Noa might have not been a damsel, but he sure was in distress! About this moment, he hoped for his prince in shining armor to galavant through and whisk him away to safety. Elvethor too, if at least for the party bonus. Well, and maybe the elf was sort of growing on him. He was at least a decent source of information, basically providing a tutorial where there was none.

Now, the bastard royally screwed up, and Noa still had no idea why. What he did know was that he currently faced down cute pointy death, the ribbon on the spear pink. Really, adorable. Kind of. Less so now that it was stopped short, two inches from his right eye. Meanwhile, a second guard pulled his hands back, wrapping them tightly in thick cord. Another did the same for Elvethor, while a fourth uselessly pointed his spear at the elf.

Once he was secured, the guard pushing him after Blondie as she returned to the gates, Noa realized that if he didn’t die here, She-monstrosity was likely to kill him the next time he managed to show his face on the farm. I really wish I got drunk and was taken to the other side of the state, he thought. Oh, the rights he envied having as a Washington State worker. He couldn’t even get worker’s comp here!

Instead, he was being dragged━something he really wished he wasn’t getting used to━past Mini Buckingham Palace and to an... outhouse? Noa prepared himself for an entirely new form of torture that involved being crammed with a man larger than him among the stench of human waste. It couldn’t be that much different than the work he did for She-monstrosity, right? Just claustrophobic.

The sight of descending stairs was a relieving one when the door finally opened, leading down into a legitimate dungeon with cells and stony walls. The only light seeping into the area were the two slits in the ceiling of each of the cells. So dim that Blondie ended up pulling out a glowing stone.

“How come the jail in town isn’t as nice as this?” Noa asked.

Elvethor groaned. “You’re a child. You have no clue how society works,” he whined.

Noa frowned. “Don’t make me regret healing you.”

“You couldn’t even finish!”

“Boys!” Blondie hissed, opening the cell at the end of the hall. “You’re worse than my little sisters.”

Noa stumbled to the earthen floor as he was shoved into the cell first. Before he could get up to move, Elvethor was pushed in next, and Noa coughed all his air out as the bigger man landed on him.

“Your...” he wheezed. “Suffocating!”

The cell door rattled loudly as it closed, and Blondie tossed the glowing stone into the cell before turning around and marching out with her entourage.

“Ugh,” Elvethor moaned, and slowly rolled away, Noa sucking in a big breath as his lungs were freed. “She left us an aether stone. How kind.”

“Your sarcasm reaches new heights,” Noa said, rolling his eyes as he sat up. That made him a tad dizzy.

“Shut up and finish the healing already. My back is killing me,” Elvethor said, shuffling until he was facing away from Noa.

“So, how do these aether stones work?” Noa asked.

Elvethor looked over his shoulder. “You’re joking, right?”

Noa shook his head.

Sighing, Elvethor asked, “How do you think it works?”

“Like my own aether?”

“Wow, you’re so smart!”

“I am not going to heal you if you keep sassing me,” Noa threatened, and quickly realized it wasn’t much of one. “You’d just heal yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Elvethor nodded.

Noa sighed, and tried to pull aether from the stone. The moment he did, he could feel it writhe and resist. It wasn’t just going to give in and listen to him. Scooting towards it, he stretched with his bound hands behind him, and scooped the stone up, along with a hefty sum of dirt. Already, his control over the aether was stronger, and pulling a strand from it was nearly as easy as pulling one from himself. Somehow, that physical connection was key.

Wait, couldn’t he store it in himself too?

Pulling the strand to his chest, he felt the energy liven up colors once again. Raising his brow, Noa pulled in more of the aether, but eventually felt full, like he just had Thanksgiving dinner, only it had nothing to do with his stomach. Rather, there was a weight, albeit one of power, residing in his chest. Taking in anymore was simply physically impossible. I bet with enough practice, I’ll be able to better gauge my aether stores, he thought.

Noa still managed to pull a strand from the aether stone, using that over his newly restored aether stores, and pressed it towards Elvethor’s wound, which, as he suspected, had opened back up during the trip here. With the time and energy he had, he started with [Lesser Examination]. His only clue from the spell was that the wound wasn’t superficial.

Stolen story; please report.

System [Lesser Examination] level 1 → 2.

Apparently that spell was only helpful on superficial wounds. He pulled another strand of aether from the stone, pressing it to the wound for mending, yet his mind wandered towards at what point would [Lesser Examination] actually be helpful for healing? Perhaps a detailed examination of the depth of the wound, or the damage to differing tissues and organs, might give some clues to how he was supposed to shape the aether. Better yet, a full examination of the individual he was healing could further help in other ways, maybe even find other injuries that could be affecting their overall health.

The strand suddenly stretched over Elvethor’s body, then vanished. He gained the impression that the elf was stressed, indicated by an elevated heartrate.

System [Lesser Assessment] acquired.

System [Lesser Assessment] level 1.

Huh, so there was a spell for that. Well, damn. That’s a pretty sweet spell, Noa thought, even if it was a bit lame at level 1. He could tell by looking at Elvethor that the other man was stressed.

Focusing, Noa finally casted [Lesser Mend]. The wound closed back up, but was still red in color.

System [Lesser Mend] level 3 → 4.

Noa grinned. He was really getting the hang of this!

“One more,” he said.

“It already feels so much better,” Elvethor sighed.

After casting lesser mend again, the wound was left as a thin scar.

System [Lesser Mend] 4 → 5

“All done,” Noa said.

“Did you use a [restoration] spell to fix the scar?” Elvethor asked.

Noa blinked. “That’s a thing?”

“Yeah, just try smoothing over the scar with aether.”

Trying to pull another strand of aether from the stone... It was empty. Of course it was. He should have known, given that he could no longer feel anything from the stone anymore. So he pulled aether from himself, then pressed it over the scar, flattening it like a blanket at blending the scar with the surrounding skin.

System [Lesser Restoration] acquired.

System [Lesser Restoration] level 1.

“Okay, now let’s get out of these ropes,” Noa said, dropping the dull aether stone and shuffling until he could use his hands to untie Elvethor. As he fidgeted to even find the knot, he asked, “So, why did we have to sneak in? Couldn’t we have just knocked at the gate or something?”

“Sure, but knocking wouldn’t get us a conversation with Lila.”

“Oh, and this is? You got stabbed in the back, man!” Noa hissed.

“I didn’t exactly think she’d try to kill us!” Elvethor argued, shifting to look at Noa.

“Hey, get your hands back here,” Noa said, and continued on untying him when the elf complied.

“So I guess she’s a little hurt about the way things ended.”

“A little? You don’t say? I’d be hurt to be left at the altar!” Noa said, but added, “But I see why you did it. She’s crazy!”

“Eh, only as much as the next baroness. They’re mostly looking to marry up, you know.”

Noa nodded, drawing his lips into a tight, thin line. “So now you’re a noble?” he asked, his voice slightly higher.

“Technically.”

“You could have paid me to be in your party, couldn’t you have?” Noa asked.

“We already made a deal. Besides, I’m a noble by reputation, not by birth. It didn’t exactly come with money,” Elvethor said.

“You’re killing me, Smalls.” Noa finally got one knot undone, only to find three more behind it. Geez.

“You realize you’re shorter than me, right? Or is this some sort of short man complex I hear you humans have sometimes?”

“It’s just a quote from a mov━uh, a play, I mean, from back home.” Wherever the hell “home” is, Noa thought, not that he really cared at the moment. He got through the second knot. “Remind me why we sought out your ex-fiancee?”

“To add her to the party.”

“Oh, that couldn’t go horribly wrong,” Noa rolled his eyes, finishing with the third knot.

“I think we got through the worst of it. Admittedly, I kind of expected her to be in a skirt at this time of day.”

“I get the distinct feeling that skirts don’t stop very many women around these parts,” Noa said, the fourth knot practically unraveling itself.

“Fair point,” Elvethor said, slipping from his ropes. He pulled his hands forward, rubbing his wrists, then stood up. Leaning over, he patted Noa on the shoulder. “Here, I’ll go talk to her and get us out of this.”

“What?” Noa blinked, watching as the elf moved to the cell door. “How do you expect to get out of here?” he asked.

Grabbing a bar on the door, Elvethor looked back at Noa, and gave a sinister grin as he pointed at the lock. “She didn’t lock it. Means she still likes me,” he said, then swung the door out and stepped from the cell.

“Hold up! Eliaz! Come back here!” Noa called after, and shuffled up to his knees, then his feet, and moved to the cell door as Elvethor closed it. This time, there was a click.

“Oops. Guess it was kind of locked,” Elvethor said, a knowing smile on his face.

“No, no, no, untie me,” Noa pleaded. “Do not leave me in here to go face Blondie the Barbarian all on your own. You won’t survive!”

“I think I’ll be just fine. Why don’t you go ahead and relax for a bit? I’ll come get you later.” How very Thor of you. Run off to danger all by yourself!

“Curse... you...” What a bizarre swear, “Bastard!”

Elvethor chuckled. Oh, he was enjoying this far too much. The elf made his way out of the dungeon, and Noa huffed, trying to pull on the cell door with his foot, then kicking it when it didn’t budge.

“Damn!”