The corpse of the Horned Man was unmoving now. The sacred glade had returned to normality; gone was the mist and the silvery white moss that'd hung to the ground and the trees had returned to looking as they should as well. The stone monuments ringing the clearing were merely old stones once more and no strange lights flitted through the air.

"Pery," Rosaria reached out to touch me, but she stopped short of laying her fingers on my wounds.

My eyes scanned her own injured side. The cut she'd received from the Horned Man was deep, but she wasn't in any risk of bleeding out that I could see.

I glanced next to Mile. The dog didn't look any worse for wear, despite the decision he'd made. But the irises of his once big, brown eyes were now a vibrant white; it wasn't quite unnerving, but it was striking. He came up to me and nuzzled my thigh. I smiled as best I could at him.

I didn't ask, he admitted with a little guilty.

It was always your choice, I told Mile. We'll see how it goes, okay?

You're hurt, he commented; I knew he could feel my pain over our bond.

I'll be okay.

He nuzzled me again.

I then looked back up to Rosaria.

"The potions on my right thigh. I need four of them," I told her with pain in my voice. "Now. Please."

"Okay," she said and gingerly removed two of the potions of rest.

The potions generally worked over four hours, simulating an hour of sleep each, but tolerance could be built quickly. Drinking four was definitely too high of a dose, but it wouldn't kill or especially injure me. It also wouldn't be as effective at such a large dose, and somewhat of a waste of the potions, but still.

What I wouldn't do to get my hands on the recipe for a health or mana potion, but such elixirs were expensive and rare things.

I looked my friend in her eyes; I could only imagine what I looked like now. I didn't feel like I looked good. "Help me drink them, please."

She uncorked one of the viles and hesitantly poured its contents into my mouth.

"Are you sure you want another one?" she asked me. "I don't know what this is."

"Yes," I croaked as the adrenaline of our fight with the spirit rapidly began to leave me feeling like I might start shaking.

She frowned and fed me three more of the potions.

"Arthic," I said and looked up to the injured squire-captain, who was now kneeling against his war-maul. "How badly are you bleeding?"

Arthic was holding his free hand to his stomach. The gambeson that had been revealed when his cuirass had been ripped off was also shredded where the Horned Man had caught him with its claws. His fresh blood stained the torn portions of the padded coat.

"I will live. My endurance is apprentice tier," he said.

Mine isn't. I blinked. My vision was already swimming. I felt drowsy. But I could already feel the potions Rosaria had fed me spreading a wired alertness out into my body from my stomach. I imagined I'd have a really bad headache later, and it'd take a few days for the potions to work on me again, but I needed to stay energetic enough to make sure everyone was okay.

"Rosaria," I said as my eyes hummed in my skull. "If you could look in the smaller of the pouches on my belt, I need you to open the one on the right and pull out the yellow leaves and the big root that looks a little like ginger. In the pouch on the left, you'll see a roll of bandages. There's a mortar and pestle in my component pouch, at the bottom of it. I need you to get that too."

My friend did as I asked. "What am I making?"

"Something to stop our bleeding and keep us from getting sick. Grind the yellow leaves with the root," I told her. "Make sure the ground leaves are mixed as evenly as you can in the root's pulp."

I'd already enhanced the two ingredients Rosaria removed from my medicinal pouch with [enhance herbal effect] before ever leaving Highmount; it was a habit I'd fallen into as I'd continued to search for ways to avoid spending mana in moments of need.

The paste I had Rosaria making wouldn't be as effective as [mending], but my preparation and enchanting of its ingredients would allow it to rapidly staunch bleeding and prevent any mundane infection.

"Is this alright?" Rosaria asked me and showed me the result of her following of my instructions.

"It's good," I said, my heart was beating faster than I would've liked as it my body tried to process the four potions of rest I'd consumed. "Unroll those bandages and spread the paste on the sections of it that will directly touch flesh. Garron? Can you wrap Rosaria's injury?"

"I can bandage you both," my friend said.

I sighed. "Thank you. Her first and Arthic too if he thinks he needs it."

"You're hurt the most out of the two of you," Arthic said. "It'll be you whose tended to first."

"It's just how it's done, Pery," Rosaria agreed.

"Alright," I said, not feeling up to arguing. "Thank you."

Rosaria and Garron worked together to tend to everyone as I had instructed. Having my arms wrapped was especially painful, and I winced as Garron did it, but I did my best not to jerk away from the bandages too much.

My heart was slowing. And I felt my mana slowly returning as the potions of rest did their work of washing away a lot of my weariness—but nowhere near all of it. The salve on the bandages was already forcing my injuries to scab over as well.

We were all sitting now.

I found that I could move my limbs somewhat, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. And I didn't want to venture back through the woods without being able to wield my sword.

"Rosaria, Arthic," I said. "Not long from now, I'll have the mana to heal each of us enough to get us all back to Forbas without it being too painful a journey. The potions I had Rosaria give me were potions of rest; I took too many, but I have enough for each of you to have one. They'll give you a little energy and help your skills and spells refresh over the next hour."

"Are you going to be okay?" Rosaria asked me.

"They're a lot more medicinal than recreational," I said. "My head would be spinning too much without them—and they do speed healing a little. The amount I took will give me a tolerance to them and I won't be able to use them for a few days."

"I would welcome one once you have healed yourself; I have very little mana left," Garron said, and then looked to the corpse of the Horned Man. "And I am tired. We still have to harvest the at least the spirit's core before we leave; and whatever we need of the body."

I looked to the corpse of the monster. I was glad the numina was dead, but I also felt strangely about it, despite the elation and pride being present in my mind too. The spirit was no doubt a middling one, but it had been both formidable to us and ancient to any. A long life had been ended by our hand—though it had been necessary.

"I for one think we did well for almost dying," Arthic said with a smile.

For some reason, the squire-captain's expression, despite all of my exhaustion and pain made me smile too. And then laugh. It hurt to laugh, but I laughed all the same.

"I can hardly believe the spirit was of the bronze rank," Garron added.

"Some bronze rank," Rosaria scoffed and then chuckled to herself slightly. "That really wasn't a fair fight."

"No, hardly fair," Arthic said with a dry wit. "We did gang up on him. That was rude of us."

We all laughed at that. At the absurdity of the idea that we had held the upper hand in the fight. We may have won through our strength partially, but it had been our teamwork and numbers alone that had saved us. The spirit had far and away been our superior in strength, mana, and raw power.

"I imagine the guild was wagering on it when they assigned the quest to us," Garron added. "They really do not pay enough."

"Try being a squire," Rosaria said. "We're getting paid more for this quest than Arthic and I make in a month of hunting monsters for the Host."

"True, but we gain board, lodging, and priceless training. And it's not about the money," Arthic said to the girl.

Rosaria fixed him with a doubting gaze.

He good-naturedly acquiesced after a moment. "But the money will also be nice."

***

The grass of Forbas was less green than it had been even when we'd first arrived. It looked more normal now, less noticeably verdant and bountiful. The spirit's curses had been removed, but so too had its blessings. I inwardly wondered what the loss would mean for the future of Forbas.

On the brightest of sides, the fauns were surprisingly children again when we returned to the village. Whatever had aged them, whether it was the Horned Man's magic, or existing in the strangeness of the ethereal, the years had faded from them after we'd slain the spirit who'd kidnapped them.

All of the parents of the children we'd saved, and most of the kids themselves, were gathered around us on the edge of Forbas.

"We won't forget what you have done for us," Adler told us.

"None of us will," Anderson agreed. "You gave us our children back."

"We're very grateful for what you've done," Michaella said from beside her husband; she appeared somewhat exhausted, but she was sober.

Arthic responded for us; the squire's captain's injuries had been healed by my hand, though all of us but Garron each had a few new scars. "We wish we could have done more."

All but one of the children had been returned. All but one.

"Evil takes," Adler said solemnly, and his eyes regarded Rosaria especially. "But we do not have to give up on facing it, or on rejoicing when its advance is halted, just because we can't always stop it from taking ground from us entirely."

My childhood friend's eyes were lowered, lost in thought.

Cindi stepped from behind her father's leg and startled Rosaria by hugging her.

Rosaria's arms hesitated to return the child's hug, but she eventually did so.

The little girl pulled back slightly and looked up to her. "You fight monsters, right?"

Rosaria's eyes once more became glossy. "I'm trying to."

"Then you don't have to cry. You're a good person," Cindi said.

Rosaria reached up and cupped her hand across her own mouth for a moment.

Cindi watched her reserved, but emotional face. "I'm sorry."

"No," Rosaria said. "Thank you, Cindi. You're going to be okay too, alright?"

The girl hugged her again.

"What she says is true," Adler agreed as the two broke apart and regarded Rosaria and I. "I have never soon ones so young be so brave."

Rosaria wiped as inconspicuously at the corners of her eyes as possible. "Will your ancestors return?"

"Among those eldest who were lost, many may still be drawn back by our shared memories," Adler accepted the change of topic. "The household spirits are weakened by what happened, but their shrines are untouched, and they will reawaken soon if proper respect is shown to them. A number of the eldest who were enshrined in the shrine house, however, may be lost to us."

"There's no hope for them?" Arthic asked.

"It is our duty to protect our guardians and guides as much as they do us. Our failure to do so may be a lasting one," the custodian said solemnly, but then his expression lightened with hope. "But I will tell their tales to everyone each night. We will perform the rites and hope our memory calls them back from the ethereal. We will have faith. And we will make offerings for the Saints' intercession."

"I will make offerings on your behalf as well upon our return to Highmount," Arthic promised.

Adler inclined his head. "It would be most welcome."

"There is the matter of our contract," Garron said.

Anderson stepped forward. "I'll sign it off now."

I withdrew the rolled contract from one of my pouches and handed it to the man.

He signed the contract and returned it to me. When he did, I saw that he had written on it the unique codeword the guild had given only him when he'd put the request in.

"Thank you," I said. "I'm glad we could do what we could."

"You've earned it," he said to me. "Money can't compare with what you've done for me."

***

"Do you believe there to be be more spirits in these woods?" Arthic asked me.

Happenstance trotted along beneath me. "Possibly. But they're not all supposed to be like that one was."

"I would hope not."

"I believe we would all know more about them if they were always such a threat," Garron offered.

"Yes, you're probably right," Arthic agreed. "Still, I do not think I hope to meet another anytime soon."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I don't know," I said. "but I do wonder how many of the spirits of the forests here my father knew. He only ever mentioned one."

"Which one was that?" Rosaria asked me. "The one who taught him magic, right?"

"That's the one," I agreed. "Her name was Eurynome."

A bird called out loudly from a branch directly above us and took off into flight. My eyes shifted to it. As did Mile's.

Different, the dog informed me from where he trotted beside Happenstance and passed what he saw into my own eyes.

Mile's new sight allowed him to see far more than I ever could. And, in his spirit sight, the departing bird above us glowed with far more mana than it should've had.

Is it dangerous? I asked him telepathically.

No? Just a bird, Mile said, as if my question was a curious one to ask.

I sighed. Even through Mile's new eyes, it was true that the bird's overabundance of mana didn't look malevolent in nature. But neither of us had much experience with his newly absorbed trait either.

Something about the timing of the avian's departure just sat oddly with me.

"Are you okay?" Rosaria asked me.

"Yes," I replied. "Mile just saw a bird with a lot of mana."

"Is that normal?"

Garron regarded her. "No. That is odd."

"Another monster or spirit?" Arthic asked me.

"I don't know. It's already flown away. I don't think it was a threat."

Just a bird, Mile repeated to me in my head.

We don't know that, I told him.

We just hunted, Mile argued. The big one was much bigger. Little one is just a bird.

Size isn't everything, I replied. But you're probably right.

Mile barked in appreciation of his small victory.

"Did he see something else?" Arthic asked me.

"No, he's just arguing with me about how the bird was smaller than the spirit we killed," I replied. "So I apparently shouldn't be worried about it."

"Hmm," Arthic hummed.

Rosaria laughed conspiratorially.

"What?"

"It's just that you two argue in one another's heads often," Garron revealed.

"I'm afraid it's true. I caught you two starring at each other the other night for a good while," Arthic agreed. "You seemed embroiled."

I remembered the arguement Arthic was talking about.

"He was arguing that I should let him eat sicklis berries," I said. "They're poisonous."

Good berries, Mile corrected me. I ate them before.

"They were not!" I said to him out loud. "And you did not."

Arthic chuckled. Rosaria snorted. Garron laughed heartily.

My indignation faded away as my party pointed out how ridiculous my and Mile's disagreements must look to others.

"He likes roran berries," I mumbled. "Sicklis berries have pointed leaves. Roran berries are rounded. Sicklis berries make your tongue blue and send you to the tree line."

Looked tasty, Mile argued.

"Are you right, Mile?" Rosaria spoke with humor in her voice to the dog.

Yes! The dog barked happily.

"I thought so," Rosaria smiled, though she had not heard all of his response.

***

Night was falling and flitters of the season's first snow came down with it; thankfully, I believed we'd make it to Highmount well before the true snowfalls of the long winter came. Listening to the idle, and mostly unintelligent, chatter of the surrounding wind-spirits confirmed to me that we were only due for an inch or so of snow—any more than that and the lesser elementals would be complaining of lifting the weight of a heavier storm.

Garron had first watch of the camp and had already set up in the center of it. I could see through my half-closed tent-flaps that Arthic sat outside with the mage by our small fire, and that they were lightly discussing something or another.

Mile snuggled atop my bedroll. It was getting cold, so I didn't blame the dog.

I, on the other hand, surveyed the spoils of our fight with the Horned Man. And looked upon my and Mile's character sheets.

<<<>>>

Peregrine Borncrest

Body: N/A

Mind: N/A

Soul: N/A

Attributes

Brawn: 2 (0/100) (Apprentice)

Dexterity: 1 (100/100) (Novice)

Endurance: 1 (75/100) (Novice)

Magic Potency: 1 (60/100) (Novice)

Magic Control: 1 (100/100) (Novice)

Magic Efficiency: 1 (85/100) (Novice)

Proficiencies

Abjuration: 1 (40/100) (Novice)

Archery (No Style): 1 (40/100) (Novice)

Alchemy (Potion-Making): 1 (80/100) (Novice)

Animal Husbandry: 1 (70/100) (Novice)

Acrobatics: 1 (100/100) (Novice)

Butchering: 1 (50/100) (Novice)

Cooking: 1 (50/100) (Novice)

Druidry: 2 (40/100) (Competent)

Herbalism: 1 (95/100) (Novice)

One-Handed (Fiend-Hunter): 2 (45/100) (Competent)

Wind-Affinity: 1 (65/100) (Novice)

Traits

Mind of Memories: With effort, you can perfectly visualize anything that you have felt, seen, tasted, or heard. You can relive the moments of your life as you perceive them exactly, at will. The more focused you are on something in the moment a memory is created, the easier it is to recall it. (Born)

Compact of Potential: You have traded away a singular, unnamed aspect of yourself to an extraplanar entity. (Pact)

Titles

Prodigy of Arms: Your mind, body, soulcore, and reflexes have developed and grown in tandem with your study of combat, becoming particularly suited to it. When you break through to a higher level in any weapon proficiency, you will always gain at least one skill while retaining the chance to gain others.

Prodigy of Spellwork: Your mind, body, soulcore, and mystical capabilities have developed and grown in tandem with your use of magic, becoming particularly suited to wielding and sensitive to the influence of your own mana. When you break through to a higher level in any magical proficiency, you will always gain at least one spell while retaining the chance to gain others; you may also gain beneficial mana-related mutations upon breakthroughs.

Skills

First Form: Strike Redirection: Honed through endless repetition, you have unlocked the beginnings of the true power of the first form of the fiend-hunter style. Upon activation of this skill, you may burn life force while utilizing the first form if you so choose. Depending on the amount of life force channeled, your reflexes, strength, and speed will be temporarily heightened while performing the first form. (Fiend-Hunter Style) (Novice)

Spells

Beast-Bond: You may bond with an animal whose trust you have earned. The animal may refuse or accept your bond of its own free will. You may feel what your companion feels and communicate telepathically with them, along with temporarily experiencing their physical senses. A bonded creature's intelligence is slowly increased over time, to a greater extent depending on the duration of the bond and their species. You may also view their character sheet. The mana cost for forming a bond is high. The mana cost for sharing senses with a bonded animal is moderate. The mana cost for telepathic communication with a bonded animal is negligible. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Druidic Aura: You may extend your own druidic mana in an invisible ten-foot orb centered around you. You may cast your druidic spells upon any flora or fauna within your aura as if you were touching them. You can also sense any life energy present within your aura. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Direct Flora: You may use your mana to enable and direct the movements of plant life that you can touch. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Enhance Herbal Effect: You may enhance one natural effect of a plant to make it one tier stronger than it is. You cannot enhance plants of a higher tier than your current tier of this spell. Moderate mana cost. (Nature) (Novice)

Growth: Use your mana to influence the growth of plant life. Mana cost is determined by the level, scale, and rate of growth. (Nature) (Competent) (Upgradeable)

Lesser Ward: Expand mana from your sign to create a flickering ward the size of a large shield. The ward blocks physical items and spells as well as any other nearly solid object would. Mana cost is determined by the strength and duration of the ward. (Abjuration) (Novice) (Sign)

Mending: Lay your hands on anything that is or was living. You may accelerate the healing of living things or repair damage to natural fibers and crafts. Mana cost is determined by the extent of the mending done. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Minor Beast-Tongue: Through extensive practice and understanding, you can learn to speak the tongue of beasts and plant life fluently. The fluency of communication is based upon understanding and druidic resonance with individual species. Mana cost is negligible. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Lesser Shapeshift: Use your mana to change a superficial facet of your body such as your eye color, skin, hair, or scent. Mana-cost is determined by the extent and breadth of the changes undertaken. (Nature) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Shield: Conjure a solid half-dome of mana, reinforced by a sigil. The shield is roughly as large as you are. Mana-cost is determined by the strength and duration of the shield. (Abjuration) (Novice)

Warded Palm: Cover your palm in reinforced mana. Mana-cost is determined by the strength and duration of the spell. (Abjuration) (Novice)

Wind Scythe: Convert your mana into sharpened, elemental wind. The scythe's speed and range is determined by the amount of mana used to create it. Mana cost is moderate. (Wind-Affinity) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

Wind Lance: Convert your mana into and launch a spear of elemental wind. The spear's speed and range is determined by the amount of mana used to create it. Mana cost is moderate. (Wind-Affinity) (Novice) (Upgradeable)

<<<>>>

As it sat, I was rather satisfied with my current rate of growth. I had weaknesses I needed to shore up, but I was getting there. My spell list was also expanding better than I'd hoped. My abjuration proficiency was rapidly growing, as was my wind-affinity; it was a bit odd to me that abjuration was a broad proficiency all its own, whereas wind-affinity was much more specific. But I was well aware by now that I'd acquired my wind magic in a very odd way—meaning, in my mind, that the way my wind spells and proficiency worked might be different from arcane magic in more ways than just my not needing to use sigils.

My only true worry, however, was that my martial abilities had not progressed as quickly as my arcane abilities. My physical attributes were doing quite well, and my acrobatics proficiency was now on the verge of breaking into the competent tier. That said, I was very much beginning to realize that I was using my attributes and maneuverability as a bit of crutch to keep up in melee range. I'd seen Rosaria use at least one new skill ability, and I still only had one.

Mile, on the other hand, was stgrowing startingly quickly considering his age.

<<<>>>

Mile

Body: N/A

Mind: N/A

Soul: N/A

Attributes

Brawn: 1 (41/100) (Novice)

Dexterity: 1 (60/100) (Novice)

Endurance: 1 (55/100) (Novice)

Magic Potency: 0 (0/100) (Novice)

Magic Control: 0 (0/100) (Novice)

Magic Efficiency: 0 (0/100) (Novice)

Proficiencies

Acrobatics: 1 (40/100) (Novice)

Tracking: 1 (70/100) (Novice)

Unarmed-Combat: 1 (50/100) (Novice)

Traits

Consumption: Born with a particularly adaptable body, you are capable of absorbing the traits of the beasts and creatures that you feast upon. Absorption is optional. The flesh, or body, of the intended target must be fresh. You may only absorb one trait per level of your endurance attribute, as it is the limit of your body's capability. (Born)

Spirit-Sight: Your mind sees into the realm of imagination and belief. You are able to detect the unobscured mana and spiritual signatures around you, including traces left behind if they are not too old. Range is limited to what you'd normally be able to see around you, but coverage is omnidirectional, with limited capability to pierce through unwarded and thin solid objects. (Consumed)

Titles

N/A

Skills

N/A

Spells

N/A

<<<>>>

Mile's attributes were going up just as quickly as my own. I hadn't yet shared any mana-attuned cores with him, as the dog had not matured intellectually enough to show any interest in learning magic—if he ever would desire to at all. But his physical stats were climbing impressively with all the cores I'd split with him; he was also getting physically larger at a faster rate than I'd expected, giving him a new and higher base of physicality for his rising attributes to multiply on a near weekly basis.

His tracking abilities had become notably formidable, even in the novice tier. When we hunted together, he was more often than not the one that led us to our prey. But the dog was always scenting and identifying the people and things around us no matter what we were doing—effectively allowing him to train his tracking proficiency at all times.

With the addition of his [spirit sight], Mile had become particularly equipped to find and identify almost anything. From what I'd seen through our mana bond, Mile now saw the world in an entirely different light than before. For one, if he desired it, he could now see in all directions around himself at once. For two, just as the description for the consumed trait said, he could see mana and spiritual bodies. I had my own ideas on how these abilities might be useful to us, but the dog had personally been delighting at the fact that he could track the spiritual footprints that all beings left behind.

I petted Mile on the head, causing him to stretch and yawn. I then closed his character sheet and returned my gaze to the tangible rewards of our quest.

The others were mostly here as a favor to me. But they would be splitting the three gold the contract offered. I, on the other hand, got to keep the Horned Man's core and the harvested body parts of our fallen foe—among other things.

The monster core we'd collected from the wild spirit looked much the same as any bronze core, save for the faint blue pulsing that emanated from its metallic veins. Just touching it was tantalizing to me. It was a mana-control core; and I was ready to tier that attribute up into the competent tier now.

Despite it being my original reason for accepting the quest, I seriously considered whether or not I wanted to use the core to create spell-scrolls at all. Tiering up an attribute would put me in a much better position to attain other bronze-level cores in the future, and would give me a much greater boost in power.

But I also didn't want to make Luke wait too long and risk him not teaching me how he crafted his smaller, more tactically useable scrolls.

I was weighing the pros and cons. But I was leaning towards absorbing the core, and just asking Luke if he could maybe let me watch him create a set of scrolls next time he made any for himself. I'd hold off until I'd talked to Cedric's brother first before making any choices, however.

Next to the core in front of me, were ten vials of shimmering blue water. I picked one up and held it close to my face.

After we'd slain the Horned Man and I'd healed the party, we'd explored the spirit's glade. Though most of it had become mundane after the numina's death, I'd made a point to memorize all of the legible inscriptions on the stone monuments lining the clearing; just in case any of them could be translated and somehow related to druidry.

It was with Mile's new [spirit-sight] that I discovered that one part of the glade had retained at least some of its magical properties. The crystalline pool in the center of the clearing had shone in the dog's magical vision with a spread-out, but potent, mana signature.

I had absolutely no idea what effects the pool's water might have, and the children of Forbas had no memory of their time in the ethereal after they'd been reverted back so I couldn't ask them—not that I'd tried, I'd simply found out from Adler that their memories had been lost along with the effects of their time with the Horned Man.

I'd used my magic to have the grass on the edge of the pool lift and fill my empty potion vials with the lightly glowing water. After which I had blasted the corked and filled vials with wind magic to make sure not even a single drop of liquid remained on the outside of them.

I was excited to get the vials back to Highmount and to test what their properties might be, however. I had a feeling that Anais might be willing to help me in the evening just after she'd closed up her alchemy shop.

My curiosity would have to wait, though, as I was hardly going to be haphazard while experimenting with an unknown vial of magical water. The wilderness was no place to work with strange reagents.

I placed the vial down.

The last two things I'd taken from the glade were less noticeably interesting.

A section of the Horned Man's furred hide lay before me, along with the spirit's horns themselves.

The hide was tough and supple. And the horns were rather massive. Only a small echo of natural magic remained in the items.

I knew there was a process that crafters could use to restore at least a portion of the hide's previous strength, but I wasn't exactly privy to the details of how they'd do it. Besides, I planned to reserve the hide for scroll crafting.

As for the horns, well... I'd just wanted a keepsake.

***

A mental alert from Mile awoke me. I pushed myself up in my bedroll.

It was dark, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the night's gloom. When they did, I saw Mile with his forelegs lowered. The dog was nose to beak with something small.

The tiny bird sitting at the entrance to our tent tweeted at Mile. The dog wagged his tail.

What's going on? I asked the dog.

Different bird is back, he replied, and I felt him press what he saw into my mind.

Through Mile's eyes, the mana-signature of the tiny bird was at least twice the size of its body and quite dense.

"What do you need from us?" I infused my words with the mana of my [minor beast-tongue] spell and did my best to mentally translate what I wanted to communicate into something the bird could decipher.

The bird tweeted again. I still struggled to understand it. I really wasn't very good at talking to birds; dogs and horses were one thing, but something about the language of beaked creatures really threw me off. Which also meant I probably didn't make much sense to the beaked thing at the entrance of my tent either, despite my magical abilities.

The bird hopped and bounced a little closer to the outside of the tent.

"You want me to follow you?" I asked, seeing something familiar in the bird's movement patterns.

They reminded me of how my dad's birds had acted and carried themselves.

The bird tweeted once more and bounced happily in what felt like the affirmative.

"Where?" I asked, hoping using simple words would help make me understandable to the bird.

The avian tweeted again and hopped a bit further outside, but did not turn away as if waiting for me.

A gnawing suspicion rose in my chest, one that made me both nervous and excited.

"Did someone send you?" I asked.

The bird hopped.

"Was her name Eurynome?"