pulling on the authority token. She reached under her shirt, into her bra band, where she had carried the seed entrusted to her to give to the dungeon. She withdrew it and walked back to the center of the room. She did not kneel this time, but she did respectfully lay down the seed she could not Appraise.


    ?That was human business, and is a separate matter from this. The Lady of the Silverwood Grove, Whisper in the Leaves, Daughter of El-Ahrand, greets the Dungeon of the Sea Crest and offers a token of aid. No response is needed, nor debt implied.?


    The seed sank into the tile before Cerise had a chance to step back.


    <hr>


    ?She''s a Diplomat! Authority Bearer! And that''s--! We need to return gifts! Push up reward chests! Chests! Now!? The high pitched voice squealed, this time cracking one of the larger crystals.


    ?But they''re not in a fight room,? the earth voiced speaker protested even as magic gathered.


    ?Chest! Now-now-now!?


    ?You are going to explain this at some point? Right??


    ?CHEST!!!?


    <hr>


    Three dainty chests pushed up from the floor. They were two hands wide, three long, and two hands tall below another hand-width tall lid. All looked made of wood of different colors. The one nearest Jaxin was brown, blue for Mykhal, and green for Cerise.


    Cerise listened to her Diplomacy skill and bowed. "Thank you for these considerations." Then she lifted the lid.


    Jaxin had already opened his and was examining the metal ingots inside with wonder. He glanced up at Cerise''s voice and then hastily said a heartfelt, "Thank you!"


    Mykhal echoed him as he drew out slats of wood that exuded mana.


    Cerise''s eyes widened and a radiant smile dawned upon her face. She reverently lifted out a black scaled egg.


    <hr>


    ?What did you do!?? More crystals shattered.


    ?I told you, it''s not a fight room. I don''t control what goes in the treasure boxes! Not in those rooms.?


    Finally, the high pitched voice calmed down, emitting a meek, ?Oh.?


    <hr>


    *CRACK*


    Tatara claims you as his human.


    Tame Monster advances to Practiced-9.


    From the egg, a powerful voice roared, "I am the great and powerful--"


    "Tatara," Cerise smiled, already helping to pull the shell away from her new companion. The monster revealed was iconic, if miniature, small enough to curl up in the palm of her one hand. The body was feline in structure, covered in shimmering overlapping scales so dark a purple a person could be forgiven for mistaking the color for black. Eyes of indigo and gold examined her from a serpentine head on an elongated, highly flexible neck. A tail nearly as long, tipped with a heart-shaped caudal finial, uncurled experimentally.


    "Well, yes," the draconic being said, dropping the roar for a high tenor more suited to his size. "Please keep my shell. I''m going to need to eat it as soon as I get my wings open."


    "Do you want a bath? Get the egg juice off?" Cerise offered.


    "Oh! Yay!"


    Cerise laughed and unstoppered her water bag. A gentle going over with Greater Cleanse prompted Tatara to make a chirpy purr noise.


    "Yes, I have selected a good human," Tatara declared as the gunk sticking his wings to his body peeled back. He stretched, extending translucent wings vaguely similar in shape to a moth''s.


    Mykhal grinned when Cerise glanced at him. Jaxin, however, stared at the wings of Cerise''s new companion with unconcealed horror.

 Chapter 41: I shall show mercy

    Sir Brais, Compound Master Yanasi, and groups of Free Lancers and guards were waiting when Cerise, Jaxin, and Mykhal left the Holy Place in the Sea Crest Dungeon.


    "Breach!" someone yelled just before they stepped out.


    Jaxin shoved Mykhal and Cerise down, yelling back, "Delvers leaving!"


    Several arrows thunked overhead, even as Master Yanasi bellowed, "Hold fire!"


    "Stay down," Jaxin told his party.


    Some yelling happened outside.


    Tatara asked, "Can I flame them? I should totally--!"


    "No," Cerise ordered. "You should stay here to protect me."


    Tatara fluffed a little, but accepted the order.


    The yelling calmed down quickly, and then Yanasi shouted, "Team name!"


    Jaxin yelled back, "Delving Lights with solo Bronzer Jaxin and a newly tamed hatch!"


    "Exit!" Yanasi ordered.


    Jaxin said, "Move slow. Especially Tatara."


    "What! But--!" the little faerie dragon sputtered.


    Cerise said, "You''re pretty fearsome, and they''re scared out there."


    "As they should be!" Tatara declared, pulling an air of regal dignity around himself. "Very well. I shall show mercy to these puny mortals. You may carry me."


    Cerise had to fight very hard to avoid giving into the adorableness that was her new bonded.


    They moved slowly, and exited the tunnel. Inspect skills rolled over them so thickly that Cerise felt a bit disoriented. She paused, and waited out all the mana swirling around her. Mykhal was right next to her and Jaxin had paused a few steps ahead of them.


    She and Mykhal exchanged speaking glances, confirming they were both good to go, and began moving with deliberation to the leaders.


    "Sir Brais, what is the concern that''s brought so many here?" Cerise asked.


    He looked at her like Cerise had lost her mind. "The dungeon is acting in an aberrant manner. It opened a second entrance! The one--."


    Rocks ground together as actual stone filled the pathway to the classing room.


    Cerise looked between the closing doorway and the Knight Protector.


    Tatara scoffed. "That''s not aberrant!" he declared.


    "He''s right," Cerise said. "It''s in the covenant."


    Yanasi and Sir Brais sucked in their breaths as they paid attention to Tatara for the first time.


    "That''s a--," Sir Brais began.


    Tatara interrupted, making his voice boom again, "Great and powerful dragon! Master of Space and Time! Lord of the Skies! Scourge of ... um ..."


    "Flies?" Cerise suggested.


    "Are flies fearsome beasts?" Tatara asked in his normal speaking voice.


    "I hate them almost as much as ticks, and Daisy will adore you if you can scourge the flies that bite her," Cerise said.


    "Okay," he agreed. Back to his booming voice, he finished, "Scourge of Flies! The Awesome Ta-Ta-Ra!"


    "Tatara, Sir Brais is the Knight-Protector of the Sea Crest Dungeon Village. Compound Master Yanasi oversees the operations of the Free Lancers -- Company, Consortium, and Guild -- in Sea Crest. I have great respect for the both of them."


    The faerie dragon climbed up to the crown of Cerise''s head and took up a Sphinx-like pose. He patted Cerise affectionately, and crossed his fore-limbs. "I''ll be as nice to them as they are to me."


    Cerise let it go for the moment. "So, your guards have a complete book of the Druerjan Dungeon Laws, Sir Brais. I can show you the passages in the old covenant that cover this."


    Yanasi gave her a droll look. "I can quote that covenant backwards. Nothing in there says anything about new entrances opening and then closing."


    Cerise quoted, "''Those who remain with peaceful hearts may with suitable sacrifice depart'' is a pretty way of saying what priests in the North admonish us when a new holy place is discovered in the hills."


    "But those are holy places!"Yanasi said.


    "Where you get your classes," Cerise nodded, agreeing. "We are warned that there are consequences for breaking the sanctity of the holy places, and each of the high gods enforces different consequences. The only common ones are: Build too close to a holy place and you''ll get a monster wave. If you try to live in a holy place, well, we don''t know what happens because no one returns from that. If you disrespect a holy place you have to atone or you cannot cross the threshold. And if too many people do that, the holy place disappears.


    "Now, I don''t know if dungeons are such consequences. If so, I can see them being a gift from Nam-am as trials of atonement, or Solaris under his domain of Conflict. They may have nothing to do with such consequences and be the manifestations of the aegis of El-Am-Shaq as god of Tribulations and Trials, or Fortuna as the god of Opportunities in Adversity.


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    "But just because there''s a violent path to the classing room does not prevent there being a peaceful path to the holy place."


    Another shout of "Breach!" rang out, quickly answered with "Delvers leaving!" interrupted them.


    Once the group exited, Sir Brais asked on of his guards, "How many more teams are in there?"


    "Three, Sir."


    Sir Brais turned back to Cerise, "We don''t find many ''holy places'', places one can class, without a dungeon, and I have never heard of anyone leaving a dungeon richer than when they entered without committing violence. We do know there is an infes-- um, a colony of faerie dragons in the dungeon, and there have twice been monster eggs in the chests guarded by the floor bosses. Do you have anything to declare?"


    Cerise smiled and tapped her chest, saying, "Sir Brais, please remember that I am a diplomat and these," she held our her hands to Mykhal and Jaxin, "my delving team. Even if we found a pony-weight of gold coin, we would have nothing to declare."


    He frowned, but Cerise kept going. "But to address what I think is the intent of your question, I''m going to start with Matais, a young man in need of his first class."


    Another team came out while Cerise gave these two human authorities of the Sea Crest the long version. She concluded by saying, "I never expected the holy place to present us with such wonderful challenges."


    "Hey!" Tatara protested, tapping a claw on her crown.


    Cerise laughed. "You are the most excellent of challenges! I''m not yet worthy of your brilliance, now am I?"


    In an offended tone, Tatara declared, "You will not speak of my human in such a degrading manner. I have chosen you; you are mine; therefore, you are perfect."


    Cerise bit her lips to hold in a delighted squeal.


    <hr>


    Jaxin was given leave by Master Yanasi to act as a messenger to inform Cerise''s parents of the happenings at the dungeon. She and Mykhal got to stay back and go over, in excruciating detail, the rites and rituals they knew of as related to holy places, and what they had done for this day''s excursion.


    During that interrogation, the last two recorded parties exited the dungeon, as well as a group of four people who had slipped in past the guards.


    Every last one of the delvers claimed to have been overwhelmed by the urgent need to leave. Those who had held out the longest reported feeling increasing dread to the verge of panic, which eased as soon as they moved toward the exit, but intensified even if they did not move.


    Shortly after the last delver was out, the vines over the entrance moved to close it off, and the rock-on-rock grinding of actual stone sealing off the passage sounded.


    Cerise went with Sir Brais and Master Yanasi to inspect the closed entrance. "The vines sealed off the entrance shortly before the dungeon opened new floors," Yanasi commented. "That''s common, but not stone sealing the way, too."


    The leaves on the vines whispered something Cerise almost understood. She tipped her head and concentrated.


    On her head, Tatara sang, "? Grow, grow, grow! / When you get the mana / You just gotta spend it! / Grow, grow, grow! ?"


    The leaves changed what they were whispering to imitate Tatara''s song. Then the stones started to sing along, adding, ?? The higher your levels get / The deeper your floors go! / Grow, grow, grow! ??


    Cerise looked around and saw that Yanasi wore a perplexed expression that about mirrored her own feelings.


    ?? Happy is the stone / That gets to be alone to / Grow, grow grow! ??


    They both began to carefully back away from the prior entrance. Yanasi put a finger to her lips and gestured for people to get away. Sir Brais spotted the spooked looks on the two Free Lancers'' faces and added his own signal to fall back. Yanasi and Sir Brais stepped off to the side for a quick discussion, and Cerise siddled a bit away, hoping they could leave soon.


    Tatara giggled and spoke in Beast Speech. ?Stony''s just happy. E''s a singer when e works, and all e''s constructs resonate with e''s songs. It kept things interesting while I waited for you in my egg. Almost all of Stony''s songs turn bouncy when e''s happy. Ballads are for crafting traps, and lullabies when e''s building constructs.?


    "Really?" Cerise said, relaxing. "Well, let''s leave the Guardian to e''s business. How long do you think it''ll be for the dungeon to reopen with a seventh floor?"


    Tatara said, "By the Solstice at the latest. That''s a holy day. E''s been getting ready bit by bit, but sacrifices, properly prepared, already got divine attention. I''m here, after all. The new floor will be done faster, but depending on which of your sacrifices the divine chooses to share, there will be small changes throughout the rest of the floors. The word I heard in the egg was that the upper floors were doing fairly well, but could use a little shake up. Something to teach running away skills."


    Mykhal joined them in time to catch the last bit. "If you really want to teach running skills, add some white-back weasels to your training regime."


    Cerise shuddered. "Love the fur; hate the stench!"


    Tatara''s laughter was deep, rich, and full of wicked delight. Then he sighed and said, "Fart jokes never go stale."


    "How did you find a companion monster as weird as you?" Mykhal asked.


    Cerise shrugged. "I have to concede to being out weirded right now. We''ll see how long that lasts."


    <hr>


    A few days later, back in Va''Velton ...


    "Champion Nahia, thank you for responding to the High Champion''s summons so quickly," the Sol-el who said that was an older man whose bones audibly creaked as he rose to extend the proper forearm clasp greeting for another dedicate of the god of Conflict.


    "One does not delay when the Master of one''s order calls. I am confused to be in your office now." Nahia did not have a lot of patience for politics, and being escorted to a Sol instead of the High Champion she had come to see smacked of politics.


    The elderly priest laughed. "He left. I think it''s related to the reason he summoned you. I''m sure you heard that Marsen fell to the Talamayan curse, and I hope the word of his recovery has traveled just as swiftly. The [Healer] who discovered the vector of that curse arrived at Va''Velton''s Temple of the Gods as a fortunate, along with her parents. The parents returned the next day with a letter they would only place in Marsen''s hands.


    "Well, he read that letter, then began summoning records. And then he summoned you.


    "Two days ago, we received one of the messenger sprites, calling for an investigation of an aberrant dungeon, one of the new ones and fairly close. Sea Crest, on the coast of Velton''s Hirsellands. There is a Temple of the Gods closer, but they lack resident champions.


    "Despite that Marsen has only recently recovered enough for the Luns to shush about him riding, he decided he needed to lead the expedition to determine if the dungeon needs to be destroyed.


    "The Luns started to argue over that until he roared at them that he had a debt to pay to the ban Silverwood at Sea Crest and he would ''by Solaris''s flaming balls'' repay that debt."


    Nahia clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes round in shock at the profanity coming from the mouth of one of Solaris''s blessed.


    The elder Sol-el laughed. "Marsen doesn''t typically use such strong language, but the Luns have been beside themselves ever since his healing. Quite a few have been trying to understand what skill the ban Silverwood used when she healed him."


    "There''s a ban Silverwood? And, are you saying the letter her parents delivered was why I was summoned?" Nahia asked, baffled by where she might fit into this all.


    "Yes, and I think so. Well, suffice to say, the Luns stopped complaining and added three unblessed lunates to the expedition.


    "At this point, you can stay and await the High Champion''s return, or we can resupply you and send you out after them. They were planning on El-Ahrand''s Champion taking them the direct way. You would be advised to follow the roads. And you may even catch up with them if you push hard, considering they will be riding to remain Battle Ready."


    Nahia nodded. "Thank you for the resupply. When can I leave?"


    "We know how Marsen''s Champions tend to follow his form so, now."


    Nahia stretched out her neck, stood, and departed.

 Chapter 42: what is more precious

    The dungeon remained under vigilant guard, despite also remaining closed for expansion. Sir Brais had followed the prescribed procedures for investigating aberrant behavior in a dungeon, which so far meant notifying the nearest Temple of the Gods and requesting an inspection team, while preventing anyone from entering or anything from exiting the dungeon.


    Under the law based upon the prior covenant, a team of priests or champions dedicated to at least three different high gods had to unanimously agree that a dungeon was a danger to the local population before it could be subjugated and the dungeon heart stone destroyed. There were seven high gods represented in the group that rode into the Sea Crest Dungeon Village some fifteen days after it closed itself off. Some of those gods had more than one representative.


    Cerise and her family were not idle during that time. They broke ground for her mother''s food hall. Mahayan enjoyed herself by learning and then skilling up Sculpting and Masonry skills along with her Geomancy. She leveled twice, and thanked Cerise for her Lend Potency and for just studying the nature of mana together.


    Cerise learned Ritual Casting and Channel Mana from the books Mahayan shared and then observing Mahayan in action.


    Tatara also learned skills. Discovering Astrid had learned Stinking Cloud, he quickly became a huge fan of cabbage and beans as he tried to imitate her success. Sadly, for him, Tatara did not fart. He burped. It just wasn''t the same.


    He did, however, become quite adept at making ceramic statues. He did not actually have a flaming breath attack, but picked up Geomancy from helping Cerise and Mahayan, as well as Aquamancy. He swore he learned it from Cerise and her Greater Cleanse, but Cerise didn''t see how.


    Tatara also learned of flies and ticks. His first reaction was to feel betrayed. Then Cerise showed him the blister some of the more noxious flies left, the pain they caused poor Daisy, and told him about the Sleeping Sickness carried by ticks and how it had laid low the Guardian of the Silverwood Grove.


    Cerise completely won him over to being the Scourge of Flies and Ticks when she reminded him, "People often forget that small bodies can present the biggest dangers. Sure, fear the drake in the forest that you''ll never walk through, but it''s the fly''s bite that makes your horse buck that''s more likely to send you off to Noq-el''s judgment."


    When Cerise''s mother spotted Tatara''s sculptures, she praised him and asked if he would consider practicing his Sculpting by making plates and bowls and cups for her food hall. He had, by this time, been introduced to her Cooking, and he haggled his way into getting some pan cakes for his efforts.


    As soon as the food hall''s cellar was properly dug out, Mahayan paused in making bricks from the piled up dirt to turn the cellar walls from dirt to stone. While she did that, as they had done for the house, Matais, Jiotian, her father, and Mykhal laid out the bricks Mahayan had already made, then went off to fell lumber for the parts of the building that wouldn''t be stonework.


    Bergin, meanwhile, set up things with the Sea Crest [Farmers] Cooperative to open a third-day market on their commons. She handled trades for the seeds they had collected with their tenant [Farmers] and, at just about everyone''s request, brewed as much healing potion as she could, and cooked. In the odd moments when she had no other pressing matters to see to, she made the cloth goods for their house, or assembled the furniture pieces Rhene prepared as his relaxing work.


    Cerise, like Mykhal, turned her hand to the odd chores around their home between practicing and helping with the building.


    On the day the priests rode into town, they were putting the roof on Bergin''s Food Hall.


    Cerise was handing up bundles of thatching straw when Tatara swooped in, landing on her shoulders and then hiding under her hair. "Mind the claws, please," she reminded him.


    ?Shh! I''m not here!? he whisper-hissed in Beast Speech.


    With that, Cerise expected one of the tenant [Farmers''] children to come around, looking for the baby dragon. Tatara enjoyed playing with the younger ones, but the children close to becoming youths annoyed him, and he often played small pranks on them as repayment for poking at him with sticks or trying to make him entertain them.


    She did not expect the clop of hooves and the wash of Inspect skills rolling over her and her family.


    "Visitors!" she called up to her father, who was on the roof with Jiotian, staking and spreading the thatch.


    "Ah! Get me if you need me, and have Matty start handing us up the bundles," he said.


    Cerise got Matais moved over on tasks, and went to greet the slew of riders. She spotted Sir Brais among them and relaxed a touch. "Hail and well met, Sir Brais! My apologies that we are not ready to receive visitors. As you can see, we''re putting the roof on Mama''s Food Hall."


    "Sadly, we are not here for the food," Sir Brais said, with obvious regret. "These excellent people with me are priests and champions of the gods, come to assess the oddities of our dungeon. As you have been involved in that oddity, they are here to discuss matters with you."


    Cerise, meanwhile, skimmed her gaze over the dozen people. She saw two faces she recognized. On spotting the first, her face brightened. "Mort-el! It is a pleasure to see you again! It''s quite a way from Va''Velton tho--." At that point, she spotted the second familiar face and her happily clasped hands went to her hips, her bright smile turning to thunderous frown. "High Champion Marsen, I can see from here that you have not received the benefits of a Greater Restoration so what howling calamity has you this far from Va''Velton this soon after your surgery? Did you think I was joking about how dangerous it is to be pushing yourself this early into your recovery?"


    He laughed, which made Cerise swell with fury. He held up a forestalling hand, and said, "My apologies, Miss ban Silverwood! You are not the first to take me to task, though even the Luns have been more tactful."


    She bit back the angry retort on the tip of her tongue and asked instead, "Did Solaris require you make this journey?"


    "My honor as a Champion of Solaris required it," he said.


    "Which would be a no," she said. Pursing her lips, she let out an aggrieved sigh. "Well, you''re here now and I won''t insult the Luns with you by asking if you''re well. It would ease my mind to examine you and see just what harm your reckless disregard of your health has done you."


    Cerise could tell the Luns among the party of holy people by the smirks of schadenfreude on their faces. With the exception of the Mort-el and Marsen, the rest, including Sir Brais, looked scandalized by her manners.


    "I would be honored to ease your [Healer] hearted concerns, and I do promise you that I have, as you instructed when you removed Talamayan''s curse from me, been listening to my body and paying careful attention to the line where healing discomfort edges too close to harmful pain. I have been working very hard to avoid that threshold." Marsen looked at Cerise with a serious expression softened by what might be gratitude.


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    Cerise glanced at the sky, noting the time, and started to say that at least he would have the benefits of her mother''s cooking. She held up a hand, her eyes rounding with the thought, spotted Mykhal looking at her as he brought another stack of thatching hay over to be bundled. She used the hand gestures they had learned on the caravans to ask him to relay that they would have important guests tonight. He nodded and Cerise knew it was taken care of.


    Turning back to their guests, she said, "If we''re discussing the dungeon, and how its guardian responded to a peaceful request to enter the holy place the dungeon guards, that will likely take through dinner time. Let''s put your beasties in the corral. My apologies that we will have to speak outside. We have no servants, and we''re still building our home. I mean you no disrespect that I cannot offer you more hospitality."


    Marsen said, "It doesn''t help that we came to you without notice. I appreciate the hospitality you do show us."


    They got the horses and the horse-like beasties settled in the corral, and then moved off to a spot recently cleared of trees, settling on stumps not yet pulled up. Mykhal found them. He came carrying a cask of small beer and a wooden box of cups that also had several water bags tucked in. "Mama says to ask if anyone has a food they dislike or that disagrees with them."


    One of the priestly types said, "Small seeds and the like hurt my gut. By small, I mean as you find on strawberries."


    Mykhal dipped an incline from his shoulders and everyone else opined some variant of "food is good".


    Cerise discretely used Greater Cleanse on the cups before she filled them and passed them around. She was sure a few of the priests and champions noticed the more magical skill, but everyone appreciated the beverage.


    Introductions were made all around, at which point Cerise learned that the Mort-el was named Gamais.


    Cerise explained herself, her thoughts as she read the old covenant, the association with holy places that seemed so self-evident to her, and what she knew of the rites and rituals around holy places. Then she described the rituals she, Mykhal, and Jaxin had observed.


    "We don''t know which god uses dungeons as an extension of aegis to their holy places so we made sure to follow as many of the common rites as we could recall: ritual cleansing, fasting, preparation of sacrifice--"


    Gamais interrupted. "What sacrifice?"


    "Things we made or gathered by our skills. So, I made sure to gather and store seeds as we came down from the North. To prepare them as a sacrifice, I pulled out the most magical ones we had, put them in a paper pocket, and carried it with me for a week. I studied the uses of each plant and their growing needs, and any seed I could not recite that information from memory for, I took out and set aside. It wasn''t suitable as a sacrifice because I couldn''t imbue it with enough intention.


    "Mykhal did the same with fangs and claws of the beasts he hunted during our journey, and Jaxin sacrificed a knife he made from ore he mined and smelted."


    "So you brought aspects of Death into this holy place?" Gamais asked, an eyebrow raised.


    "''In the holy place, commit no violence, shed no blood.'' We are human. Humans are part of Life, and Death is a very important part of Life. Without Death we cannot Live, so I guess you could see it that way, yes. We ate the meat of every creature Mykhal hunted."


    Gamais smiled syrupy sweet at the Luns. "That''s why she''s blessed by my god!" He smiled slyly to Cerise and asked, "Why don''t you say his name for me?"


    "You need your Noq-el love?" Cerise asked, delighted by the joyful shiver that went up the Mort-el''s body. She turned to look to the Hunt God''s champion. "Does it please you to hear El-Ahrand''s name so, too?"


    The champion addressed smiled a goofy smile, but the chuckle that came with it was low and sultry. "Yes."


    "I will keep that in mind," Cerise said.


    They talked more about the details of the ritual Cerise''s team had undertaken, and were just getting to the part where they approached the dungeon when Mykhal came, carrying another crate of dishes. "Mama is minding pies in the new oven, so I''ll be back with the food for your guests."


    "She''s not really your mother, is she?" one of the Sol party, a woman just past her last growth, challenged.


    Cerise could feel Mykhal looking at her with a betrayed hurt, but the full force of her attention was on the woman. "Champion Nahia, I don''t know where you got that idea, and I don''t actually care, because you don''t get to decide what makes someone a ''real'' mother."


    Nahia opened her mouth, but Marsen spoke first. "Stand down."


    The champion looked to the High Champion with her jaw stubbornly jutting forward. "Truth will out."


    "In its time," High Champion Marsen agreed. "Now is not that time."


    Nahia bowed her head, her jaw working.


    Mykhal said, "Miss Bergin did not give birth to me, but she has been more of a mother to me than the one who did, and Mister Rhene is the father I always wished I had. This is my family, and we chose each other. The blood we choose is thicker than milk." Then he walked back the way he had come from, his back straight and shoulders squared.


    Cerise frowned at the two Solar champions. "Is there something I should know?" she asked.


    Marsen said, "In due time, yes. We need to deal with the dungeon first, though."


    Cerise turned to Champion Nahia. "I don''t know how much of my family''s history you have or haven''t been told, but Mykhal very much is part of our family. Respecting that is a non-negotiable requirement to remain welcomed in our home."


    Marsen put a restraining hand out. He said, "Nahia will respect that."


    Gamais spoke up. "So, setting aside Sun Ball drama, you were going to tell us about getting to the dungeon, and all of that. What happened?"


    Cerise allowed herself to be redirected back to the dungeon business, and gave a quick recounting, leaving it at just "checking in with the guards" before approaching and stating their intentions. Her description got to the dungeon''s response before she was interrupted for a slew of questions seeking greater detail. Cerise was barely begun on answering when Mykhal returned with a steaming grand platter.


    Shooting a wary glance Nahia''s way, Mykhal said, "Papa Rhene and Mister Jiotian sent Matais to Mama because he started having one of his bad moments. She says he just needs some calm, so she''s staying with him, and I''ll be over working on the thatching. Send Daisy or Tatara if he comes back from his rounds, and I''ll come see what you need."


    "Thank you," Cerise said. She took the platter from him and set it on a central stump, then used the cup box as an extra support. Speaking to their impromptu guests, she said, "Again, I apologize for the rough hospitality. We can only provide so large a group a campfire meal." So saying, Cerise began to dish up plates and pass them around, letting the priestly types figure out their own meal hierarchy. "Mama has a personal distaste for knives at meals so we have skewer pairs you may use if that''s more comfortable than the utensils you brought with you."


    Sir Brais waited for everyone to sort themselves out, then asked, "Matais, that''s the simpleton you intend to see classed?"


    "He is the simple man, yes," Cerise said. "I''m surprised you don''t make a greater effort to see your fey-souled classed down in the plains. Is it because of the slavers?"


    "How''s that?" Am-Nahar''s Ager-el asked.


    "Slavery isn''t much of a thing on the border. Not may have the time to keep someone where they don''t want to be so we''re more likely to use shame or exile for punishments, or execution for the aggressively dangerous. That said, we''ve heard how slavers love to find Novices with mana-touched classes, and better those who are fey-souled so they can pretend to be caring for them while using their mana-sensitivity for treasure hunting."


    "I meant, why do you think simpletons are fey-souled?" the Ager-el asked.


    Gamais laughed. "Because we are. I was fortunate enough to remember my patron and walked under his aegis into a classing room. Most of those born like me are too ... disoriented by the differences. Those who lack patronage, even when they manage to class, rarely live long enough as a human to fully settle into this strange flesh."


    Gamais turned a curious gaze to Cerise. "I do wonder, though, why you choose to aid fey-soulded ''simpletons'' to class."


    "Matais is a member of my village. He has as much of an innate right to seek his prosperity as any other being, and as a member of my village, the more he prospers with us, the more reason he has to help the rest of us to prosper with him. Being simple doesn''t change that. If anything, he''s more likely to come back with a class that none of the rest of us could achieve because he isn''t bound by the same mindset or skills the rest of us possess."


    Gamais asked, "So you do this for your own prosperity?"


    Cerise smiled. "Absolutely. After all, what is more precious than the people we surround ourselves with?"

 Chapter 43: this Dark Champion

    Tatara remained hidden in Cerise''s hair, even when he and his hatching were discussed. Sir Brais had asked where he was and Cerise had truthfully stated that he was practicing his Stealth, probably near by as he loved to hear people talk about him.


    The priests left when the sun started sinking behind the wooden walls. Cerise used Greater Cleanse to wash the dishes, then stoppered the water bags and bought the leftovers from the grand meal back to her house for her mother to decide how to handle.


    Matais was still in the kitchen with her mother. Cerise approached him gently. "Hey, Matty, may I use skills on you?"


    His eyes flickered over her and around the room, then back to her, and then to her mother.


    "Cerise, he cannot make a choice now," her mother said, staying calm and deliberate in her actions and tone of voice. "Do what a [Healer] aught."


    Not that she thought differently, but Matais was not in physical danger. It was important to give him the opportunity to consent or reject her help before she took that choice from him. When he just looked around, lost in a fugue she could not comprehend, Cerise said, "Matty, I am going to use a few skills on you." There was still no response, so Cerise started with Stabilize. That brought the speed of his eye movements down, but he was still unresponsive so Cerise moved on to the synergistic use of General Anatomy, Diagnose, and Lend Vitality.


    She was aware of the people moving around her, and got out of the way when asked, but the rush lights had been lit, all the dishes from their guests'' meals returned to storage, and her family were eating cooled fruit pies with Jiotian when Cerise finished her treatment of Matty.


    He seemed more mentally tired than physically so, but was happy enough to get a slice of pie and a cup of fresh milk.


    Mykhal walked the father and son home to the room they rented.


    "I know we''re going to wait up for Mykhal, but there may be more to discuss when he gets back," Cerise said as they went about their evening rituals.


    "Oh?" her father asked.


    "High Champion Marsen was among the priest and champions that came to ask about the dungeon. He had another champion with him that tried to tell Mykhal that Mama wasn''t his ''real'' mother. Did he tell you about that?" Cerise asked.


    "No," her father said


    Her mother growled, "This is the first I''m hearing. Why would he say such a mean thing?"


    "She, actually, and I don''t know, but I think we''re going to find out before that champion, at least, leaves." Cerise then recounted the rest of the events.


    Mykhal got ambush-hugged when he returned.


    "Of course you''re our boy!" Bergin declared while squeezing him. "No one gets to say otherwise! Milk bonding matters, but not so much as the family we choose, and you''ve been chosen. We claimed you; you''re ours, and only you can say any different!"


    He hugged her back. "Nope, Mama, you''re stuck with me." He wiped at his eyes, and asked, "Cerise told you about the snotty Solarian?"


    "Yes, and you should have said something! I could have marched right out there and kicked her off our land for the insult! She''s probably drawn to Conflict, and I would have happily given her a fist full of it if she had dared say any such thing to me!"


    Her father added his own hug in, saying, "Cerise is right that that woman doesn''t get to decide what makes someone a real parent. We don''t intend to take away the parents who brought you into this world, but that doesn''t keep us from being another set of parents to love and fuss at you."


    Mykhal admitted, "I wish you were the parents that brought me into this world."


    "Tolnag struggled a lot," Papa Rhene conceded. "He wasn''t right to strike you, ever, and he let anger consume him. Still, he loved you, and he worried about making sure you thrived. I won''t pretend it''s easy, but try to remember the times he succeeded at being the father he always wanted to be for you. You don''t have to forgive him his failures, but it will hurt you a lot less to accept with compassion that he never got to be the man he wanted to be."


    Cerise smiled and joined the hug. "Short version of that, take the love with you into your future and leave the anger in your past. There''s no such thing as too much love, right?"


    Mykhal laughed, and they all got misty-eyed.


    Which was when Tatara patted Mykhal and said, "Ou! I claim you, too! You are now an honorary dragon-kin!"


    Mykhal blinked, then grinned. "That was an achievement!"


    "Naturally," Tatara preened.


    <hr>


    Mort-el Gamais, the Sol-am, Lunar Champion, Venator Champion, Ager-el, Clementia Champion, and Fors-am returned in the morning. They came on foot in ceremonial garb.


    The roof had been finished and today''s labor was focused on building the furniture needed for Bergin''s Food Hall to open. Cerise wasn''t so interested in improving her woodcraft so instead she was helping her mother to brew Healing Potions and salves. A little under half the time, Cerise was getting rare quality on her brews, while her mother was consistently uncommon with everything.


    They were brewing in the food hall kitchen, largely because her mother wanted to get used to cooking there and with the ovens and surfaces for her fireless burners. Their location was why they were making the benign Healing Potions as opposed to varnishes for the wooden furnishings being made outside. Her father was pretty sure they had enough of the varnish.


    Matais came running into the kitchen, jumping and laughing. "I get a class today!" he shouted. Cerise''s mother took to calming Matais down enough to get the whole tale from him. Cerise made sure the potions were at a good point, then peeked outside. She waved to her father, who was talking to the seven priests. He waved back, and led the priests to the food hall.


    Cerise ducked back in. "We have a sevening of priests headed our way," she warned her mother.


    "I''m not feeding them today!" Bergin snapped.


    Cerise chuckled. "I don''t think that''s what they''re here for. Matais, you have your sacrifice, yes?"


    He got out his bag of collected stones. Cerise steered him to a clean corner of the kitchen. "Show me how you''re going to present these when we''re in the classing room, okay?"


    "Okay!" he said, and flopped down, sitting on his bottom, his legs outstretched as he began to pull out each stone, describing where he found it and why it was so pretty.


    Papa Rhene poked his head into the kitchen from the common room. "Cerise, would you please join us?"


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    "In a few moments my potion will be done and Matais will be through this practice of his sacrifice. Will that be fine, or is it urgent?" Cerise asked.


    "Cerise, guests," her father said with a strained smile.


    "Unannounced, uninvited, and aware that we are not prepared to receive them. You were there when we went through the Etiquette book, Papa. Is this urgent enough to throw out the Healing Potion I''m making?" Cerise didn''t intend to raise her voice, but she was feeling somewhat invaded.


    "No," one of the priests called out from the common room. "No need for such sacrilege!"


    Another said, "You''re just saying that because you''re a Lun."


    "Yeah!" the first voice answered. "We''re here to make a full inspection of a dungeon, which will include walking the violent path! Do you want to bet that you have enough healing on you? Eh! When your god has seen fit to put you in the path of a [Healer] that has made rare quality potions before? While she''s brewing?"


    "Oh. Good point. We''ll wait!"


    "Rhene, love, take out that wassail. The cups are behind the bar already," Bergin said.


    "Yes, dear," Rhene responded, looking even more strained.


    Cerise concentrated on the feeling in her Arcane Senses that led to Tatara and tried to send along her desire for him to come to her. Sometimes it worked and sometimes not. It worked today, her faerie dragon companion winging in through the open kitchen window.


    "What''s happening?" he asked.


    Cerise, soft voiced, explained while she finished off the potion. A quick Appraise while she decanted into pottery jars that Tatara had recently made for them showed the quality as Rare, and the brew was a Lesser Healing Potion, not the Minor her recipe usually made.


    Cerise looked at Tatara. "You didn''t add anything, right?"


    "I''ve been playing with Karim and Soffi. I haven''t had the chance," he pointed out.


    Her mother was already shaking her head.


    "Then I''ll ascribe this to gods-work, I guess." Cerise put the brew pot aside with a couple cups of water in it for when she was ready to start on making infused bandages.


    Matais finished going through his sacrifice. "Should I start again?" he asked.


    "Nope. Put them back in your bag and back near your heart. Then show me your steady hands, okay?"


    "Okay!" He did as Cerise instructed, his hands as still as a tree trunk.


    "Good. Please carry two of the potion bottles and come with me, please." Cerise gathered the other bottles she had decanted and led the way to the bar.


    "Good day, priests and champions," she said by way of greeting.


    The champion in black and white armor nearly teleported next to the displayed bottles. "Good day, Miss ban Silverwood. Are these the potions you were brewing?"


    "Yes. Oddly, I was working on a recipe for Minors, and, well, they came out ... condensed, and as Lesser Healing Potions. I''ve never had that happen to me before, so between the timing and the perfect number, I''m ascribing this result to godly shenanigans."


    "Perfect number? How so?" Gamais asked.


    "One for each of you, and one for sacrifice. We''re going to prepare Matais to gain his class and then bring him to the holy place, right?" Cerise asked.


    Gamais smiled. "Why, yes!"


    <hr>


    The preparations took an hour, and the walk, without Quick Steps, two hours.


    Sir Brais was already there and greeted them cordially. "The dungeon is still closed," he said.


    "Understood," the Lunar Champion responded. "Miss ban Silverwood, please proceed."


    Cerise nodded and guided Matais near to where she remembered the entrance to the dungeon had been. "This is your class, Mister Matais. Just like we practiced," she gently encouraged him.


    Matais smiled brilliantly, then he bowed, Cerise following his lead. "Guardian of the Holy Place, I come today to gain my class, and bring with me a sacrifice. My friend, Miss Cerise, comes to guide me and bear witness. May we enter?"


    Mana welled up from deep in the earth. Matais gasped and whined happily, the sound of a choked back squee.


    The leaves and stones sang, ?? She''s back, she''s back, oh-oh! She''s back, she''s back, yo-ho! She''s back, she''s back! We''re gonna get us some love! ??


    A rock-on-rock grinding noise announcing the entrance opening came from the location of the original dungeon entrance. That was followed by the sound of the vines pulling back.


    Matais started to raise from his bow. Cerise put out a hand to stop him. "Do you feel welcomed yet?"


    "But, the door?" he asked.


    "Does it feel open?" she asked.


    Matais slumped back into the bow. "I haven''t done bad, have I?"


    "No, you''re fine. We just need to wait a little longer."


    "How much longer?" he asked.


    A booming voice spoke from the entrance before Cerise more than parted her lips. "Supplicant and guide, step forward."


    Cerise rose from her bow and silently urged Matais to do the same.


    A roughly human-shaped armored figure filled the dungeon''s entrance way. It stood four heads taller than Cerise, perhaps as much as two bow lengths in height, and at least a bow length wide through the chest. That armor was dense with mana and it was darker than the absence of light, made deeper still by the accents of purple glints of light escaping between joint seams and the slits in its helmet for eyes.


    Despite the fear this Dark Champion inspired, Cerise approached while guiding Matais, who looked to be about to slide into a fugue.


    "Fear not for as you come with peace in your heart and a proper sacrifice, you may with a class depart. You, who guide this supplicant, have opened the way, but were attacked in the doing. For this reason, the way as been moved to a more defensible location, and I have been summoned as an Aegis Avatar."


    The Avatar swept e''s gaze over the assembled priests and guards. "I can speak only for this holy place and this guardian. I will not forgive a second such attack."


    "Does that mean no one may delve the dungeon?" Cerise asked.


    The Avatar returned e''s attention to her. "Oh, not in the slightest! Dungeons require delvers. No, I shall not tolerate attacks upon supplicants or the dungeon''s heart stone. If you enter with the intent to delve, you may do so, and you may or may not earn your path to the holy place. If you come as a supplicant, commit no violence and shed no blood.


    "Now, follow me and I shall take you to the new way." The Avatar turned, and Cerise and Matais had to step quickly to follow. Beyond the entrance lay a room capable of comfortably holding ten delvers in full kit.


    "Supplicants should declare themselves in this room. Anyone undeclared will be treated as a delver," the Avatar said.


    Matais immediately said, "I''m a supplicant! Is that what I should say?"


    "That is enough," the Avatar said. A door pivoted open next to the open archway leading into what Cerise presumed was the dungeon proper. The Avatar led the way through it. "This door is an extension of the holy place. It might not open. Should that be the case, the supplicant must navigate the first floor of the dungeon, taking nothing, committing no violence, shedding no blood. The traps will not be disabled, but the constructs of the dungeon will do no more than loom threateningly. If someone declares themselves a supplicant but acts as a delver, the dungeon may treat them as invaders, and is not required to offer such liars fair fights or mercy, nor is the holy place apt to open for them."


    They came to the threshold of the tiled room.


    "I have more to tell you, but that can wait until after this classing."


    Cerise bowed with formal grace to the Avatar, quickly mimicked by Matais. She looked the young unclassed man in the eye and said, "Remember: the most important thing is to be respectful. Formal manners are the outward way of showing what we feel in our hearts, and it is what we feel that is most important here. Okay?"


    "Okay!"


    "Ready?" she asked, and made Matais go over the ritual one last time, then stepped out of his way.


    He entered and went to the middle of the room, where he sat and pulled out his bag. He began to talk, explaining how he loved to collect rocks, how he wanted to be a "rock shaper" like his father, but maybe with pretty stones. Then he began to lay out the stones he had collected, calling them by the names his Inspect skill told him before sharing his private names for them and what he liked most about each stone.


    He fell silent after laying out the last stone. Minutes passed, turning into one rush mark, then two. The silence of the holy place broke with a happy, tear-filled gasp. "I''m a [Savant of Stone]!" he whispered. He stood and bowed, crying, "Thank you!"


    Cerise caught him when he would have rushed right by her. "Hey! Hold on a moment! Wait for me here, please. Can you do that for me?"


    Matais whined, but quickly stopped and nodded. "Almost done. I can do this!"


    Cerise entered the holy place and put out her bottle of potion. She bowed and said, "I made this potion today, and instead of being the Minor Healing Potion of the recipe, it turned out as a Lesser Healing Potion. I took that as a god-sign to offer this as a token of my appreciation that you have permitted me to guide Matais, and to remain in case he needed some directions."


    She rose and left, not wanting to intrude any longer.


    The Avatar finished imparting information on the way of this dungeon guardian of this holy place, holding them back for only a little bit, no matter the impatience Matais displayed to go tell everyone that was now a level 8! 8! [Savant of Stone].


    "There should be a very few benign reasons for you to see me again, though I do hope that should we meet once more it is for one of those reasons, and not because I have been called upon to make an example of anyone," the Avatar concluded.


    Cerise and Matais bowed. When they straightened, the Avatar was gone.


    At the dungeon threshold, Cerise yelled out, "Supplicants leaving!"


    "Exit," Sir Brais called back. Time to go talk a lot more.

 Chapter 44: now comes your challenge (Dungeon POV)

    ?Cerise?


    The door to the dungeon remained open, and Cerise and Matais only had to answer questions for an hour before the champions corralled the priests into their delve. Cerise took the opportunity to sneak off with Matais and Jiotian.


    Tatara popped out from behind her neck after they were a goodly ways distant from the guards. "Well, someone caught a god''s fancy!" he sang out.


    "What?" Cerise asked.


    "Aegis Avatars are fragments of gods, and one of those deific fragments just said he wants to see you again, in a benign way." Somehow, when the faerie dragon said that it came out full of innuendos and suggestions that Cerise didn''t recognize. She heard them; she just didn''t understand them.


    Tatara snaked his head around from her shoulder to observe her expression, paused for a moment to take in her confusion, and sighed.


    <hr>


    ?Dungeon?


    ?That. Was. Awesome!? the high pitched voice screamed. Again.


    ?That was exhausting!? the earthen voice answered.


    ?Wisp, Core, you did well,? a purple light stated. ?But now comes your challenge.?


    ?Yes, Avatar,? the two voices chorused.


    The attention of the trio shifted from the tiled safe room to the bit of the exterior within Core''s domain. They listened to the Twice Blessed explain the rules she had understood from Avatar, and then spend the next hour repeating herself with patience and a dignified refusal to speculate about "deeper meanings".


    ?I think the Mort might suspect the Origin of Aegis,? Avatar mused.


    ?Will he condemn us?? Wisp asked.


    ?The Mort''s patron is not inimical to our Origin,? Avatar responded.


    Core asked, ?So, ah, how long do you think you''ll be, um, active??


    ?As long as I am needed or it''s interesting, whichever ends last. I''ve told you this.? Avatar sounded mildly annoyed.


    Wisp spoke up. ?So we are in present danger??


    ?Ah! Probably not, but dungeons receiving proper sacrifice around this part of the world are, well, just you right now. The whole random dungeon smash problem was the only reason our origin agreed to be bound by covenant before, and things have changed quite a lot since then. For one, far more of the surviving dungeons from that era are capable of defending themselves from all but holy war. They never liked the peaceful path to begin with.


    ?At this point, you can choose to give up your assigned nature and seek a different Origin of Aegis. Representatives of seven choices are gathered to delve your designs.?


    Core laughed. ?No! Yeah, no. I love my challenges and seeing my delvers grow. Death, Secrets, Conflict, the Wilds and the Tamed, they''re important enough, but not my calling, nor do I think my concept of Mercy and Fortune quiet resonate with the domains of those origins.?


    Avatar''s smile could be felt in the light of e''s voice. ?But you do like the peaceful path.?


    Core waited to respond, considering. ?I don''t know. For that supplicant, it was right. Knowing which path, I think, will be an interesting challenge for those who come to me for classes in the future.?


    ?When you are certain of your path, that will be one less need keeping me active,? Avatar stated.


    ��"We come to inspect this dungeon for reported aberrations from expected dungeon behavior."�� The words resonated through the crystal-filled chamber of the dungeon''s core room.


    ?I hate that! Why do these divine types feel so wrong!?? Core complained.


    Wisp sighed. ?They aren''t of our Origin, that''s why.?


    The party of divine servants methodically cleared the first floor, taking samples of the new plants Core had added after gaining so many wonderful new patterns from the Twice Blessed and her party. They also collected the first corpse of each of the different kinds of constructs they defeated, then noted down the lures the rest of that type of construct left behind when those corpses were allowed to return to the dungeon.


    ��"So far, I find this floor good training for Basic Beginner skills,"�� the red and yellow robed Sol-am said.


    ��"The rewards are commiserate to the risks, and the distractions nice without risking a run on the economy."�� That was the yellow and black robed Fors-am.


    They made short work of the first floor champion, but Core was able to reclaim the body before they could stuff it into their Holding items. Pushing up a chest was child''s play, nearly an autonomous action by now, as was opening the portal to the second floor.


    The divine servants were clearly capable of delving dungeons with far more significant depths than this, but still it took them about an hour per floor''s level to reach each boss room, until they completed the fifth floor. At the end of that fight, Core opened three portals for them.


    The first would take them to the sixth floor. The second opened to a classing room. Core couldn''t explain how or why the impulse to open those doors formed, but so far every time it came, the party who earned the right had had a reason to use the peace of the room.


    The third room was a safe room. It was a gift of reprieve that Core gave to the parties that seemed to put the most effort in to the challenges of the dungeon. Wisp hadn''t liked them, but Core wasn''t interested in becoming a murder hole. The dungeon gained from having delvers delving. Sure, a body here or there helped the thorns grow, but there were delving teams that challenged Core, teams that Core did not want to eat. If anything, Core wanted to nourish those teams, so hence, the resting rooms.


    The divine servants entered the class room first. The Champion of the Wilds laid out an offering appropriate to the violent path and communed with the Voice of the World. The offering was barely enough to supply the mana needed to support the conduit to the World Spirit needed for classing or whatever the delvers also did in the classing rooms.


    ?I really like calling the classing rooms holy places,? Core said.


    Avatar said, ?Holiness is, in this case, a matter of the reverence with which they are approached. That reverence also adds to the ... potency of the mana gained from the offerings.?


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    ?Well, that''s a disturbing thought,? Core opined.


    Wisp asked, ?How so??


    ?The divine servant''s offering was barely sufficient to open the conduit, but the delver that came with the Twice Blessed on her first appearance, the weakest of the supplicants so far, gave an offering that could have held the conduit for every single one of those servants to re-class. How wrong is it for a delver to have more reverence for the gifts of the World Spirit than divine servants?? Core pointed out.


    Avatar sighed, a dimming in e''s light.


    The servants finished their business in the classing room and explored the safe room.


    ��"These are guard wards,"�� the Champion of Mercy said.


    ��"What are they guarding?"�� the Fors-am asked.


    ��"This room, from violence,"�� Mercy''s Champion said. ��"This is a safe room. I did not expect to find such in a challenge dungeon."��


    ��"Are you sure it''s not a trap?"�� the Mort-el asked.


    ��"My lady''s Blessing is quite sure this room is a place of reprieve,"�� Mercy''s Champion answered.


    ��"Then we should take it. It''s not like the dungeon needs time to reset from the party before us, so we will probably need the rest for the next floor."�� This came from the Lunar Champion.


    The divine servants set a watch and rested. After a few hours, they pressed on. The sixth floor, with its labyrinth layout, took them twelve hours to thoroughly clear. Core had reset the first five floors by then, and decided to hold off on repopulating the sixth, seeing as there was only the one party delving. The traps were a different story. Leaving those triggered or disabled just felt so wrong.


    Again, after the sixth floor champion fell, Core opened a safe room, and again the servants took the opportunity presented to rest.


    The seventh floor was a wide open space, the first of the magically reinforced floors, and had it not been for the Champion of the Wilds, the servants would have completely missed the hidden grove.


    The faerie dragons had moved en mass into the grove, and Core was fine with that. Spawning the colony had been ... a learning experience. Core had learned, and did not plan to repeat the mistake of allowing a draconic being near the dungeon''s spawn points. Especially when the spawn point was close enough to affect Wisp.


    Core didn''t mind the faerie dragons. They weren''t constructs, though, and they had a different concept of "guard the dungeon" than Core held. Fortunately, it would likely be another century before any of them were ready to make use of a spawn point. Core was not looking forward to whatever a draconic fey crossed with. The dracolisk wouldn''t be a useful construct pattern for ages yet.


    For that matter, faerie dragons had only just become available as constructs, though to be fair, Core had no plans to make construct bodies of fey heritage patterns, especially patterns obtained from Wisp''s children. Wisp''s many, many draconic children.


    The faerie dragons were not the only inhabitants of the Hidden Grove. The seed the Twice Blessed delivered from the Lady of the Silverwood had been planted in the grove first, at Avatar''s instructions, and Core barely had the influence in that room to present a new plant or construct to the dryad ambassador that grew from the seed.


    The dryad might be quite weak at the moment, but she had charmed Wisp''s dracolisk, and that creature gave the servants pause. They took only notes in the Hidden Grove, and left immediately on finding the dryad''s sapling. The Wild''s Champion insisted, then opened up to that Origin, becoming a conduit to lay in greater protections against discovery.


    ��"Please, let''s leave this out of our notes and reports for the Knight-Protector,"�� the Wild''s Champion asked when he was done.


    ��"Truth will out. Truth must out,"�� the Sol-am said.


    The Lunar Champion said, ��"No, darling. You''re right that truth will, at some point, come out, but wrong in trying to insist that it ''must'' out right now. I mean, we have guesses and strong suspicions, but no leaden confirmation right now about the dryad''s grove. If she is a Silverwood dryad, that would far more beneficial for the town, but there were a lot of Goldheart trees in there, and the guardian was draconic. She might be a Goldenwood dryad, and that is a completely different political problem."��


    ��"Really? The ban Silverwood causes the dungeon to act aberrantly, and we find a dryad in the dungeon. You''re going to say that''s not a Silverwood dryad?"��the Sol-am looked utterly unimpressed.


    The Wild''s Champion snorted. ��"The Ladies of the Groves are sisters. They work together. And why does a Lun have to teach a Sol to know your truth before you spread it?"��


    The Mort stepped in, cutting off the Sol-am before she could let loose her offense. ��"No one is telling you to lie, or to keep this information from your fellow Solars. What all the rest of us recognize is the same thing High Champion Marsen so recently reminded his fellow Champion before us all: each truth has its own time. The time for announcing this dryad''s presence here, in this dungeon, is after we have indisputable proof of her grove of origin.


    ��"I do realize Solaris is the god of Conflict as well as Truth. Have you considered the inherent Conflict of not creating Conflict for the god of Conflict? I realize, in all seriousness and honesty, that that is an advanced concept for Solarians, and you may need to seek out Marsen''s assistance to begin examining this concept. I''m using my request to ask you to consider this before speaking."��


    The Sol-am''s eyes bulged, but her mouth stayed shut. It stayed shut even through the fight with the seventh floor champion, which got brutal.


    The hydra was much more snake than dragon, and as the seventh floor champion, it had seven heads. Five of the heads had aspects of an alchemical element, meaning one spat fire, another acidic water, a third controlled whirlwinds, and a fourth pelted out rocky projectiles. The fifth head tracked the targets, coordinating all the strikes. The sixth head controlled the plants around the arena. The seventh head was wickedly well armored and possessed teeth able to penetrate even adamant steel armor.


    Mercy''s Champion spotted the Spirit head providing coordination and immediately brought the interference. The Mort withered the plant head, but not before getting speared and having to retreat to tend his wounds. The Lunar Champion neutralized the Water head''s acid by carving open the toxin sacs in its neck, but was badly burned by the chemicals in the process.


    That provided an opening for Mercy''s Champion to greatly wound the Spirit head, but the War head interposed its armor to deflect a fatal strike. The Fors-am and Sol-am worked together to trick the Fire head into biting the War head while the Spirit was distracted.


    During all of this, the servants of the Wilds and the Tamed worked together to keep the Stone and Air heads focused on them. Wild''s Champion shot arrows of pure mana at the Air head and the Ager-el continually broke the rocks controlled by the Stone head into dusty dirt when he wasn''t plinking any convenient hydra head.


    Shrapnel in the form of broken, partly melted scales flaked off the severely wounded War head, to be caught up in a nearby whirlwind. The Wild''s Champion paused long enough to send a finishing arrow down the shrieking War head''s throat. That let the Air head catch him in another whirlwind, this one full of splintered rock fragments.


    The Fors-am got in a lucky strike on the Air head, breaking enough of that head''s concentration for the whirlwinds to retract toward the hydra''s body. The shrapnel dinged up the servants, but also gave them the opportunities they needed to land decisive blows.


    Mercy''s Champion cleaved off the Spirit head, and it was just a matter of ducking and dodging for the rest while they waited for openings.


    ?And now it''s my turn,? Avatar said.


    Core reclaimed the hydra corpse and sent up a reward chest. Weaker versions of the recently gifted Healing Potion found their way in, along with replacement armor for the Lunar champion, rounded out with seven Minor Holding pockets of common quality. Core made sure to use one of the rare reward chests to show that this was a notch above what could be commonly, or even uncommonly, counted upon.


    While the servants gathered to heal each other and the rewards drew their attention, two exits from the floor champion''s arena opened up. Avatar materialized in the archway leading to the Core room. E waited there, e''s armor eating both light and shadow.


    The Champions reacted to Avatar first. They rose to readied battle stances, but wisely did not lift their weapons. The Mort-el spoke before the other priests could reach for defenses.


    ��"You claimed to be the Avatar of the Aegis protecting the classing rooms, yes?"��


    "That is my nature," Avatar replied.


    ��"Why are you the first such Avatar I''ve even heard of?"�� the Mort-el asked.


    "Death is only rarely concerned with the classes of mortals. Your Origins, your gods, have their own ways to manifest their Aegis. The dungeon seeds and this form before you belong to a different Origin."


    ��"You''re quite chatty,"�� Mercy''s Champion observed with a questioning lilt.


    "I have some leeway in the execution of my duties now that I have been summoned by the proper invocation of the Peace-Bound Path. Attempt to cross this threshold, though, and I will obliterate you. This is not a challenge, mind you, but a boundary. My Origin is not much invested in Redemption, so you might want to spread the word that the dungeons are no longer constrained by covenant to permit violations of their heart stone rooms. They will be encouraged to meet uninvited entrance to their heart stone rooms with overwhelming lethality."

 Chapter 45: when you offer up rudeness you invite it in return

    They got home in time for Cerise to help with a few finishing touches for Matais''s classing feast. She repressed the grief the occasion stirred in her for the feast neither Mykhal, she, nor the other youths of Trall got to enjoy. This was Matais''s long delayed day.


    The [Farmer] tenants and their families were invited to join the celebration, and they brought food, beverages, and music. The party grew. It took on a life of its own. People Cerise -- or Matais -- had never seen before showed up, soon followed by Free Lancers she had barely seen. She didn''t understand what was happening until one of the strangers grabbed her up to dance, shouting in a drunken slur, "Hazzah! The dungeon''s open! The dungeon''s open once again!"


    Matais didn''t care. he loved that everyone came to celebrate his first class.


    <hr>


    Delving teams trekked past the newly opened Bergin''s Food Hall the next day, and a few stopped in for breakfast pies to take on their way to the dungeon. More came back for a filling lunch on finding out the inspection delve was still on-going. Still more came for dinner.


    Cerise''s mother had wisely realized that while Cerise and Mykhal would help out if needed at the hall, it would not be done happily if for no other reason than that they had training for delving to do. Thus, she had already hired two of the older unclassed [Farmers''] children to help her.


    Tatara turned out to be a trap laying savant. When Cerise took him to buy materials with which to make non-lethal traps, he vowed, "Had I tear ducts to weep with, my joy would fill rivers!"


    The rules she placed on him were: 1. all traps had to be non-lethal. 2. any traps outside of the cordoned off training zone had to leave no lasting physical effects. 3. traps could be left with impunity for Mykhal and Cerise only if Tatara could ensure no one else would trigger the trap. 4. Tatara had to get Cerise''s permission for traps aimed at the obnoxious people who annoyed him.


    For the second rule, "physical effects" included property damage, food spoilage, and vandalism. Itching powders, food that Tatara had wild gathered, and light bruising were not restricted.


    Half the time, Cerise managed to talk Tatara out of his upset with "obnoxious people", but the other half so far mostly involved the stick-poking youths. After a few talks with their parents, Tatara had the same okay to lay traps for them as for Cerise and Mykhal. If they couldn''t learn proper respect from lectures, they could learn from the consequences of their actions.


    With the construction, Tatara had had a lot of time to prepare the training field. Anything to do with the construction itself was deemed too likely to violate all of the rules, but Tatara still swore he "learned things" from watching them at work, his tone slyly suggestive.


    Mykhal had already gained a mutation for his Trap skill to detect mundane traps just from the ones Tatara laid for them, and Cerise felt like she was on the cusp of gaining some kind of observation skill herself.


    The day after Matais''s party, Cerise, Mykhal, and Tatara spent most of the morning cleaning up. Bergin sold out of hangover remedy before the delvers began to walk by, and most of that came from the Delving Lights duo, acting as a clean up crew, rousing the passed out drunks to send them on their way. Random possessions they found scattered about went into crates, one for utensils and water bags, one for clothing, another for weapons, and a last one for everything else.


    Jaxin found them finishing up for the moment near to lunch time, and they ate together before heading over to the training area.


    Where they found more drunkards from the prior night''s festivities, some tangled up in snares, others trying to help them, and most in that irritable stage of sobering up where they''re still a bit drunk but already feeling the hangover. Cerise Appraised them all, finding them all to be Free Lancers. She sent Tatara to check his traps, then she, loudly, asked, "What are you doing in our training field?"


    "Training? Who the hell are you?" the largest of the unentangled Free Lancers growled back.


    "Tenants! And you are trespassing! You think we put up a fence to look pretty?" Mykhal snapped.


    Jaxin said, "Hey, hey! I know you guys have been kicking drunks off your land all morning, and having to clean up all the debris and all that! But yelling at guys who can''t even figure out how to get out of a foot snare isn''t going to get them gone any faster."


    The growly Free Lancer asked, "So you guys put up all these traps? What the Abyss? Huh?"


    Cerise barely held back from laying a Paralyze on the man. "No! You don''t get to complain about what''s in the fenced off area when you trespassed! If you can''t get your friend down without damaging our property any further, get out of the way and keep your mouth shut. You are this close to me lodging formal complaint with the Free Lancers Guild!"


    "What makes you think we''re Free Lancers?" growly man asked.


    Cerise didn''t dignify that with a verbal reply, merely arched an eyebrow and stared while she waited.


    Tatara winged in at that point. "These are the only idiots," he said, alighting on her shoulder, his tail curling around her neck.


    "That''s a faerie dragon," one of the men behind Growly said, blinking bleary eyes at them.


    "And you need water. What other obvious things do you want to say?" Tatara asked, cheerful.


    The tone stopped Cerise''s grump. "You like him?"


    "Oh, stop! You''re going to make me blush!" Tatara said, ending with a coy giggle.


    Cerise rubbed her face. In a kinder tone, she said, "Tats, all the traps you laid can be reused, right?"


    "Nope. Most. Not all. You want me to get the trespassers down, don''t you?" he asked.


    "In a way that doesn''t kill or cripple them, yes," Cerise agreed.


    "Their friends are going to have to catch them if you want that," Tatara''s enjoyment in the mischief came clearly through the way he said that sentence.


    "Listen, you rude little brats, what the Abyss are you doing with a faerie dragon? They are a pestilence--."


    Jaxin sighed. "Chais! Code of Conduct, page one. If you can''t figure out what I''m talking about, then your Copper butt needs to stop blowing hot air."


    Cerise felt three of the five men finally wise up enough to use their Inspect skills. Mister Growly Chais was not one of them.


    The fella Tatara liked stepped in front of his party member. "My apologies, Miss ban Silverwood. I''ll get my friends out of your way."


    "What the Abyss, Vavi!" Chais turned on his friend.


    "Chais, when you sober up, you''re going to owe me for this," Tatara''s Vavi said.


    With some of the team members helping them, they got the pair of [Scouts] down. The man who had stepped up was an [Entertainer], and the first such class Cerise ever came across. He was also their [Healer] and watching him fumble about offended Cerise''s class.


    That was an odd distinction, and one that Cerise wasn''t sure she could have recognized if she hadn''t been piecing bits of her soul together since classing. Cerise hadn''t lost any of herself, of the person who spent thirteen years growing up in a loving, if low strata, home. She just was uncovering these bits of otherness that were also her. That sense of connected otherness that was her class acted in a similar fashion.


    "Do you prefer to be called Vavais or Vavi?" Cerise asked when the healing [Entertainer] stepped back from checking over the two [Scouts].


    "Vavi, Miss," he answered, looking a little uncertain.


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    "So, Mister Vavi, what swelling stoppers do you have on you? Better yet, what do you need?" Cerise asked.


    "Um." He looked totally taken aback by her questions, his gaze darting around his party members.


    Cerise rubbed her forehead, noting how Jaxin and Mykhal were doing their best looming-but-not-threatening impressions behind her. To Vavi, she said, more than asked, "You don''t have any sort of anything to keep the swelling down or to mitigate the rope bruises on these guys, do you?"


    "No?" Vavi answered.


    Cerise asked, "How do you handle the [Healer] role?" as she pulled out a wooden hand jar of Healing Salve. "Tell me while you apply that, please."


    Vavi''s Identify skill flared and then his eyes rounded. "Oh, we can''t afford that!"


    Cerise raised an eyebrow, put her empty hand on her hip and said, "Did I charge you or did I tell you to treat the bruises? You''re handing the jar back when you''re done. If you''re going to be your team''s [Healer], do the job!"


    "Yes, Miss," Vavi said, his protests silenced by her gimlet stare.


    She waited until he was actually applying the salve before asking again, "How do you handle the [Healer] role?"


    "I''m just here to keep everyone together long enough to get to a fully classed [Healer]," Vavi admitted.


    "Well, at least you know your limits. How often do you all need a [Healer]?" she asked.


    "That''s rude!" Chais said.


    Vavi said, "That''s reality, and if she''s not going to charge us for the salve, I''ll say ''thank you'' to her saying a lot worse things than the simple truth!"


    Chais opened his mouth, then closed it, his Inspect skill finally rolling around them. "Oh, hawk spit! She''s a [Healer]!"


    "Yes, Chais," Vavi said, his lips twitching even as he gave Cerise some nervous side eye.


    "And a Free Lancer!" Chais added.


    "Yes, Chais," another member of their team said.


    "Is she the one who stone cold dropped the ox-end that''s always so rude?" Chais asked in the tone of drunks everywhere who don''t know how loud they really are.


    Cerise asked, "What''s the ox-end''s name?"


    "Hildai, I think," Vavi answered.


    "That would be a yes, then," Cerise admitted.


    Chais spread his arms wide and yelled, "I love you!"


    Vavi finished seeing to his [Scouts] and then made a point to return Cerise''s salve to her before he and the other mostly sober members of his team herded their more drunken team members off the property.


    Their trio then spent the rest of the afternoon spotting and setting off traps. One of the traps splashed her with a foul reeking liquid that stained her skin and rough training clothes. She liked the blue look, as did her mother, and the two got the staining recipe from Tatara in exchange for a pie and some scale polishing.


    <hr>


    The next day, more delvers went up to check whether the dungeon was open for normal business. Cerise, Mykhal, Jaxin, and Tatara went off in a different direction, taking Daisy with them, and hunted for commissions. They were also looking for Winter Bonnies, a type of thistle. The flowery petals in between the spikes were white, and the thistle bloomed around the Winter Solstice, hence the name. The sap in their stalks was the real goal, and the only ingredient for the blue stain they could not get easily in town.


    Their quartet returned in the early afternoon. Cerise and Mykhal dismembered their kills, turning the meat over to Mama Bergin while Jaxin relaxed at the Food Hall''s counter. When they were done, they washed up and joined him.


    Onais, one of the helpers Mama Bergin had hired, brought them a bowl of pottage and a cup of small beer without being asked. As Onais turned to see to another customer, the man sitting on the other side of Jaxin protested, "Hey! Why didn''t they have to pay first?"


    "They are Bergin''s children, and they hunt a lot of the meat she serves, so they''re paid ahead for life," Onais answered while continuing to walk away.


    "You''re real uppity, you know that?" the man said.


    Cerise Appraised the man to get his name, strata, and classes: Kafrais, Honorable, and Intermediate [Merchant].


    His eyes flickered around the room. When his head turned in their direction, he asked, "Did you just use an Identify on me?"


    Cerise had barely opened her mouth to say, "Yes," when Mykhal beat her to it.


    "Absolutely I did. If you were a [Warrior] being that aggressively rude, I''d expect you to start swinging at any moment. I needed to know whether I needed to preemptively break your kneecaps."


    "Are you threatening me?" Kafrais asked, puffing up.


    "No, Mister. This is a reality check, given freely: when you offer up rudeness you invite it in return," Mykhal answered.


    Kafrais rose and, sneering, said, "The food here isn''t worth the service," before dramatically stomping out.


    Cerise''s Diplomacy skill prevented her from clapping at the excellent acting. "That was someone looking for a fight," she said instead.


    A man at a nearby table jumped up and made to snatch up the bowl Kafrais left behind. "He doesn''t want it, I''ll-- Aw, ox-tails! He licked the bowl clean!"


    The people in the room laughed and returned to their meals.


    After eating, Jaxin, Cerise, and Mykhal headed off to the Free Lancers Compound. They found Kafrais in the Consortium, bombastically speaking with the Trade Master. "I want them blacklisted! Those rude--! And there''s the man who threatened me!" he yelled, pointing at Mykhal as soon as he caught sight of them.


    This time, Cerise did clap, sarcasm in every motion. "Mister, you may Inspect me," she said, pulling on her Diplomacy skill to convey utter disdain. To the Trade Master, she conveyed by body language and tone a professional courtesy as she asked, "Was this [Merchant] attempting to coerce you into blacklisting Bergin''s Food Hall and Bergin''s family?"


    "Yes, Miss ban Silverwood," the Trade Master said, with an obvious show of obsequious respect, though the corners of his mouth twitched and belied his own acting.


    Cerise nodded, ignoring Kafrais''s skill use. "The Compound Master, did she tell you what the response would be if the Free Lancers involved my non-Free Lancer family members in challenges and disputes?"


    The smile dropped. "No, Miss ban Silverwood."


    "Internal matters will be handled internally and, with the Lady of the Silverwood Grove''s permission, without undue consideration for my strata as her authority bearer. As soon as it ceases to be an internal matter, well, I bear her authority; I do not dictate it." Cerise kept her expression severe, knowing that this gossip would be all over the guild before night fell.


    Kafrais, to his credit, slid into a neutral expression. Cerise could practically taste the way he was reassessing. She decided to throw him a bone. "You are related to Hildai, aren''t you? I suggest you read the publicly available Free Lancers Code of Conduct. Our Code is essentially on par with Lady Resalas'' Book of Manner, and includes such wisdoms as ''Inspect everyone. Do not trust to introductions for they either come too late, lack essential threat assessments, or are outright lies.'' Obviously, these are not the manners you are used to.


    "Free Lancer Guild members are also, in my experience, far more like bucks in mating season in terms of aggression than, say, villagers or townsfolk. It''s the combat classes, in my opinion. [Warriors] especially seem to benefit from a rigid hierarchy, though knowing who gives the orders during combat, who executes those orders, and who will never listen to whatever is being said is essential information for any team.


    "With no prior contact, Hildai tried to set herself up as a queen hen by blatantly disrespecting me and my team. She failed miserably, and started working herself up to brawling in the Guild hall. I dropped her with a Slumber, and made it clear she earned her team a place on my blacklist. They got her to apologize, but she chose to ''make her apology'' with a doubling down on her double-down of disrespect. I spelled out her shame to her and let her walk away. My Diplomacy skill says I was too nice.


    "Now, if she tried to drag you into the dispute she started, then I was far too lenient. If, however, as someone ill versed in the ways of Free Lancers, you misunderstood the consequences of meddling, and decided to pressure my family to help yours, well, you will stop right now. You will apologize. I do no require sincerity, but I do require respect. Then, you will take the least third of your current inventory up to the dungeon and unload that inventory into the entrance hall and declare, I quote, ''This is an offering of atonement for I have bared my teeth at the innocent family members of the authority bearer of the Lady of the Silverwood Grove, and I shall not do this again.''"


    Cerise looked at Kafrais expectantly.


    He flushed red and didn''t quite manage to get volume behind his protest. "That''s preposterous!"


    She assumed a sad face. "I realize you don''t really understand the magnitude of your lapse in judgment, so while you''re coming to terms with it," she reached out and tapped her finger on his nose. "[Healer''s Curse]" she intoned, activating her Diagnose skill to see what would happen.


    Kafrais swung at her, but Cerise swayed out of the way before gracefully gaining distance. When she heard the division increase notice for Natural Weapon Combat, she absently thought about training that skill.


    "Take it back!" Kafrais shouted.


    "A [Healer''s Curse] can only be broken, not dispelled," Cerise said. "If you want to be rid of it, you will have to complete the terms of your atonement."


    He devolved to screaming obscenities at her, to which Cerise merely plastered an obviously patient pleasant expression on her face and waited with an air of boredom.


    When he finally stormed off, Cerise called after him, "Your actions will affect how the curse grows!" He kept going, so she turned to the Trade Master. "How much of a problem can he make for you?"


    The Trade Master shrugged. "Not enough to risk angering the Silverwood Grove''s Lady, or any of her sisters."


    "Does he buy from or sell to the Consortium?" she pressed.


    "Mister [Trader] buys general materials from us, Miss."


    "Mama wants to see how she likes living the reality of her Food Hall dream. If she''s as happy next month as she is now, she''s mentioned reaching out to local [Merchants] and seeing if any general goods [Traders] would be interested in setting up a shop on the lot. The recommendations of the local Factors will, of course, be most appreciated."


    "I haven''t been to the new restaurant yet, but I''m told it''s on the way to the dungeon," the Trade Master responded, his eyes brightening.


    "That''s quite true. Mama closes up at sundown and charges a small copper for small beer and pot luck stew. We came here to turn in commissions, and we turned the meat over to Mama, so there should be roasts to go with rice and whatever vegetables she pairs tonight. Mama likes to call it Freeman Fare, but her Cooking is at Expert level and she traded labor for spices with the Nykimopia Consortium, which she adores using." Cerise added the last with a conspiratorial smile.


    They settled their business and went around to record their receipts. While waiting for their turn in the queue, a Free Lancer rushed in. "Inspectors are back! The dungeon''s open!"


    Everyone present yelled and applauded, and a celebratory round of small beer went around. People were just calming down when Hildai stormed in. She spotted Cerise, drew her sword, and charged.

 Chapter 46: I no grow fangs

    Jaxin stood and, with the same smooth motion, slung his chair in Hildai''s face while downing the last of his beer. Hildai''s charge was interrupted as she batted away the chair, and the rest of the room responded, piling on top of her and disarming her.


    A guild officer shoved his way through the crowd. "What''s going on?" he bellowed, and he used some sort of Presence skill that cowed nearly all of the Free Lancers, including, to an extent, Hildai. Cerise felt it breaking around her, but both Jaxin and Mykhal straightened from defensive postures to more of an attentive stance.


    Cerise watched the officer point out individuals to provide their testimony. A part of her was shocked by Hildai''s actions enough to just shut down, and that was a problem -- for Hildai, because the part that shut down was the compassionate and merciful part of Cerise, leaving only the Surgeon looking at a threat to the health and well being of her family.


    Hildai calmed enough to shout, "That arrogant ox-end [Healer] girl cursed my father! I''ll kill her!"


    That got everyone upset and took the officer a few minutes of calming people down again before he got Hildai to point out Cerise.


    The officer, Yohanais, asked, "Is that true?" anger and wariness in his gaze as he looked to Cerise.


    She used the Ritual Casting skill she had recently unlocked with a runic spell to Reveal Truth. That meant using her finger as a Scribing tool while Channeling Mana to create a glowing rune hanging in the air. The spell was very similar to the runic enchantment in the filigree for the clerks'' use.


    Cerise then locked gazes with Hildai. "I showed your father mercy he did not deserve."


    "You cursed him!" she shouted back.


    Cerise asked, "Did you send him to attack my family?"


    Hildai yelled curses and obscenities at Cerise, who merely repeated her question. After the fourth repetition, Cerise demanded, "Yes or No, Hildai! Did you send Kafrais, Initiate [Merchant] of the Sea Crest Dungeon Village, to attack my family?"


    "No, you stinking incompetent idiot!" she yelled and the rune remained a solid blue.


    Cerise leaned back. When Hildai paused to suck in a breath, Cerise said, "Good! Next problem: Did he tell you to come here and attack me?"


    "No! He doesn''t need to tell me to defend my family!" she snarled.


    Cerise clapped her hands, cutting off Hildai. "Good again! Last question: do you realize that attacks on my family are attacks on people under the aegis of the Lady of the Silverwood Grove, daughter of El-Ahrand? This, too, is a yes or no question."


    It took the reverberation of the high god''s name for understanding to cleave through Hildai''s rage and drain the blood from her face.


    Cerise nodded and sighed. "I''m going to accept your expression to mean ''not before this moment''.


    "Your father attacked the prosperity of my parents. It was not a direct, physical attack so I did not have to slay him. I cannot lift the curse upon him, and I would not have bopped him had he just accepted the terms of his atonement. I already told him he will have to complete that atonement to be rid of the curse, and that his actions will affect how the curse grows in the meanwhile."


    Cerise shrugged. "I don''t know how the Lady of the Silverwood Grove will view your actions today. She and I did discuss that I was a Free Lancer before she bestowed her authority upon me, and I have her leave to leave her out of the internal workings of the Free Lancers Guild. As far as I, alone, am concerned, if the strata of all involved includes ''Free Lancer'' I don''t plan to involve the authority I bear. The problem now is that you''re here on your father''s behalf on a matter that already involves her aegis."


    Looking to Yohanais, Cerise said, "I think, Officer, that if we treat this according to the Code of Conduct sections ... 352 through 357? I might have the numbers mixed up, but around there. Well, I hope that will mitigate whatever actions the Whisper in the Leaves, Lady of the Silverwood Grove, finds to be an appropriate reaction."


    Yohanais called for a copy of the Code of Conduct and read through the sections. Then he sucked on his teeth and flipped to a different section, and then to a third part of the book. He set the book down, tapped on its closed cover while he thought a moment, then focused on Cerise. "You think this will appease your Lady?"


    Cerise shrugged, starting to feel the drain from keeping up the lie-detecting spell. "I''m the bearer, not the authority, nor the person who wrote the Code of Conduct. At the least, it should show good faith on the part of the Free Lancers Guild. Beyond that, I have more hopes than beliefs, and I don''t feel comfortable giving any guarantees."


    Yohanais said, "Fair enough. Um, about this [Healer''s] Curse. What exactly does it entail?"


    "The manifestation differs for each individual so cursed," she answered, her rune a steady blue.


    "Well, what does it attack?" he asked.


    Cerise responded with her own question. "What can [Healers] heal?"


    Yohanais paled. "That''s --. Harsh."


    Cerise nodded. "A [Healer''s] Curse is not to be invoked lightly. It cannot be lifted, only broken. The terms for breaking the curse can be as manifold as the ways the curse grows."


    Someone in the crowd said, "You don''t look drained from laying on a curse that powerful."


    Cerise pointed out, "I am the bearer of the authority of the Lady of the Silverwood Grove. I was acting in that face when I invoked the curse, and it was laid as a punishment for refusing to atone for transgressions against the Lady''s aegis. Naturally, the quicker one complies the less severe the punishment need be."


    A woman loudly stated, "The sky is grass green." Cerise''s rune switched from blue to an angry shade of red.


    "My tits are huge!" The rune turned white at the opinion.


    "Equipment repair costs eat up my money!" The rune turned a pale shade of blue.


    A man beside her said, "You snore in your sleep." The rune returned to the bright blue it had been throughout Cerise''s statements.


    People chuckled.


    Cerise waved her hand and ceased channeling her mana into the spell.


    <hr>


    After Yohanais sorted out the Guild''s punishment for Hildai''s actions, they got to have their turn with the clerk.


    Hildai forfeited half of her income from guild requests and commissions for the next year and a day to Cerise and was responsible for the accounting fees for that forfeiture, which included establishing an individual account for Cerise to receive her forfeiture and the maintenance fees of the account. She had opted for that over handing over half of her present wealth, which included her gear in the tallying. In addition, that turned out to be one in a string of infractions, which resulted in Hildai personally getting knocked down to Bronze rank in the Guild, which also knocked her team down to Bronze rank once more. Her team captain was summoned to receive the news, and he asked for a private room discussion with Yohanais.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    What that all meant for them was when they got to the clerk, they sorted out the sharing of commissions. Jaxin left with his business seen to. Mykhal established his personal account, and they divided the funds in their team account between the three accounts. Mykhal had been using a blank journal to record their ledgers and cited that to argue Cerise into taking the manticore''s share of the gold based on it coming from her gift from the Lady of the Silverwood. They agreed to split team commissions three ways going forward, an equal portion to each of the accounts with any remainder added to the team''s account.


    After that business was seen to, they rejoined Jaxin and made plans with him to delve the next day.


    <hr>


    Cerise double checked her gear with Mykhal beside her, doing the same with his gear. They started with the things they packed, then their pockets, armor, and weapons. Satisfied, they went to the food hall and laid out coin for a packed lunch. Jaxin met them there. He opened his mouth to protest when Cerise and Mykhal immediately got up to leave.


    Mykhal grinned and said, "Mama gave us some of her delver experiments to share around for breakfast and dinner, and I don''t want to get mobbed for them."


    Jaxin spun on his heel and led the way out the door. "Yeah, let''s go!"


    They waited until they were on the road, past the palisade gates, to share out the breakfast rolls. Tatara took one of them and then excused himself, "to stretch his wings" before darting off into the tree line.


    They were licking their fingers to get the last of the buttery goodness of the egg and ham stuffed pastries when they heard the clop-clop of a horse on the road behind them. They moved to the side to let the rider by, only to stop and cross their arms over their chests on spotting the faerie dragon perched between the ears of Daisy the dire horse mare.


    Daisy still wore her cloak, meant to keep the flies off, though she had a pair of panniers draped across her back.


    "What''s this?" Cerise asked.


    "Daisy," Tatara said.


    "And why are you bringing her here?" Cerise asked.


    Tatara returned her flat look. He tapped a claw to his nose and said, "Geomancy, Aquamancy, [Mage]!" Then he stroked a fore paw-hand down Daisy''s forelock and said, "[Shieldman]."


    Mykhal said, "Eh, works for me."


    Both Jaxin and Cerise turned to stare at Mykhal. He just looked at Cerise with an arched eyebrow. "Byctses. Where was Daisy? Happy to stomp their heads in. We already agreed to explore the dungeon carefully, and by all accounts a centaur can fit into the first and second floors with ease, and every exit tunnel, too. If a centaur can fit, Daisy certainly can. You''ve already confirmed that Tatara can talk with Daisy like you can, and she listens to both of you. And, at the first bit of trouble, Tatara will take her home and have to wait for us to return."


    "I agree to that," Tatara said.


    Cerise turned to Jaxin. "Are you okay with the plan?"


    "Actually, yeah," he said, almost musingly. He glanced to Cerise and saw her inquiring look, so he explained. "I didn''t think of your faerie dragon as a caster, but if that is how he helps, yeah, he is going to need a shield. All we really need to worry about in that case is the party bond."


    The humans spent a few minutes walking the magical beasts through adding themselves to their party, then resumed their progress.


    When they arrived, there were two parties already waiting to be admitted to the dungeon. Cerise cast a quick Appraisal, noting that all of those waiting were Free Lancers. Her party went up to the guards to add their names to the queue.


    Keiteral was currently in charge of the log book. His expression soured on spotting them, but two Identify skills moved over them and two of the now six total guards moved over next to him. One grabbed the log book from Keiteral while the other pulled him off to the side. The guard who took over was a mature woman who Identified as Josefine, an Adept level [Guard].


    "Good day, Miss ban Silverwood. What floor are you delving today?" Josefine presented a professional dispassion.


    "The Delving Lights, with guide Jaxin and two tamed companions, will be on the first and second floors," Cerise answered.


    "The kinds of your companions?"


    "Faerie dragon caster with dire horse guardian," Cerise answered.


    Josefine physically paused then looked from Cerise to the monsters with their team. To her credit, that was as close to commentary as she gave, simply recording the information. "Have a good delve, Miss ban Silverwood."


    Cerise glanced to the other waiting teams. One of them was full of scowling people. "Are they waiting for different floors?" Cerise asked.


    "You are a diplomat, Miss ban Silverwood. Short of closing the dungeon off entirely, we cannot constrain your comings or goings," Josefine said.


    Mykhal said, "That whole point of the queue is to give the dungeon time to reset between teams, right?"


    "Yes, Mister Mykhal," Josefine agreed.


    "And what would happen to the teams waiting if we entered now?" he asked.


    "We would add another three rushmarks to their entry time," Josefine said.


    One of the scowling people watching on said, "That''s not fair! We''ve already been cut off once before!"


    Cerise asked, "How many teams are waiting to delve the first floor?"


    "Just the one, Miss ban Silverwood."


    "Then three rush marks after they enter, we will enter," Cerise informed the guard. "If you would kindly provide us the same timing notice you give to those in the queue, I would appreciate that." She unslung her pack and withdrew a basket of still warm breakfast pies. "Oh, and my mother was experimenting with some take along styles of food. I think she wanted us stocked for days in the dungeon, but we''re hoping to be out before evening. May I share these with you? If you like them, you can ask for more at Bergin''s Food Hall. Mama said they should be good cold, so if you wait to eat till after your shift, that should be fine."


    Josefine had tensed at the offer, but relaxed at the mention of waiting to eat. "We would be happy to help you make these disappear."


    "Thank you," Cerise said. She pulled out another basket and made her way to the other waiting teams. They were all watching, the scowling team now looking merely grumpy and the other speculative. Cerise asked, "Anyone else want to help me avoid disappointing my mother?"


    "I''ll be happy to help out," a [Warrior] of the speculative team volunteered.


    "Pass the basket around, and if it turns up empty, just hand it back," Cerise said, walking over and handing over the basket.


    Everyone watched the [Warrior] take his first bite. His expression changed from interested to surprised blankness that faded into reverent bliss. "Please tell me your mother''s looking for a husband!" he finally said.


    "No," Cerise said, feeling both amused and upset by the comment. "But if you want more of her cooking, she runs the food hall on the road to the dungeon."


    The rest of the [Warrior''s] party claimed a breakfast pie and enjoyed similar expressions of joy.


    One of them asked, "What''s a food hall?"


    "It''s like a cross between a restaurant and a tavern," Jaxin said. "The only alcohol so far is small beer, and you have a choice of kinds of meals. There''s always pottage and small beer for a small copper. So far, roasts only happen when we''re successful on a hunt, but Miss Bergin also makes ''walking meals'' like these, and she tries to open close to sun up. Means she closes around sundown."


    While Jaxin answered questions, she and Mykhal took a third basket to the grumpy team. "Would you like some?" Cerise offered.


    "Thank you," one of the least grumpy of them said, and took the proffered basket. She took a bite and smiled. "These are really good. So, you don''t Inspect as ''Honorable Miss''. Why were the guards going to let you jump the queue?"


    Cerise casually said, "I''m an authority bearer. It gives me diplomatic privileges under Druerjan''s laws. I was a Free Lancer first, but this is all pretty new still. The land god who gave me the ban Silverwood name and made me a bearer of her authority permits me to let Free Lancer stuff be handled without having to consider how people treating me reflects on her, but with the nobles I have to play the political games."


    "So that authority thing makes you a noble?" one of the [Scouts] asked, picking out a pair of pies from the basket.


    "Same strata, different privileges and responsibilities," Cerise agreed.


    "Are we supposed to bow and scrape?" another said, squinty-eyed.


    "If it''s Free Lancer stuff? Nah. I''m just a Free Lancer. I don''t have to bring all the diplomatic and political stuff into it. If it''s not Free Lancer business, I have to insist on respect for the Lady of the Silverwood Grove." Cerise turned up her palms in an "out of my hands" gesture.


    After a few minutes of talking, the grumps were mostly mellowed and all the breakfast pies had been eaten. They were called into the dungeon, and Cerise and Mykahl went over to see what they could do to better secure the panniers and Daisy''s make-shift barding.


    "We''ll need to keep back some hides if Daisy becomes a regular delving buddy," Mykhal said.


    "Yeah, we''ll want to armor her legs, belly, back, and neck. If she grows horns, we''ll have to figure out how she''ll use them before settling on a helmet for her." Cerise liked the idea and secretly hoped Daisy would grow the large circling horns that made dire goats so fearsome.


    Mykhal glanced at her as if he were reading her mind and considering judging her poorly for her thoughts. "As long as she doesn''t grow fangs."


    That thought made Cerise crinkle her nose in disgust. ?If you grow fangs, I won''t feed you apples anymore,? she warned the horse.


    ?Fangs make bad to eat apples?? Daisy asked, swiveling her ears uncertainly.


    ?Very bad,? Tatara agreed. ?I have fangs and even berries are messy-hard to eat.?


    ?I no grow fangs,? Daisy stated, quite firm.


    Cerise cooed at her mare and gave her happy pets.


    The other party had been called up by the time they were finished with Daisy, and Cerise got out her staff and began doing warm ups. Mykhal and Jaxin joined her, and Cerise called out instructions to Daisy to get her warmed up and ready for the delve.


    Three more teams showed up, and two more were heading up the road when the Delving Lights were called in.

 Chapter 47: What kind of apple was that?

    The entrance chamber was as Cerise had last seen it: a simple space carved out of the surrounding rock, sized to comfortably hold ten fully kitted delvers. Vines grew along the stone, and soft yellow light radiated from the walls.


    The vines whispered a joyful recognition. ?Twice Blessed is back! What happens today??


    Cerise bowed. "We come today to delve, to train our skills and earn prosperity. I thank you, Dungeon of the Sea Crest, for these opportunities."


    Mykhal, followed by Jaxin, bowed and repeated the thanks. Daisy, coached by Tatara, nickered, ?Thanks for stomp-stomp play!?


    In Beast Speech, Tatara chirped, ?Hi, Stony! Hi, Breezy! I can''t wait to see what delving is like!?


    A sense of welcome more than any words came back.


    They passed through the archway into the dungeon proper. Mykhal, as their [Scout], led the way.


    "Before the closure, the first floor was a ring. You had to go around the ring and find at least two key stones. The more keystones you collected the better the rewards from the boss fight," Jaxin reminded them. "That much normally won''t change until the dungeon has ten floors, but normally dungeons don''t have Aegis Avatars, so stay alert."


    Mykhal raised a fist, their hand signal to stop. "Tatara, what do you sense about the floor with your Geomancy?" he softly asked.


    Tatara fluttered over and landed on Mykhal''s fist. A faint purple aura haloed him for a moment before he said, "Hollow. I can walk over it, maybe Cerise, but neither of you. How did you notice it?"


    "The stone sounds different," Mykhal answered. "I''m going to break through so Daisy sees what she needs to jump."


    Cerise clucked her tongue. "Let''s not. On this floor, that might be safe, but Tatara learned nesting traps in the egg. Let''s try to treat all traps as carefully as we''ll need to deeper down."


    Jaxin glanced at the dire horse. "If she breaks a leg, can you heal it?" he asked.


    "Yes," Cerise said, confident of that.


    "Then, okay by me. Mykhal, you''re our trap finder. How do you feel about that?" Jaxin asked.


    "Good habits are better than lazy one." Then Mykhal traced a dab of light at the near edge of the hollow stone and where he and Tatara agreed was the far edge.


    Mykhal looked for a combination trap, found none, and then looked far enough ahead to make sure they could all fit on the other side. Meanwhile, Cerise explained the trap to Daisy, and why she needed to jump over the space between the two glows.


    They found no other traps before entering the first room. This one had rocky ground and fungal growth all over. Mushrooms and lichens, of course, but also molds on the walls and ceiling, and ones that resembled living stone.


    Cerise had her Triage Aura up and quickly pointed out the dire hedgehogs, monstrous ones that could and often did enjoy rolling on their spines. Few developed the barbs common to porcupines, but they did frequently gain blade-like edges of keratin on their spines and elemental varieties gained their own interesting quirks.


    "Keep your eyes open for insects," she added. "My skill doesn''t always detect them."


    "I shall Scourge the Flies and the Ticks!" Tatara declared.


    Jaxin and Mykhal were skilled enough with their weapons that Cerise only needed to use her staff once to keep the hedgehogs back before they were all defeated. Then Cerise and Mykhal harvested a goodly amount of the mushrooms and samples of the molds.


    "There aren''t any commissions for the mushrooms," Jaxin reminded them.


    "And no telling what Mama can cook with them, either," Mykhal told him.


    "Good point. Should I help gather?"


    Cerise said, "If your Herbalism is into Intermediate, sure. Otherwise, gathering the fattest of the hedgehogs will be good."


    "For cooking experiments?" Jaxin asked.


    "And their spines. I want to see if I can find something to make potion injectors with, since none of the [Smiths] I''ve met think they can make hollow needles smaller than a grain of rice."


    "These won''t be hollow," Jaxin said.


    "I know, but I''m hoping I can hollow them out and still have a useful injector."


    Mykhal shook his head, but stayed silent.


    Jaxin selected a pair of hedgehogs and stored them. Then he moved the remaining corpses far enough from where Cerise and Mykhal were gathering, with Daisy snuffling beside them, for the dungeon to reclaim the bodies. Left behind were two small coppers and a small mana cryst. He collected the loot and Mykhal started scouting around for a keystone. They didn''t find one, and so pushed on to the next room.


    The floor was below their skill levels, and so they focused on training tactics with Daisy and Tatara. There were fifteen fighting rooms with hedgehogs, snakes, giant scorpions, hook-beaked cracids, and silver-backed badgers. The first five rooms introduced the creatures in homogeneous fights, but the next ten mixed and matched the creatures in ways that saw them covering their individual weaknesses to a greater and greater degree as they continued on. Each tunnel was trapped. Pit traps like the very first were the most common, but snares, trip lines, and a dead fall also appeared. The last two tunnels had a second and a third trap, respectively.


    They collected nine keystones all told and carefully fitted them into the boss room door. It swung open, revealing an arena. The floor was hard packed dirt with a layer of sand. The lines of mana that had lit the tunnels before this branched out to create an effect like living lightning flashing across the ceiling.


    They entered the floor boss''s arena, and the door behind them closed. A portal at the opposite side of the arena opened, and a boar about half as tall as Daisy stepped out into the arena. The portal closed behind him.


    ?Defeat me to earn the second floor key,? the boar squealed his declaration.


    ?What does that do?? Cerise asked.


    The boar stopped his swaggering steps and swiveled his head to look at Cerise. ?You understand me??


    ?Well, yes.? Wasn''t that obvious with her talking in Beast Speech?


    ?That''s--. Sorry, no one''s ever understood me before. The second floor key will let you take your group directly to the second floor. Each combatant will get one.?


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ?Even Daisy and Tatara?? Cerise asked.


    "Ah, what''s happening?" Jaxin asked.


    Tatara translated, while Cerise waited for the boar to answer. When Tatara was done speaking, the boar said, ?Yes. You only get the key the first time you defeat me, so guard it well. The champions of the lower floors will grant you additional key fragments that fit into my key. When the dungeon grows another floor, you will need to defeat the champions of each floor once more.?


    ?What happens to you when we defeat you?? she asked.


    ?So sure you will?? the boar snorted in amusement. ?It feels to me as if I sleep to wake once more, fully restored.? He then cocked his head to the side, one ear perking up. ?And I may not say more. But I do assure you, I enjoy the contest of battle. Shall we??


    ?By all means, Mister Boar,? Cerise said, then warned her team, "Fight''s on."


    The boar resumed his advance.


    Neither Mykhal nor Jaxin had found the time and tools needed to work with the materials the classing room had given them, and so were using the gear they had had since before arriving in Sea Crest Dungeon Village. For Mykhal, that meant the bow he had purchased in Va''Velton and arrows with barbed metal arrow heads. His back up weapon was his shortsword.


    Jaxin''s main weapon was a spiked hammer. The handle was as long as a typical sword blade and the hammer head not much bigger than Cerise''s fist, with three spikes on the back of the hammer head and one protruding a hand''s width from the top of the war hammer. The high human danced carnage with the weighted metal club and it was no different this time.


    The boar reached the center of the arena and charged. Jaxin used a taunting skill that flared his mana, and Tatara took advantage of that to use Geomancy to break the boar''s charge by softening the ground three bow lengths from Jaxin. Meanwhile, Mykhal got two arrows shot off. One stuck in the boar''s shoulder and the other left a bloody furrow over his right eye.


    Cerise waited until the boar''s charge took him just in front of the softened ground before firing off a Paralyze at the boar. It only partially succeeded, but it was enough to throw off his recovery, so when he hit the ground that wasn''t as firm as he expected, he fell, with a horrible cracking noise of breaking bone echoing in the room.


    Reflexively, Cerise use Pain Block on the boar. He still squealed from the fall and the brief flash of pain, but the boar only felt the wrongness of his body as Jaxin smashed his knees and landed the killing blow to the back of the boar''s skull, crushing the top two vertebrae.


    Jaxin looked with surprise at the felled floor boss. "That went much smoother than I expected. Good job with the ground, Tatara."


    Mykhal reclaimed his arrows. Jaxin moved over to stand with Cerise. She was feeling disturbed by the fight, and the gore on Jaxin''s hammer seemed particularly distasteful, so she cleansed the weapon and offered to cleanse Jaxin of the blood splatters.


    Two doors opened, a chest pushed up in the center of the arena, and the boar''s body disappeared, leaving behind five ivory pendants. Cerise collected them and distributed one each to Jaxin and Mykhal. To Tatara, she asked, "Do you want me to hold on to yours?"


    "Please, my chosen. Now, what''s in the chest?"


    Jaxin was already heading over, along with Mykhal. They opened the lid and Jaxin laughed.


    "What?" Cerise asked.


    Mykhal pulled out a set of centaur leg guards.


    <hr>


    ?Do you think she''ll like them?? Core asked.


    Wisp said, ?Watch and find out.?


    They watched the Twice Blessed smile, but then her smile collapsed and she started crying.


    ?What''s wrong?? Core asked. ?Why is she crying??


    "Cerise? What''s wrong?" their [Scout] asked, coming over to pat her arms.


    "I don''t --." She started, then stopped to rub the tears from her face. "I don''t feel good about killing Mister Boar. I know we''re in a dungeon and that''s the way of dungeons, but he was well spoken and--. It just feels wrong."


    Tatara fluttered over and landed on her head. ?He''s not dead. Not like a creature unbound to the dungeon. Defeated, yes, but you heard him say he''ll wake back up in a body that never was harmed. This, fighting like this, it''s a game for the champions. You won and in just a little bit, he''ll be back and eager for another round.?


    "You promise?" the Twice Blessed asked, sounding very young.


    "I promise," Tatara said, switching to human speech. "Now, are those cuissards not beautiful or what?"


    The Twice Blessed wiped away a few more tears and went over to the chest, the dire horse guarding her back still. She inspected the armor and her smile was a happier thing now. "The wave patterning in the color of the scaling is beautiful. Let''s put them on Daisy now and see how she maneuvers with them on."


    ?Well, how ... that''s--. No one has ever cried for my champions before,? Core said, trying to figure out how e felt about that.


    ?Tender heart she''s got,? Wisp said, musing more than anything else.


    Avatar asked, ?Why did you open the classing room??


    Core said, ?I didn''t--. Oh. I guess I did. Um. I generally get a feeling when to open the door and heeding the feeling is pretty much thoughtless on my part now.?


    ?Interesting,? Avatar drawled.


    <hr>


    There were also coins in the treasure chest, five large coppers.


    Jaxin said, "The dungeon seems to be treating your tamed as seriously as you do. That seems reasonable to me. Have room in your pack to carry their spoils?" He directed the last to Cerise with a pleased smile.


    "If you''re sure, but we''ll hold to the commission sharing contract," Cerise said.


    Mykhal nodded. He looked to the two doors, then headed off to go investigate the routes. Cerise and Jaxin, with the newly armored Daisy guarding their rear, moved toward the doors as well. Tatara had resumed his perch between Daisy''s ears.


    Mykhal had looked into each doorway by the time they caught up to him. "That one to the left leads into the holy place, and to the right is a downward tunnel with an ornate door."


    Jaxin looked around them. "Who leveled up?"


    Mykhal and Cerise checked their profiles to be sure then shook their heads. Tatara nickered to Daisy, ?Give up an apple in that room and you''ll be able to get more apples for yourself later.?


    Cerise''s head whipped around. "What was that?"


    Tatara asked, ?You didn''t think holy places were only for the Elevated races, did you??


    Cerise held up her hand to forestall the questions she knew Mykhal would have, and suspected from Jaxin, while she took a moment to wrap her head around this shift in her reality. When she dropped her hand, she addressed Daisy. ?The room beyond this door is a special room. In it, the voice of the world can help you become stronger, to make things you like and to grow. The voice of the world is the biggest horse in the herd, and will only help if you show you respect that.?


    Cerise pulled an apple from Daisy''s panniers. Slobber began to gather at the corners of the dire mare''s mouth. ?You are going to show that respect by holding this apple in your mouth -- not eating it! And thinking of how you can grow to become the best horse you can think to become. Then you go in and put the apple down in the middle of the room and step back.?


    ?But! Apple!? Daisy protested.


    Cerise ran a soothing hand up and down Daisy''s neck until the mare blew out a gusty breath. ?Not fine.? Cerise held out the apple. Daisy carefully lifted it from Cerise''s palm with more lip than teeth, and slobbered some more while she stood with closed eyes for a moment.


    Then she walked into the classing room, the holy place, and set the apple down in the middle of the room and stepped back.


    Cerise gestured for the rest of their delving team to step back, too, at which point she explained what was going on.


    Jaxin stared at her a moment before asking with disbelief, "Your horse--. Your horse is getting a class?"


    Cerise turned up her palms and shrugged. "Just because we get classes in holy places doesn''t mean that''s all that holy places do. And the requirement for space makes a lot of sense if humans aren''t supposed to monopolize the holy places."


    Mykhal chuckled. "I thought I was used to the weird that trails in your wake, but you always find something new." He hugged her.


    Not even a rush mark later, Daisy emerged. Cerise fired off an Appraise and felt Inspect skills from Mykhal and Jaxin rolling out beside her.


    Name: Daisy of the Delving Lights Herd


    Race: Dire Horse


    Strata: Companion


    Class: [Guardian] Uncommon, Novice


    Health: Moderate, Full


    Stamina: High, Full


    <hr>


    ?What kind of apple was that?? Core asked, mana flooding in from the sacrifice.


    Avatar said, ?Sacrifice is not about the object, but how much is invested in offering it. You saw the effort of will needed for the dire horse to set down the offering and step away from it. That is where the power here comes from, and you are getting a fraction of that converted into mana. I would suggest you start planning your eighth floor. But for now, pay attention. The Twice Blessed is about to enter the holy place.?


    <hr>


    Cerise went through her gear and found her first surgical needle. It may have just been a finger long steel stitching needle, but it was the first she had used for surgery. She didn''t really want to give it up, but Cerise felt the need to offer up a token of respect and gratitude as if she had known she would be standing for her mare. The needle was the only thing she felt was acceptable.


    She barely laid the needle down when the voice of the world overwhelmed her.


    You have unlocked the following class advancements. Please indicate preference:


    �� [Arcane Healer Initiate] (Rare)


    �� [Surgeon] (Unique)


    �� [Restoration Mage] (Epic)


    �� [Druidic Healer] (Epic)


    �� [Mortal Sapling of the Silverwood] (Legendary)