Chương 61: Chapter 59: Hooch of the Revenant

After finishing my foraging because I still needed my herbs, I returned in a thoughtful frame of mind. I didn't think for one second that Sootpaw would be a problem to the adventurers, given her absolute and flat refusal to approach Lambstock, or at least, 'the cursed town, or any town'. She was scared - that was plainly obvious. Scared, and terribly hungry. Why was she so hungry? The forest was full of food - I'd found plenty. Did she not know?

She was even higher level than me - it didn't seem possible to me that she wouldn't have found something more to eat. Was she truly a wild werewolf? That is, an unstable Lycanthrope? She said that she'd heard me, after I changed. She'd... heard me. That was significant, it meant that... she'd had the ability to think still, to not just be a monster - wasn't that how werewolves were supposed to be, when unstable? Didn't that mean she hadn't changed? But she was like me... I knew she was.

Was there a way she'd found to... not change? Or keep control somehow, without stabilizing? Was she stable, then? What did all of this mean? IT MEANS WE BRING HER FOOD Wolf said with gentle emphasis and a tilt of her head at me, as if to say 'don't we? It's obvious!' I couldn't help but smile a bit as I found myself agreeing to her simple strategy. It means we bring her food! We need to keep our word to her. YES It also means we don't tell the others. Not yet. I don't think that would be safe for Sootpaw.

She came to me in peace, I won't betray that trust. I spoke into that shared space of ours and pacing in the mirror the Wolf nodded her great golden head at me. YOU ALSO WANT TO PROTECT HER. It wasn't a question - she knew. And she approved of the instinct because it was a lump inside her heart too. I... don't think I could live with myself if I didn't at least try. My Wolf was pleased. She didn't understand that completely, but we did understand each other, like sisters. Protect the child.

"I agree." Gelidia said from about a foot to my side in that mindscape. Wolf just waggled her tail made a noise like a cartoon dog, a sort of attenuated chuffing wheeze as she... laughed at me a little, because of course she hadn't been surprised! WAUH?! I said insightfully, and Gelidia blinked at me!

"Did I surprise you? I'm sorry - I assumed you'd heard me!" She said, and gave me a funny look as she stared at my shocked pose and awkward position. I unfroze and relaxed, blushing to the roots of my hair - I could feel it burning hot on my face. Gelidia pretended not to notice, but she did have to take her eyes off me and full-on freeze her expression over to accomplish it. I HEARD YOU COME Wolf said smugly, and lolled her tongue out in a doggy grin, tail sweeping behind her.

Outside the mindscape, I kicked a stump. Goldie just laid on her tummy in the mirror and relaxed smugly. She always seemed... calmed by Gelidia's presence, soothed somehow.

'Sorry, I was lost in thought... how... did you- how?' I asked, still dumbfounded at her presence! She blinked her eyes at me, as if confused.

"I have ever been able to do this? Emily, I slept in here with you the other night." she said, tilting her head.

'But... you're not touching me? You're in the inn... aren't you?' I asked, and she smiled.

"I am touching you." she said, and touched... the cursed wolf pendant around my neck. In fact... as she touched it, it was suddenly still there around my neck on a chain, sticking to me like static.

"Through this, my connection to you - I am touching you." she explained calmly.

"It is a type of sympathetic magic where you establish mystic connections, like to like." She explained, and it was like something clicked in my head. A window appeared. [Synergy] Blessing calls to blessings, and power comes at a price. Face forward to the West, and know that like comes to like. And suddenly... I knew which direction was west. I blinked at that. It hadn't been a skill upgrade, or anything of that nature, it had been- [Ritual] Element learned: Sympathy.

Face west with intent and send or draw like to like. -uh, that. I focused my eyes on Gelidia again, and she tilted her head at me, her dark hair shifting over her shoulders in a shower of emerald silk, inviting me to share.

'I just uh... learned a ritual thing?' I asked, and she blinked.

"Ritual magic? Oh. Ohhh" something seemed to click in the Duchess's head and I saw her nod.

"Ah yes. Your new skill. Braucherei and its sister Hexerei are steeped in ritualism as a means to focus power." She explained, and I told her what I'd gotten.

"That's a reference to the wheel of life. West is the element of Water. I guess is was my explanation of sympathetic magic that gave you an insight?" and I nodded. She smiled as in the real world, I carried my burden back home at a thoughtful, easy pace.

'Your magic doesn't seem like this, like mine.' I said, and she shook her head.

"No, mine is more directly elemental, and I need to be very specific to get what I want. Your magic isn't like that, it's slower but more flexible, gentler, but also further-reaching." She explained.

"I'll share what little I know, of course. Starting with this: each element has a cardinal direction. north is Earth, West is water, South is Fire, East is Air. Winter, Fall, Summer, Spring. That's the wheel of life I was talking about." and it sounded so obvious to me in that moment. I realized it was probably my Braucherei speaking to me. Gelidia had taught me something valuable, and like a compass in my head, I could simply feel my direction.

I was facing and walking southwest, and I could see the gate in the distance down between a copse of young trees growing out of the old road. It was strange... but it was also sort of wonderful. I had... kind of a compass! I couldn't see it, I had to think about it, but I could tell what direction I was facing! Way too cool! Gelidia was clearly delighted, watching me learn a little magic before her very eyes, but she was also troubled.

"About the other werewolf, Emily..." Gelidia began,'She's no danger.' I said dismissively, trying to play down my own concerns with a wave of my hand. Gelidia shook her head firmly, stepping in front of me to look me in the eyes.

"No, Emily. She is dangerous, and I think she knows it." She said, and she must have seen how uncomfortable the thought made me because she hesitated.

"She's..." She seemed to take a measure of herself before continuing, thinking carefully about her words as she stared up into my eyes. I let her take her time and think and she eventually came out with"... just not as much of a danger to you maybe. Werewolves, Lycanthropes in general, you're pack monsters, Emily. It's part of why they're such a danger. One becomes two becomes four becomes a pack and... well, then there's a bad moon rising, as they say." Gelidia explained.

"You need to understand... that the fear people have for you, my father's fear, Sir Little's fear, it's not unfounded, it's... not ungrounded in facts." She said, voice soft. But she also didn't stop holding me or staring into my eyes.

"I'm not scared of you, I know better, but..." My stomach dropped a little, but... It was nothing I hadn't guessed at, right? Gelidia wasn't running from me, she didn't intend to, she was preparing me for what was going to come next in Rucksberg and the Republic in general, I was sure. I wasn't the monster people were used to, and I was facing an uphill struggle. All of Lambstock was. This was not going to be easy, that's what she was saying.

I accepted that with a nod, and she nodded back at me, petting my cheek with her thumb.

'I'll be careful, I promise. But I... we... want to help her.' I said, and Gelidia smiled at me, her eyes full of fondness for me.

"I'd expect nothing less. Besides... as I said, you're not a solitary creature. Werewolves... like wolves, need a family, a pack." PACK. Wolf was sitting up, ears perked high on her head, and Gelidia grinned, adding a satisfied"Exaaaactly" half a beat later, like she'd expected it as her eyes glittered at me.

'So... what I don't understand is how she heard me. Don't werewolves not remember anything about when they're transformed?' I asked, and Gelidia shook her head thoughtfully at me.

"It... implies she has some kind of control, but... does that mean she is stable, or that she found another way to control herself?" she said, and I nodded to her. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

'Yeah... that's about as far as I got too. Hey... you can't read my mind?' I asked, and Gelidia shook her head.

"No? I can hear when you're talking to your Wolf, but... only if I'm paying attention. And.. I can feel some emotions from you, but that's about it." She admitted, and I blinked at her. I'd seen as much before. She'd even slept with Wolf and I in my dreams, she could enter that room with its mirror pool in my head, where my Wolf and I lived. She couldn't actually read my thoughts, but... she was as real to me there as she was in my hands, I realized. Maybe, even more so.

'Why... aren't you scared of me?' I asked voice hushed.

'You... never were. Why, if... if I'm so dangerous?' Gelidia blinked a couple times at me, then her blank eyes crinkled at the corners as she grinned at me and let out a chuckle and kissed my wrist as I cupped her cheek.

"I am a ghost. For one, you are no danger to me unless I open myself up to it, and I'm no danger to you unless I do so.." she explained, and in the afternoon light, her hair looked how I always thought of mint chocolate looking as I tasted it - rich, dark green, and smooth.

"For two, you are cute in every shape. It's hard to be scared of you when I'm contemplating rubbing your tummy." she said, and grinned wickedly at me. I hugged her a bit and sighed.

'I'm... gonna help her if I can.' I said, and Gelidia nodded.

'I'm not scared of her... I'm worried for her. She's so thin.'

"I'll help." And that was that. I linked my fingers in hers and we walked back to town together with her in my head like that. I had some cooking to do before the day was done! First though, I sought out the Alderman. Or rather, Albert Albertson wearing his baker's hat rather than the merchant liason. I found the man toiling in his shop, and I could see him lifting things out of a cellar and piling them up.

Flour dust and bags of lumpy things abounded, and his shop, though still badly damaged, at least had a roof again. No second floor any longer, but at least it had a roof, treated cloth wrapped tight over logs. Spelt of course noticed my approach first, and tipped his master off by bounding off through his door to greet me, becoming a bone doggo as he bounded into the sunlight, his spectral flesh vanishing from around him.

I still felt it though, when he gave me a shoulder block of greeting and bludgeoned me with his waggy tail of doom! I smiled, and bent down to pattapat the goodest bone doggie I'd ever met on the head. I felt a soft breath leave me, and I lifted my chin a little on instinct, and... I'd spoken in canine.

"Hello little brother! I am here to talk to Your Friend." I said, and the little dog laid on his back and wiggled his legs a little. No danger, his body language said, Respect, it said. I imagine this was the kind of thing a mafia don might get used to.

'YES YES TALK TO FRIEND HE IS INSIDE' Spelt said joyously, wagging so hard his backside was wigglingd behind him! I pat his spectral tummy, invisible in the sunlight, and rose. As I stood, he flipped and got back to his spooky paws to bound in a happy circle, then spring back into the darkness of Albertson's domain. He led me into the shop, which still lacked a door.

Inside stood the skeleton of the Alderman and the town baker, his blue-glowing eye sockets turning to regard me as spectral flesh manifested a bit around him, the portly figure of the town's carb-smith smiling to see us.

"Hello, Mr. Albertson! Do you have anything to sell?" I asked, and the man himself, in the dimness of his shop's roof, smiled at me, his grin stretching over his still-visible skeletal form. He bowed, cleaning his hands on his apron as he rose.

"Welcome, my friend, welcome! Spelt is very glad to see you again!" He laughed, and I took his hand in my own to shake firmly, much to his approval.

"No, your Wayfinder friends came in earlier looking for fresh goods... I'm afraid I've no oven yet - I only have the makings of bread, but no bread." he said, and I nodded.

"I need a little oil, maybe some yeast? Some sugar? Some flour? Say, four kilograms of flour, a litre of oil, a kilogram of sugar, and I dunno, some yeast?" I asked, and fished out my money pouch. At this point, I had a fair bit of money I figured from selling the soap and for services rendered. More than enough to get some baking supplies, right?

"I... have some maple sugar still, and... flour, yes, and I have yeast as well. Do you... have cooking skills, Hound?" Albertson asked, and I nodded at him.

"Cookery at rank B." I said, and he blinked at that for a moment, then puffed out a breath. He laughed, and shook his head. He was taller than me in my human shape, and pat me on the shoulder in a brotherly way.

"I apologize, I never would have figured you for that, Emily, I must be honest with you. I can spare some things, yes" Albertson said, and made his way into his shop a bit further. I heard some things shifting around a little, and while he worked I bent down to give Spelt a little attention! He was a good bone doggie, and in the shadow like this I could make out the dog's phantasmal form - after all, what dog doesn't like tummy rubs? Heck, I wasn't even a dog and I liked em!

I gave him lots of scritches and pats because he was a good, good boy.

"I will spare you. You are a perfectly acceptable baby and I love you." I informed the dog solemnly in my own language and Spelt gave me such a look!

'You speak like Friend too! That's neat.' he said 'I wish I could!' I held out my hands to him, and he moved between them, let me scoop him up into my arms like I would any puppy. He was cool in my arms, but he felt like any dog, even if he was much lighter. Like any ghost with bones left over, he could manifest enough to let me hold him like a real dog.' He's really good at this, isn't he?' I asked in my head to Gelidia's presence.

"What, manifesting? Yes, I suppose he is. Perhaps it wouldn't occur to the little fellow not to? He'd rank it up fairly quickly. I bet he took a lot of naps for a while until he got it to sufficient rank." Gelidia said. I blinked.

'It takes mana to manifest yourself?' I asked, and she nodded.

"It does. A mage will recharge their mana faster than the rate of depletion with relatively little skill, though. I can manifest myself indefinitely." she said, proudly.

"I doubt that Spelt can, but then again, maybe he has a Sentinel skill that gives him mana back too. Watchmen get that, and I understand that prevailing theory is that sheep and guard dogs often get that sort of skill too." she explained, still only in my mindscape.

"Hey Spelt, what classes do you have?" I asked the little fellow in my arms, and he tilted his head a little.

'Bonehound! Good Boy! Spelt protects Friend! I am a good boy!' he said. I got the impression he wasn't that bright, but heck, I admired the spirit! I nodded at him, and kissed his forehead, my lips brushing spectral fuzz on a head that manifested under my kiss to his knightly little forehead. He took that solemnly, and let me do it, glowing blue eyes wide!

"You are brave, little brother." I said in his language, and in my own, I said"Good Boy!" and the dog gave me a grin as his spectral coat flashed into existence around the skull of his head and he was visible all over for a moment before fading again. That was quite a reaction! I set him down to rise again as his Friend returned with bags of things I accepted easily from his arms.

"Flour" he said, handing four small sacks into my arms"Sugar" as he put two more different colored sacks into my grasp, and then a jar!

"Yeast. The flour is spelt flour, the sugar is maple sugar and you'll need to break off pieces to use it properly. I'd suggest dissolving the chunk in water or grinding it somehow to a powder. About this yeast though." he said, and jiggled the jar a bit. It had a weird yellowy-white paste in it that was full of bubbles, but it seemed... to move, almost, to shift around inside the jar in slow swirls. I blinked at the jar, and inspected it. Revenant Sourdough Yeast, Uncommon, level 1"It... has a level, and...

it's uncommon, like an item?" I asked, baffled!

"Yes!" Albertson said"Yeast is a living thing, miss, a creature in its own right, a type of Ooze. This Yeast is particularly lively. Do you think you could give it a good home?" he asked.

"It's the scion of another Yeast, which I found going a bit feral in my root cellar." he said, and I blinked at the Jar!

"It's... safe for eating?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Oh sure, it'll make better bread than normal yeast. You just need to feed it flour and give it water every couple days and drain off the Hooch, the dark liquid that forms on top of the white stuff in the jar." he explained.

"As you use it, as it becomes older and older, it will level up and become a better and rarer ingredient. There was a man in the capital when I was a boy who had a hundred year old Yeast started by his great grandfather - that sourdough was incredible!" That was so cool! A cooking ingredient that would get stronger with me? Yes please! I wondered if some kind of gardening skill would let me do something similar with fruits and veggies?

"How do I... use it?" I asked, and Albertson nodded.

"Scoop out a bit of the yeast into your dough - do it a few times and you'll get a feel for how much - and keep the jar sealed. When it's bubbly, it's ready to be used. Just let it breathe, if you can. It's pretty tough, it's hard to kill your Yeast, but if you're seeing Hooch, it's hungry and you need to feed it more often." he said. Hooch... sounded like something I could use in my cooking!

"Do you keep your Hooch?" I asked, and he grinned a little at me!

"Aha, so you do have a cooking skill! Yes, I have a couple jars of it I bottled up after filtering it out. Want a jar of that too?" He asked, and I nodded firmly.

"Alright. But a moment." He said, and got a couple more jars. HE returned with one full of a golden liquid he introduced to me as"Sunflower oil." and a jar of nearly black liquid, which smelled sharp in my own nose, strongly so, which he called"Hooch." Oh yeah, that could be useful. My Cookery skill was jumping up and down in my head making happy cook noises! And oil! Hot diggity! It must have shown on his face, because Albertson laughed a little.

"Let's call it five silver for the lot." He said, and I counted out the coins for him carefully.

"Hey, tell me how that starter turns out! I've got to admit I'm curious how it will work in dough." He said, and I nodded easily to him. I gave Spelt a parting pat on the head, and waved as I strode out of the store to leave the Alderman to his work. Gelidia wasn't surprised of course when I returned. She was facing the doorway as I walked in. The others looked up at me and my burdens a beat after I entered.

"That took a while. We assumed you'd stay out to Change tonight and return in the morning." Fel said, and I shook my head.

"Nah, just had to get some things from the Baker." I said, and laid out my things on the counter. Sugar! Flour! Yeast! Hooch! Oil! And tons of fresh veggies from the forest! The Ramps were as stinky as ever, almost violently so, but by now their odor was a warning of deliciousness to come! The mint was another matter and cleared my tubes a little as I set my catch in a little pile! Fairy potatoes came in abundance - the entire bottom layer of my pockets were filled to bursting with the little gems!

And last but not least, wild carrots, and whole queenslace plants, flowers, stalks and all! It was a good haul from the woods. Alfredo looked over my pull and nodded with approval. He picked up my jar of hooch and turned it around and around in his fingers, before nodding as well.

"Revenant Yeast. Huh." He said.

"Yeah... any idea what that means? Can Yeast be undead?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"No. I assume it's special somehow, but... I don't know what that means. I do know that it's a hint about its effect, though. Speeding Yeast rises faster, for example, and Mighty yeast makes bread that gives you endurance, but Revenant yeast? This I have not seen." he admitted.

"I'll try it and see what happens then!" and the innkeeper shook his head.

"Non, it will take something like a whole day to make a loaf of it. I suspect your Cookery skill will give you tips as you try to use it, yes?" He said, and I nodded.

"I'm excited to try out this hooch. I have this idea - like searing the venison I have and then washing it in a sauce until it's all tender?" I said, and Alfredo nodded.

"Ah - braising it, I see. Yes, I think this could work! I will help you to do this." He said, and pulled an apron off the hook.

"Might as well begin showing you a thing or two!" He chuckled and together, we set to work making dinner together. Torch had a grin to pass on to the others. It spread to Fel as well in short order as the scout said "Ohhhh this is going to be good."