Chương 16: Chapter 15: Tea and Sympathy

Leading the group into the inn was a little awkward. Torch had seen the place before - it was far from anything worth looking at, but my little home base - the kitchen - was definitely the safest place in that wreckage. The central room was half collapsed and had a huge hole in it, roof to basement, and the wood creaked ominously under our feet, but the kitchen was all masonry - stone, from edge to edge.

The roof, walls, and floor were all made of cool stone, with wood cabinets and furniture, untouched by whatever had happened to the rest of the place. If I had to guess, a siege boulder had crashed into the building, or part of some other building had fallen into this one. Either way, the inn had seen better days. But I hadn't seen a corpse in here yet - not like elsewhere, where in some of the houses there were piles of grinning bones. Then again, I hadn't been into the basement here yet.

I patiently waited for them to pick their way along and towards the kitchen, smiling at them in as welcoming a way as I could manage before checking on my little project. The oil was very green at this point, and the sage was well-wilted and looking used up. The bones were golden brown at this point in the oven, and the pile of veggies was sitting in the sink.

There were blood stains on some parts of the floor - namely where I'd piled the deer carcass, such little as remained, and where I'd been shot, but there was still a great deal of floor space and compared to the rest of the inn, the somewhat spacious kitchen, all swept out and warm with the ovens, was pretty cozy.

"It isn't much at all, but... please make yourselves at home." I said, and wished I'd had chairs or tables for my guests to sit at. They stared around at me, then at the carcass in something approaching horror. I hadn't even thought of how that would look to a stranger! I almost opened my mouth to explain, but the wizard, with another wave of his hand, glowing blue, said.

"A deer. It's mostly used up but the bones and meat and things inspect as a deer, killed a day ago by Goldtail." he said, and went on "One of the strong deer we saw - this one was level six." he said, and Torch looked impressed.

"Level six? Good kill." he commented, and I felt flattered, smiling at him brightly.

"Thank you! He's given me a lot of gifts, I feel very grateful to him." I said, and found that I verymuch meant it. He looked at me strangely, but nodded his head in a kind of understanding. The others didn't seem to get it - Gelidia gave me a funny look, and Felorikaan looked more confused than anything, but Roxala seemed to spend the most time around the scout. She just shook her head.

"Hunters. Is this what we are eating?" she said, peering at my deer fat and sage mixture speculatively. Judging from her expression, she sure hoped not! I chuckled and shook my head.

"Ha! Oh nono, this is just the deer fat. I'm infusing it with sage for soapmaking." I explained.

"It's just about ready I think, for the next step." Roxala grunted at that, and didn't say another word. She walked right out of the kitchen into the inn proper, and returned carrying a table from inside in one big hand, and a couple chairs in the other as if she were moving doll furniture rather than huge, heavy wooden objects. She placed them under a stone windowsill, and went to get more chairs. While she did, and while the Wizard watched me work, I began to ladle out the leaves.

I didn't throw them away - they'd be useful in the stew! I'd give them one final sendoff for the soup stock, along with some fresh sage, so I put them into the stock pot, along with the bones. I was glad for the large stovetop - it meant I could do several things at once! The ovens were likewise a gift unto themselves, and the pleasant scents of what I was working on filled the room as Torch and Roxala started setting up the dining table.

Gelidia kept mostly quiet, and mostly to herself, leaning against the countertop, arms crossed and watching the adventurers but she didn't look unhappy when I glanced at her. She smiled at me, and I returned it as Fel gave me a strange look. Then... turned his face in the direction I was looking. He held up his hand, glowing blue, and started as he saw her too, with the aid of his skill. I smiled at him too.

"So this twice-cursed business - you are cursed to be haunted by her?" he asked, and I explained about the fountain in the center of town, and how the World told me the Powers didn't approve of my action in taking the coin, and how we'd leveraged that so she could follow me. He chuckled at that.

"I see, I see." he said, admiringly.

"Turning it to your apparent mutual advantage, then." and I blinked at that, but nodded. I suppose that was exactly right!

"She's an idiot, but she's the best kind of idiot." Gelidia said, and I chuckled as I filled another pan with some water and some of the lye crystals, carefully stirring to mix them together. I was glad there was air flow, but even so the scent was strong as the two reacted together. A cool breeze washed across us, and out the window, and I looked up to see Gelidia's blank white eyes glowing green faintly.

"Soap making, you said. Care to explain the process?" Fel said, and I told him about the wood ash from the smoker in the oven, and how I'd turned it to Lye with water and by cooking it down. He chuckled and like Gelidia, said "You know, I'd never thought about soap before except in passing. It's just something I would... buy in a shop" and I chuckled. Having lived on the streets of Milwaukee after the collapse, I was already well-used to the idea that if you wanted something, you had to make it for yourself.

I'd never made soap either - but soap was the furthest thing from my mind back then. Once the mixture was ready, I added the infused fatty oil, stirring constantly. Fel helped by holding the fat pot steadily, and poured it at a slow rate at my instruction as I stirred and stirred and stirred slowly as the liquid became a cloudy dark green color that reminded me of a mint milkshake, thick and creamy looking.

Then, I simply poured it into one of the metal sheet pans someone must have used for baked goods once I judged it scoured of rust.

"The soap will take a while to cool and harden up. Then I just cut it into bars and let it cure. Boom - soap!" I said, and Fel chuckled.

"Marvelous. I love the smell of sage." he chuckled, and I set to preparing the stock. The bones went in the pot, along with water and more sage. Torch cleared his throat a little bit, and produced a small box which turned out to contain salt. He set it on the counter for me. I blinked at him, and he shrugged.

"If it helps." he added, and I nodded emphatically!

"Salt! Awesome!" I said, but my cookery skill didn't want me to add any - not yet. The stock didn't get salt, the skill told me, that was for seasoning. I got the last of the meat, and started sprinkling the salt over it at my skill's insistence. My wolf wanted a bit of the stuff, so I gladly popped a cube or two of the raw red goodness into my mouth to reward her patience and calmness.

Didn't take much salt, not much at all, but I found myself letting the venison sit with the salt on it while I worked on the bone broth itself. I became aware that Felorikaan... was watching me keenly.

"Mmm?" I asked, mouth full of a bit of the raw meat, still chewing.

"Sorry" he chuckled.

"I don't think I've ever spent any time near a lycanthrope, let alone one as... calm as you." he said.

"You seem remarkably... well put together, miss. Down to earth." How should I take that? I blinked at him, and finished my mouthful before responding, saying "Thank you, um, it's supposed to be a curse... but I don't really see much of a downside so far." I said.

"... changing sucks, but we get along alright." and that made him blink rapidly at me.

"We?" he asked.

"Oh" I said, unsure how to talk about this without sounding insane. I decided to go for broke and just be honest.

"The wolf, the one I have inside?" I tried, and he gave me a politely curious look. I felt like I was talking to a doctor or something, he just invited me to talk more to him with a kind of hungry silence, but I glanced at Gelidia - she was listening too.

"She's... she's me, but... different kind-of? She wants different things than I do, but we get along well." I explained.

"Really, it's like... it's like I'm my own dog, more than anything else." Gelidia chuckled at that, but Fel looked thoughtful.

"What are your two cores? I know you have a Lycanthrope core, but what are the other two?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"No, I only have two - the World told me three was unstable." I explained.

"I thought being unstable sounded bad." His jaw dropped. The quiet conversation on the other side of the room from Torch and Roxala stopped too. Gelidia's chuckle filled the silence.

"You should see your faces!" Gelidia chuckled.

"I bet I looked like that when she told me that too! But it's true. The woman embraced it!" she said! The other two looked around at the room, Torch visibly shuddering as Roxala's face settled into a customary scowl. She got up, and got between me and her two friends, face a foot from mine as she glowered down at me.

"So you aren't a victim - you embraced the monster!" she accused, fists clenching and unclenching as if she was unsure what to do with the information, like she wanted to punch me for saying it! I crossed my arms and faced her down, stared right up into her face. I wasn't going to be intimidated by anyone!

"I'd rather be a monster in control of myself all the time than go unstable at night and lose myself." I said "The World didn't exactly explain things to me, but I think that's what would have happened." I shrugged at the huge woman. She glared into my eyes, then looked to Fel. That just about immediately cut the tension in the air. Fel hmmmmed and said "... Huh. Geniune." and I glanced to see he was doing his... whatever that was again.

"What is that?" I asked, and he smiled at me in a grandfatherly way.

"Inspect. I have it to rank B - it is quite useful." he explained.

"At rank B, if I spend mana, I get a great deal of information. Forgive me, it is somewhat rude to Inspect someone without permission, but one of the purposes to which I am put in our merry little band is as a Wiseman, to ferret out the truth from the dross of deception." he said, his voice soft and sure. I liked how that sounded, how he'd said it, and nodded. Roxala subsided, and I shook it off. Had all that been a... ploy? To get me to be honest?

"Oh... Well, no problem" I said, and shrugged.

"I don't have anything to hide! If it will help, ask anything you like. I'll answer." I said, and Gelidia smiled.

"The best kind of idiot." she sighed. The blue-clad wizard's eyes glinted under his hood-hat, and he gave me a thin lipped smile.

"This isn't the soup... is it? We cannot eat bones." he said, as if he expected that I very much could! MARROW GOOD I chuckled at myself and shook my head at him.

"Noo, no!" I laughed a bit "Nono, this is for broth! Once the broth is ready, I'll sear the venison up and stew it and more of the veggies together!" I explained. Torch groaned a little and chuckled"World that sounds so good... wait..." he hesitated, and looked at me, interested!

"What's your other core apart from Lycanthrope? You just read as a peasant." he said, as if he expected it WASN'T my core, like I was hiding what it really was somehow?

"Uhhhh... Peasant? It's a Life core, it's very useful." I said, and he laughed at me like he didn't believe me! I blushed. Gelidia chuckled too, which became a belly laugh when I glared at her! Mean!

"Genuine." Fel said, and Torch's laugh choked off! Gelidia only laughed harder and I blushed to the tips of my ears! What was so wrong with the Peasant core! It was so helpful to me, and it was nice! I liked my Peasant core! I didn't even register that they'd done that honesty under pressure trick to me again until later on when I thought about it after the fact.

"What's wrong with that? It's nice!" I said defensively, and found Gelidia patted me on the head, ruffling my hair gently as she did. Despite myself, it helped.

"Nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that. My legacy core is Scrivener - I find it supremely useful in my studies." he said.

"It is a Life core as well." he went on. Roxala said something like"TCH" and muttered"Soft towny crap". Clearly Fel hadn't heard her, and I politely ignored what she'd said. Torch just smiled as he worked. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"What's a Scrivener?" I asked, blinking at him.

"A scribe, a clerk, a recordskeeper. It's a class focused on retaining and organizing information, literacy, and writing." he explained, like a schoolteacher. It suited him, I thought. I decided I liked Felorikaan! He was nice! A very calm, easygoing person.

"I study dungeons and monsters - dangerous interests, to be sure, but that is why I travel with these fine folk." he said fondly.

"The Wayfinder guild employs many of all walks of life." he said, with a smile.

"Wayfinder Guild?" I asked, and he nodded, reaching into his robe. He produced a kind of pin with a compass rose on it, and presented it to me.

"Yes! We are explorers and delvers. We look for and explore dungeons, documenting creatures and locations as we encounter them. The World is always changing, and holds many new secrets every season!" he said, and I could hear how proud he was to be part of his guild! It sounded nice! Not my cup of tea, perhaps, I just wanted a quiet life if I could help it, but... somebody had to do things like explore, right?

"We are adventurers of a sort, and get into all kinds of trouble." he chuckled.

"Such as, for example, running afoul of powerful shades and meeting soup-making werewolves." I smiled at him.

"I'm just glad everyone's okay! I'm sorry I scared you guys, I wasn't going to hurt you." I said, and Roxala sputtered. Torch looked embarrassed, regretful, rubbing the back of his neck. Fel just joined Gelidia in a laugh, adding a 'Geniune!'

"We nearly kill you, and you apologize for scaring us? Oh! Ohoho!" Fel said, and his 'hohohoho' was a warm sound that came easily to his lips! I could see now he had smile lines on his face, and his gentle features were well suited to a grin.

"I mean it was horrifying!" Torch mumbled defensively, clearly not expecting me to hear. It was sobering, to be sure, and I found myself feeling bad! For scaring HIM! It was stupid - he'd snuck and watched me, and shot me! Twice! But I couldn't help how I felt. My Wolf just relaxed the whole while, as she usually did - she had nothing to add, but I got the impression she didn't hold any rancor for the boy. A practical soul, was my Wolf! She lived in the moment, not the past.

Far as she was concerned, she and Torch were square. Then I felt a hand on my head. I looked and saw Fel patting me, and my Wolf was pleased at the touch. It was embarrassing, and the human part of me was a little offended, but I listened to my Wolf too, and didn't pull away.

"Hohohoho, you and I, Emily, we will get along famously." Fel said, and pat me a couple times before moving towards his things, saying "As an apology, for shooting you and for our behavior-" and got out a cloth wrapped bundle of something that smelled... musky and spicy and... amazing! He unwrapped it, and it was a dark brick of some kind of... shaped... dark stuff! It smelled like black tea, and he confirmed it when he said "Allow me to share some of my supply of Tea with you!"

he said, and my eyes lit up in excitement!

"Oh!" I said, staring at the strange stuff as he broke a sizable chunk off!

"How do I use this?" I had forgotten about the pat already, and he looked pleased at my excitement. He put his schoolteacher hat back on and explained as he scraped a bit off his chunk with a knife he produced from a sheathe at his hip.

"Take this much, and a kettle or a cooking pot." he began, and filled a kettle from his pack with the water from the water rune on my sink with a precise amount of mana. I tended to spend too much. He just touched it for a moment, and it gave him the exact amount of water he needed to fill his kettle! It was a subtle thing, but watching him closely, I couldn't help but be impressed at the elegance of it.

He scraped the scrapings into the kettle after letting me see how much he'd taken off the tea brick, and set it on the heat.

"Boil the water a bit with the tea, and let it steep just like that. If your kettle does not have a grating, simply ladle the tea shavings off the top." he explained, and smiled at me. I took the sizable chunk of tea brick, and some scrap cloth from my satchel, making another mug container.

"A tea brick concentrate such as this keeps well on a journey, and should last you about a year with a pot of it or two a day. Many consider it a luxury, but for myself, it is neccesary - a fresh brick will go for a gold piece in the capital." he explained, and I nodded.

"Is that a lot?" I asked. He gave me a look.

"Ah... you've probably never seen a gold piece before. No, on the greater scale of things it is not much money. As you know, ten copper pieces make a silver piece." he began, and went on "But one hundred silver pieces make a gold piece, and a thousand gold pieces make a Diamond piece." he said.

"A farmworker or laborer might see a gold piece in wages in a year, but never all at once." he said, and I smiled as the scent of tea washed around me.

"A tavernkeeper will often see a gold piece a night in commerce, where a merchant regularly trades in gold for bulk goods, coming and going!" he went on conversationally! A little mental alarm went off in my head, and I checked on the stock. It was done, and I ladled out the bones as Fel made tea. It was a domestic moment as we worked side by side at different purposes. I directed him where to find mugs, and he cleaned them with calm, sure hands as I chopped vegetables and seared meat.

As we worked, the atmosphere in the kitchen became something pleasant, something... right. This was like what this place had been built for, I felt sure in my heart. It was made for people cooking, and chatting, and moving around in! It was a place of life, and the stone warmed wonderfully as our different converstaions and activities filled the room.

Veggies came to cubes under my hands, and I flipped the venison steak on the heater as I chewed a stewed bone, letting my wolf enjoy the softened bone and the juicy marrow, well-cooked as it was! Torch sat at the table, and worked on what I felt sure was fletching - he was making arrows for himself, fastening new arrowheads to shafts and making sure they were straight and well-balanced. Roxala had her chair leaned back against a wall, and had her feet up.

She was attentive, and her arms were crossed, but the massive woman looked at her ease. Gelidia reclined back in a similar state - attentive, relaxed, but watchful. Fel and I worked together to make dinner! He made tea, I made stew.

"World that smells incredible." Torch groaned, and Roxala grunted in the affirmative. I had to agree as I crunched at a bone, letting my Wolf savor the deer's gifts.

"I'll have to hunt again tonight I think." I mused.

"See if I can find another deer like that one!" I said, and Torch glanced at me.

"Do you change every night?" Felorikaan asked, and I nodded as I tried the soup to see how it was coming.

"So far, yes." I said "That part isn't much fun, I must admit. It's painful, and it... isn't pretty." I said.

"But, a little pain isn't going to kill me - I'm not made of glass." and that did more for Roxala's opinion of me than anything thus far. She smiled a little in a grim sort of way, and grunted.

"And.. you don't lose control?" Torch asked, and I shook my head.

"Nope. I get my Wolf's instincts a little more strongly, but it's not like she's evil or something - she just wants to hunt and stuff." I said easily. The veggies needed to soften up. What I wouldn't give for some carrots, I realized! Carrots would make this stew so much better.

"Genuine." Fel said, and I only then realized that the group had a kind of agenda. They were subtle about things, but they worked well together. That, or they just serendipitously took advantage of the questions that came up naturally to ferret out the truth. I didn't need to see his hand raised towards me to know it was - I could see it in my mind's eye. I could also tell that Roxala was taking an interest in the answer. I didn't mind. I'd already said I had nothing to hide, and I'd meant that.

"Huh." the orcish Armiger grunted.

"So you were right, Fel." she growled.

"Indeed!" the wizard said, and turned to explain himself to me.

"You were remarkably calm and put together last night, miss Emily, even after being attacked. Monsters do not normally behave like that - monsters tend to be murderously violent, from dungeon monsters to boss monsters - there is no reasoning with them, and no mercy from them once they begin an attack. Your behavior, and the behavior of the other monsters, was aberrant." he explained.

"It must have something to do with your having two cores instead of three, as most Lycanthropes do." he said.

"That must be what the World meant, when it said you would be unstable." I nodded, and tapped my nose at him with a grin. He nodded!

"Fascinating, truly. I assume that is the same for you, miss Windbinder?" he asked. She folded her arms more tightly, but responded"... Yes. I subsumed a core too, but that wasn't why I did it. Just a happy accident." and Fel didn't ask. I got the impression it was to be polite, so I didn't say anything about it.

"Would you mind if I write this down? It is an insight into the system many would find valuable, I feel." he said with some excitement, and I rolled my wrist at him in a 'go on' gesture. He hustled over towards his things again and produced a pen and a leatherbound book of parchment from a fine leather satchel.

"A stable monster core. What kind of skills does it get?" Fel asked, and I could see the other two adventurers looking up at me in some interest in my mind's eye as I labored over the stew.

"Monster / Combat tagged skills mostly." I said "Mostly to do with recovery, strength, I have a transformation skill and a sensory skill too! It's pretty useful so far!" I said.

"Oh! Sounds like it - what skills do you have in Lycanthrope so far?" he asked, writing things down.

"And you're... level two in that one last I looked? I can't see your Lycanthrope class level right now under Peasant."

"It's four now, after last night." I said, and stopped as Gelidia stepped inbetween Felorikaan and I, hands balled into fists! I blinked, taken aback!

"You do NOT tell him your skill list, Emily!" Gelidia cut in suddenly, voice cracking like a whip and I blinked at her. Why was she so fired up suddenly?

"Why not?" I replied, and she leaned on the counter beside me. Before she could respond though, Fel said"Oh - because such knowledge could absolutely be abused by someone who wishes you harm or to manipulate you somehow. What your skills are, and their ranks, are personal." he admitted.

"I apologize for asking such a probing question, I assure you my interest is purely academic - I've never had a chance to discuss a Monster Core's skill composition with a holder of that core, nobody has." he said.

"It's dreadfully fascinating, if you would be willing to share! I give my word I do not have nefarious purpose in mind, you have been nothing but a cordial host." he went on. I frowned.

"Wait... other people become Lycanthropes too, don't they? Don't they talk about their core?" I asked He shook his head.

"No, an unstable core is obscured to you, and grows on its own as it levels without your input." the Wizard explained.

"I've never heard of someone subsuming a core like this into a monster core - it's simply not done! Most lycanthropes hope to be cured again!" he said.

"I don't mind then... is that okay with you, Gelidia?" I asked, and she SIGHED.

"World save me from the stupid. FINE." She rounded on the wizard.

"But if you use this to hurt her, I will pull your lungs up your throat and make you choke on them!" she snarled, and myself, Roxala, and Torch SPUTTERED at the sheer horror of that threat! The Wizard took it in stride, and nodded at her as she moved back to her position beside me while I worked. She didn't look too happy.

"I understand, Lady Windbinder. I will see no harm come to your friend - I intend to obscure in my writing to whom these skills belong." And so, I told him as I worked on the stew. He wrote it all down, from their tags to the skill descriptions and how they'd changed, as much as I could remember from the past versions of the descriptions.

"This knowledge is invaluable actually. It may help people suffering from an unstable core find succor - the class actually sounds pretty solid, if treated with respect." he said.

"You said... that the Wolf speaks to you?" I nodded.

"She does. She says she's me - really we're a team, her and I." I said with a little smile.

"It's nice actually. She's usually quiet but... it's worth listening, I feel, when she has something to say." I went on, sampling the stew with a sip. It was really actually quite good! The salt made all the difference! The flavors of the meat really popped!

"Fascinating... what kinds of things does she say? What does she want?" he asked.

"She doesn't say a lot of words at once, just... one or two at a time. She's not dumb - just simple. She's all... wants and observations, very direct and straightforward." I explained.

"More often than not though... it's just desires and urges. Eat the meat, bite the bone, run, hunt, that kind of thing. If you've ever had a dog, that's kind of what it's like!" I said! I loved dogs! Good thing, too! TEAM! Exactly!

"We're a team, my wolf and I, and things are alright between us." I said. Torch looked up at Roxala, who shrugged her massive shoulders as she kept her arms crossed.

"... that doesn't sound too bad." the Scout said.

"My Scout core speaks to me too, but... not like that, not with words. It's all about the skills I have and what I need to do to use them, but sometimes Scout wants things too, like... I never cared about sunsets until I got Scout to level five." he said. Felorikaan nodded.

"All the class cores are like that to some extent. They bleed into you a bit, as the knowledge condensed in the cores fill you. the Sage cores tend to make you a bit more thoughtful, for example, encourage you to introspection." he added. Roxala grunted.

"... Armiger doesn't like to talk much. She's... stern, doesn't like to show weakness." she said, and sighed. Fel sipped a cup of tea to sample it, and nodded.

"We are all each our own individual person, of course... but our cores, the World, give us something. Nothing comes for free - even knowledge. There is a price and an effect it has upon you." he explained. I tried to hide the chill that ran through me when I thought about... the Red Hand of Vengence core I'd subsumed. The one I hadn't chosen. I hadn't regretted my decision once yet... but now I felt fully vindicated in my choice.

"That's why some Classes, some cores, are reviled." Fel went on, ignorant of my internal sigh of relief.

"They impose certain ways of thinking upon their users simply to make the class work for them. By no means does it make you good or evil, that is up to you, but... some classes are wicked in nature, and require terrible things of you in order to advance in them." the wizard said, and looked at me with some sympathy.

"I've leveled Peasant by cleaning and cooking, and when Gelidia braided my hair... and Lycanthrope levels when I hunt and when I fight." I said. Fel nodded.

"That makes a great deal of sense. Sage classes level when you use your magic, and Scrivener levels when you-""Do boring townie things." Torch and Roxala said, and laughed. Felorikaan smiled and gave a good-natured chuckle, joining his friends. I could feel the warmth from their friendship easily, and it made me smile too.

"Precisely." he said "But. You can expect the classes to require things of you to advance as they guide you deeper into the knowledge they wish to share, things that will unlock additional insights for you." he said.

"Wind Sage wanted me to stand out in a storm." Gelidia said"There was a major storm that came through some time after I hit level ten, and I got the urge to stand and meet it. I couldn't level past ten until then." Gelidia said, and the three adventurers looked at each other speculatively.

"Fascinating. My master, he said he breached level ten's barrier when he was at sea and a storm smashed his ship." he said, and I frowned.

"... What do you think Lycanthrope will want from me?" I asked, and the sage shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea, Emily." he said "I've never heard of the Lycanthrope core reaching level ten." Torch and Roxala shuddered.

"Well that's a terrifying thought." the Armiger growled, and Torch nodded.

"No kidding" the man added, and I found myself looking to the future with excitement... and trepidation! What would Lycanthrope want from me? What would Peasant want from me? For now though, I had more pressing concerns!

"Soup's up!" I said!