Come morning, I was rather glad that I had used my blood magic the night before, otherwise I was quite sure my head would try to kill me. Just thinking of the amount of wine I had drunk, as tasty as it had been, made me stumble a little as I made my way to the bathroom. Checking on Sigmir told me that she seemed to be mostly fine, if rather dehydrated and would likely be in a bit of pain, once she woke up. For now, she seemed to be stuck in a deep sleep, prompting me to crawl back into bed, gently snuggling up to her while letting a trickle of carefully controlled magic flow into her, removing the last traces of alcohol from her system while replenishing her body. It was a bit of tricky magic, to provide the needed fluids without waking her, but I managed.

“You had fun last night.” Lenore chuckled over our mental connection and I felt that she was taking a glance at my memories of the night. She was especially amused by the fact that I had made sure to use magic to essentially cure myself of a poison, while drinking more and more of that poison, a form of behaviour she simply couldn’t understand. While a part of me agreed that it was a strange custom, there were times when it simply felt right to drink, especially when the wine served was so tasty.

Thinking of the tasty wine, I realised that a certain pair of dancers had returned to our table regularly, to quench their thirst with wine, which made me realise that the two of them were liable to suffer, once they woke up. To help or not to help, that was the question. Thinking of the amusement Adra had shown multiple times when I had been suffering under the after-effects of magical experimentation, I decided I should go and help them. At least help them, after I made them suffer a little.

“Love, you are looking a little scary right now.” Sigmir told me, as I was trying to leave the bed stealthily. Her words made me realise that my lips had curled into a smile, when I thought about my plans.

“Don’t worry about it.” I assured her, my smile turning genuine when I focused on her. “Does your head hurt?” I asked, gently caressing her temple as I did.

“No, I’m fine.” she replied, while stretching her body, reminding me so very much of a dog, or maybe wolf, in that moment, especially when she gave me a smile that let her canines show.

“I’ll wake the others and we can go to sell the materials we gathered in the mountains, maybe visit the Adventurers' Guild to see if there are appropriate quests, is that okay with you?” I asked, carefully keeping any kind of mischievousness out of my voice, barely succeeding.

“Good idea.” she nodded, before continuing, “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather continue moving on, instead of staying in this city.” she admitted, looking a bit uncomfortable. Nodding in agreement, I kissed her cheek, before making my way out of the room, while she went to freshen up a little.

Walking to the nearby door, I realised what the cause of our shared discomfort was. Out in the wilds, you had to pay attention to every noise, making sure that nothing was sneaking up on you. The vast majority of noise was simply caused by the wind in the trees or small, harmless animals, easily ignored, leaving only the rare, few causes of concern. Filtering them had become a subconscious habit but here, in the city, the noises were different, a constant din, a lot louder than the harmless sounds of nature, keeping us in a constant state of vigilance. We would adapt, likely quite quickly, if we stayed in the city but if we did, we’d have to be extra-careful once we moved on, back into the wilds.

Looking at the door of Adra’s door, I placed my hand against the lock and channelled some power into it.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Do you think this’ll work?” Lenore asked in my mind, as the power I had inserted coalesced into Ice, forming a crude key using the lock around it as a mold.

“Maybe. The door doesn’t look to be spelled or magical in any way, so it should work.” I responded, having made sure of that beforehand.

Moments later, my concerns for security in the inn rapidly shot up, when the key easily turned and the soft click of a lock told me that it had actually worked. Gently pushing open the door, making sure that I made as little noise as possible, I snuck in and closed the door behind me.

What I saw inside made me grin widely, Adra was stretched out on one bed, on top of the sheet, with Rai cuddled up to her, his head resting on her shoulder. The two of them looked completely disheveled, yet also adorable, to the point that I wanted to bully them, just a little.

Or maybe a lot.

If Sigmir would have seen me, she likely would have told me that I looked scary, when I stretched out my hand with a smile on my face, forming a set of runes. Cold, Mist and DIamond Dust, a triangle that allowed me to form an icy cloud of particles, a little moist and incredibly cold, cold enough to make me shiver, just a little. Using Ice-Magic, I let that cloud drift over to the two of them, keeping it hover right above them, careful not to make any large, magical moves that might wake them.

Once the cloud was in position, I called out, quite loudly, “Wakey, wakey, rise and shine!” while I pushed the cloud down, covering the two of them.

The howls of outrage, coupled with the moans of pain were music to my ears, to the point that I made a mental note to get the sound-file later. The note was amended moments later, when Adra tossed Rai from the bed in her flailing, causing him to land on the floor in a wet and shivering mess, looking like a kicked puppy.

“Good Morning!” I added, still speaking quite loudly, causing the two of them to wince in further pain. The look Adra sent my way made Lenore, looking through my eyes, laugh in her Hallow, luckily the two of them couldn’t see her. On the other hand, I was training my poker-face, trying to present a look of wide-eyed innocence. I doubted it fully worked but I didn’t mind. Maybe I would come to regret my actions in the future, but that was a problem for future-me to deal with.

“I hate you so much.” Adra whispered, her voice hoarse and filled with pain and suffering.

“Poor dear. Did you overindulge last night and the Gods punished you for it?” I asked, remembering the time that particular shoe had been on my foot, back in Kolyug. Just to add insult to injury, I move over to Rai, banishing the moisture and diamond dust from his body, while letting a trickle of Blood Magic flow into his body to help with the restoration of normal function. I even handed him a waterskin from his pack, helping him to get into a sitting position to drink, while keeping an eye on Adra. From the rocking motion of her body, I was quite sure she was in pain, but I wouldn’t just help her, at least not right away. I was having far too much fun for that.

“Thank you, Teacher.” Rai told me, speaking quite softly even if his body should be back to normal. Maybe it was just a bit of lingering discomfort, possibly psychosomatic, that was far beyond my ability to heal.

“You are welcome, student. I hope you enjoyed yourself last night, but overindulging is not a habit you should get into. Once in a while is fine, though.” I told him, my voice perfectly measured, if a little loud. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Adra wince, holding her head in pain.

“I hate you so much.” she whispered, barely audibly. Loud enough for me to hear, though, prompting me to look over to her.

“What did you say? I could swear you meant to say, ‘Oh, merciful Morgana, please grant this unworthy one the grace of your healing, I beseech you.’” I suggested, my voice still loud enough to prompt another wince.

“Oh, merciful Morgana, please grant this unworthy one the grace of your healing, I beseech you.” she dutifully repeated after me, even if her tone was far from graceful. Still, I did have my fun, at her expense, so I wasn’t too fussed about it, stepping next to the bed and getting to work. Nonetheless, I made another mental note, not to get into a situation where she might be tempted to take revenge, at least not until she found humour in the situation of the morning.