Chương 72: Chapter 70 - A Perfect Moment

"Um... Mom?" Sooty asked as we left the lunch party. The slight concern and worry in her voice was palpable, and I looked to her. It still felt strange for her to call me that but for pete's sake, she hadn't even been my daughter for a week! Part of me was shocked how quickly I'd simply accepted her existence and made her my daughter, how quickly my heart had snapped her up and was carrying her, metaphorically, along by the scruff of the neck.

WE DEAL WITH NOW Wolf said in my head, and that made as much sense as anything else. WE HAVE HER NOW, AND SHE HAS US. THIS IS ENOUGH. DO NOT GET HUMAN ABOUT IT she went on, and shit, she was absolutely right.

"Yes, honey? What's wrong?" I asked, meeting her eyes. She politely averted hers and looked at my chin, and I squeezed her hand a little. She squeezed back, and looked up again into my eyes. She didn't need to be afraid of offending me - she was mine. She wasn't challenging me or something crazy like that! MINE my wolf said through my body language and also I WILL PROTECT YOU I KNOW she replied in the same way, silently. I'd never spoken to another person like that and it was strange, but...

we'd both understood, clearly!

"When um, do we change?" She asked, and I realized she'd never actually analyzed it. She'd dreaded it. I nodded a little at her, petting the back of her palm with my hand again.

"In a few hours. You'll start to feel the warning before it happens - I'll let you know when I start to feel it, and we'll go for a walk so we can change together. Alright?" I asked, and she bit her bottom lip as she thought about it. Then, she nodded and her uncertain expression became more resolved.

"Alright..." she said in a tiny voice"... this is going to hurt." she said with a sigh and a measure of certainty. I smiled in a 'what can you do' kind of way, one of those flat sort-of smiles you'd give to somebody at a supermarket or a gas station when you accidentally made eye contact.

"Yeah..." I sighed. I couldn't protect my little girl from this.

"It will get easier on you as it ranks up but it still hurts for me, too" I said. She sighed, with a canine litte whine knit into her breathy exhalation as she did, and I leaned to the side to lick her forehead! She squeaked, and raised her arm and made an adorable'buhhh?' noise of confusion, and wiped it off on her sleeve. So I licked her again, scooping her up, and bit the bridge of her nose! She squeaked and giggled, squirming, pushing me off of her a bit, only to capture my hand and bite me back!

Not hard exactly, but just hard enough to be a little sharp with her pointy canine teeth.

"Oh, feeling playful?" I asked as she failed to let go! She made a soft growly noise, and her eyes became more lupine even as I watched. She emitted another soft growl, and tug-tugged quite gently, so I tugged her this way and that a little, giving her a lopsided grin. I used that hand to tug her against my side and then scoop her up to give her a piggyback ride! Gelidia watched this lupine exchange and parental display with a weird look on her face, then reached up to pat our Sooty on the back a little.

The girl made a very puppy-like growly-grunty noise and tried to bite her shade mother too, and we both said, Gelidia and I, at the same time"Gen tle!" in exactly the same tone of voice. Sooty blushed, but Gelidia let the girl bite her a little, just, capture one of her alabaster fingers in her mouth and nibble a little as her non-wolfy mother watched her expression and... reached up to pet her head. Sooty leaned into the touch a little, and stared into her other mother's blank eyes, releasing her finger.

Gelidia made a Sooty sandwich by hugging me from behind, trapping our little girl between us, so I... scooped her up too! Gelidia squeaked a bit, and said something about her dignity, but since she was laughing as she said it I felt I could safely ignore it as I hefted both of my girls onto my back. Then my little girl hugged me from behind around the neck. and just held on tight.

"What time um... are you going?" she asked, voice hushed.

"Whenever the wayfinders are ready, but probably tomorrow morning. We'll hunt a bit tonight, you and me, and I'll see if we can't practice our Lycanthrope core's skills a bit." I said, and she nodded - I saw it clearly with my Wolf-Ren, and her little smile.

"I... I'm nervous about the change, n-not looking forward to that part but um... this might be... fun?" She said, and I smiled over my shoulder at her as we turned the corner of the fountain and headed in the direction of the inn proper.

"Sure! Running, hunting, it's a blast. But you know the best part? Our senses." I said, and Sooty blinked as if that wasn't what she'd expected me to say!

"The world is so dang beautiful when you're changed! Everything looks so different, and the Wolf in us feels things so keenly!" I gushed, and Gelidia nuzzled my neck on the other side.

"You make it sound like a wonderful adventure, my Love" Gelidia said, amused"That's because it kind-of is!" and I bounced a little as I trotted along. Sootpaw seemed to relax a bit, nestling down on my shoulder with a little sigh, burying her face between her arm and her neck as her grip gradually loostened. I only realized the kid began to doze when her soft breathing became steady and slow. I figured it was like two o'clock in the afternoon or so.

I think she is sleeping, I said into my headspace, the little lake inside my mind. Gelidia nodded at me in the real world, and smiled, shifting off of my back very carefully so she wouldn't disturb the sleepy walf-ling, and moved ahead of us. When I arrived, it was to find everyone - the adventurers, Alfredo, and the newly dubbed Burgomaster, a hawk-nosed, bookish little nerd of a man who was I recalled named James Stockpot, were standing quietly, waiting to receive us.

Fel silently squee'd at the sight of the sleepy Sooty, and Torch smiled a bit as Mr. Stockpot and Mr. Gehrman quietly discussed the floor and what Alfredo would need, not just for the floor, but for furniture and bedding and things, supplies, that kind of thing. Stockpot glanced my way, turned back to his clipboard, then did a double take! He didn't shout, didn't exclaim or get too excited, he just moved over towards me, and I realized I'd never met him in the flesh before, so to speak.

Last time, I'd been in my hybrid shape. Glancing at my child with interest, he offered a smile, the skeleton's spectral body fully manifested around him, the bones only visible if he shifted into the light, which he seemed to avoid doing. I nodded at him, and nodded to Alfredo. A brief, very quiet discussion had me carrying Sooty up the stairs, led by Alfredo and followed by the Burgomaster and Gelidia.

We'd been given a key to our room already, so I fished it out and had it ready and waiting for unlocking the door once we were led to it! It was actually the room I recognized as having belonged to the Giantess whose clothes had been so helpful to me when I'd first investigated the inn. In fact, a couple of her bras were the lids to some of my improvised mug-jars of tar glue and other such things. It was cleaned out now, and it smelled like... well, it smelled like sage soap!

I found myself grinning a little as I found a new set of bedsheets of downy off-white, four fluffy pillows - two in House Windbinder's dark green and two white - and a huge fluffy quilt, also in house green primarily, but with... Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.... cute fluffy giant bats, dancing skeletons, and... golden werewolves on it. I blinked at it, tried to make sense of what I was seeing and realized... I could recognize scenes from...

my arrival in lambstock. I could pick out a scene of me freeing Spelt, of Fel and I tearing down the gate, of Roxala struggling with Sir Gotthardt, of Torch fighting the Stormhawks with crossbow and blade, of me struggling with Sir Little, of a heroic charge, with Gelidia in front on my back, shining sword raised high, backed up the Staff, the House's guard and retainers, Roxala, her brothers, Torch, Fel, and others, opposing a force of almost comically evil Trubbions and Great Gourdons and Gnarlics and Carroots.

Finally, a truly epic scene of a struggle between Gelidia and her Father, with me on one side, Sir Gotthardt on the other, her side light, his side dark, and... at the end of that panel, the Wizard Felorikaan saving my life, drawing searing red fibres from my heart as I bowed my back in pain. My jaw droppped - it was... wow. It hadn't even been a week yet, had it? I knew immediately who had made it, even before I sank the mana to inspect it.

Story-Quilt Comforter with removable Duvet, of Masterwork Quality, New, Crafted by Caramel Spruce A Treasure of House Windbinder Depicts the deeds of the Duchess Gelidia Windbinder and those of her then-consort, Emily Goldtail, the heroic Hound of Lambstock, in their efforts to free Lambstock from the late Duke Edmund Windbinder IV, Lord of Dead Mists. Gelidia reacted much the same, staring, and Alfredo grinned, watching our reactions with apparent delight.

Gelidia turned her face to him, mouth still wide open, and covered it with her hands as she moved to hug him tightly! Alfredo smiled and hugged my beloved back, and I looked on, smiling. Then, in a matter of fact kind of way, I lifted one corner of the blanket and sat on the edge of the bed.

Sooty's hat was taken and set on a hook nearby, and my little girl didn't do more than grunt in soft confusion as I took care to unbuckle and set aside her new dress's outermost layers to fold it over a chair, and then I was laying her on the bed carefully, tugging off the boots she'd gotten as well after unbuckling them. She was exhausted - just watched me do it. I smiled at her, and she gave a sleepy smile in return, before I tugged up the blanket again over her and bent to kiss her forehead.

"If you sleep through the change... it won't hurt." I murmured softly. She looked at me in sleepy wonder, and smiled, snuggling down.

"If you don't wake before the change, I'll come get you after, okay? Sleeping through it is -the best-." I said, and she nodded at me. I kissed her forehead and she kissed my jaw back, and then snuggled down for a really, really good nap. Rising, the three adults - myself, Alfredo, and Gelidia - quietly departed. We didn't speak or make a noise, just calmly walked down the stairs.

The Burgermeister was nowhere in sight, but we found the little bone-rabbit man (not literally, but my Wolf's description of him was too good) sitting with the adventurers and chatting quite happily with Fel. I exchanged a nod with Torch and Roxala, and moved to sit with them while Gelidia, on her own initiative, moved to sit with the other nerds, her people.

"Oh my World Almighty, you're a mom." Roxala teased, and I grinned a little"Looks good on you, Em." she said, and gave me one of her tooth-rattling back slaps.

"She's a cute kid."

"She is - She's doin a heckin' eep." I said. Roxala and Torch looked at me like I was having a stroke. Expression serious, I went on to inform them"She eebies and neebies to sleeby." I said, all serious"She is experiencing critical levels of being a sleebchy lil gal." Roxala gathered a question from the growing throng"... What?" and I grinned like an idiot at her." What language was that? The... the hell you say? Eebie neebie?!" and I promptly didn't offer any kind of explanation.

I just nodded solemnly and pat her on the shoulder, rising to make us all some tea. GOODNIGHT, MISS THE PUP Wolf said, streeeeetching out in my head to lounge about. With a start, I realized that... she wasn't in the pool. She was out - and up with me. Wasn't she in the pool before? CAME OUT. SUN IS NICE. But you're in my head... we're in our head, I mean. YOU FEEL GOOD. THE SUN IS SHINING. And...

it was. I blinked up at the sky in my headscape as I powered the water rune and fueled up the stove with my mana.

At this point of mastery, I was getting confident in how much mana I would need to spend - four and a bit mana - to fill the kettle I'd gotten, and how much I'd need to put into the stove and how quickly to push it in to determine both how long it would stay hot and how hot it got - about three mana a second for three seconds for ten minutes of heat at three bubbles on the dial, more than hot enough to boil the water without being too hot. I am getting used to the way things work here. Do you feel the same?

Wolf leaned against me companionably and mlemmed so cutely that I just had to rub her... my? ears. She didn't seem to mind. In fact, she pressed against my hand a little and shifted so my fingers went to certain spots. I got the message, and dug into those, and the huge wolven self inside my soul, I supposed, part of me, luxuriated in the sensation, spreading a sense of ease and comfort in my heart that felt... very, very good.

I realized I'd formed my tail in the real world without noticing, and the texture of the room's noises had changed as well - I'd formed my lupine ears as well. I didn't comment, just... went through the meditative movements of making tea, taking my time, each movement as careful and precise as I could make it. It felt... right, doing it like this, it felt so peaceful and everything was somehow right with the world, in this moment.

This moment in time, with the soft chuckles and chatter of my friends around me, with my pup safe and clean and fed upstairs taking a nap, with my Wolf content as could be. I could feel the sun on my shoulders, in my mindscape and knew... it was one thing. It couldn't always be like this, it was a transient thing, but it was... A Perfect Moment. I could feel a notification waiting for me as I enjoyed the moment, with the patience of a parent waiting to give something to a good and obedient child.

I accepted of course! The World had been so kind to me so far, I felt, trials and all. Your [LIFE, SYNERGY] Samu skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank C costs 1 Peasant Skill Point. Oh! That skill hadn't improved in a good long while. I got the impression I wasn't doing much in the dungeon to level it, really, but it had been making steady, slow progress. This act of meditation, of noticing how good I felt, of letting this perfect moment happen, it was what had pushed me over the edge of rank C.

Of course I accepted, and sank the skill point! I had three peasant skill points, after all, and Samu had probably saved my life a couple times. [LIFE, SYNERGY] Samu, Rank C: 0% - Perfection can be found in every moment, if you but know how to grasp it. Your stamina usage while working is further reduced, and you have become able to enter a flow state under the right circumstances with expenditure of mana. Under the right circumstances, I could enter a flow state? What was... flow? I could sense a kind of...

button inside me, one that I could sense would take some mana to hold, to press. That wasn't literally what it was, but it was how my mind kind of understood it, so... I pushed it.... and nothing happened. No mana expended, no effect. Not the right circumstances? It was a meditation skill that gave me the ability, one grounded in labor, right? So, I decided to try my new skill again, this time... I'd wash a dish.

I scooped one out of the sink, one of the wooden bowls I'd made yesterdays dinner in, and saw there were a few dishes in the sink. The tea was going, so... why not? I turned on the tap, and began to work. As I did, I pushed the button. Again nothing happened. Huh. I read the skill description again. Perfection could be found in every moment... if you but know how to grasp it? I looked from the dish in my hand to the sink, then to the water.

I could hear my friends talking, I could feel their presence with my Wolf-Ren. I grasped for the moment. It didn't feel perfect anymore, but... I grounded myself in the moment, felt the water in the tap, felt the dish in my head, heard and focused on the voices, on the sound of running water, on the presence of my daughter sleeping peacefully upstairs, and... pushed the button again. Ten mana vanished, and... Time stopped. Okay, that was a bit melodramatic, time didn't actually stop, but...

everything seemed to slow way the heck down in my perceptions, while my mind remained at the same speed and I felt as though my consciousness had become a scalpel's edge. My body felt so heavy in this state, like moving it was a monumental effort, but... a little more mana sank, and it became much easier to do. I watched as water falling in a steady stream splashed, watched individual droplets rise from the sink like shimmering little jewels, and... I simply understood how to clean the dish.

My mind felt fantastic, I don't think I'd ever consciously focused like this before! I began to do the dishes, and let my mind naturally focus on the task, catching droplets to polish away the evidence of the meal of the night before. I could smell Roxala's scent on this one, and washed it away. One was especially dirty - and had Sooty's scent. It'd been the one I'd taken out into the woods, so that tracked.

Dish after dish became clean under my hands, and as the last came clean, I realized I'd spend about forty mana all told and let go of the button inside me. I tried to think of the last stretch of time. It'd felt like... an hour of time, but...... about five minutes had passed. And the rack was full of very, very clean dishes now. I stared. And, I realized, I wasn't the only one. Only Roxala and Torch, the closest to me, had noticed anything at all, and I blinked back at them. They blinked at me.

"... What?" I asked