Thanks to the assistance of some other adventurers, it didn't take long to pull Paul from the dungeon back to the guild. The others caught up too and the carcass of the antelope monster we killed was unceremoniously dumped at the front counter. Bratum, the dwarven priest took one look, scoffed, and told us to bring him to the resting room in the back of the guild. He was Fravit and Pyria's companion, that is to say part of the lead adventurer party in this city so we decided to comply.

[Bratum] What are ye looking so worried for? Right. Just toss him on the bed newbies.

[Adis] Right. Right. Uh maybe we should call for a healer? Escalate to the guildmaster? We have to make our report anyways.

[Bratum] Calm down will ye. I'm a healer ain't I? And with the rucus the body you dumped out front is causin, he'll come find us. Gnet's havin a spar with Fravit and Pyria anyhow.

[Vara] Should.... Should Guildmaster Gnet be having spars? And a 2 on 1 at that? Isn't it bad if he accidentally gets hurt?

[Alba] He is a rank above them.

A small silence filled the room. Partly because besides Bratum, they had not noticed the ice gensai. But also partly because they had no idea how reassuring that statement was supposed to be.

[Bratum] Hah. You lot really no nothing eh. A rule of thumb is that the strength of someone one rank above is at least 10 times those a rank below. On top of that, Gnet's not exactly bottom of the B rank pack. It would take at least 3 full teams of our power to have a chance.

[Carolyn] Um I dont really care about that though. How's Paulie?

[Bratum] That's why I'm saying you brats don't know anything. He'll be fine even if we leave him alone. He's gathered enough mana to evolve. It's not uncommon for newbies to gather much too much mana and collapse the first time since it's so different from the coming of age ritual.

[Carolyn] That's a relief. He's evolving huh. Um can you fix his wing anyways? It looks painful?

[Bratum] It'll fix itself during the evolution but if it'll get you off my back.

By the Goddess of the Sun and Light

Allow me to make this right

Let not your flock meet their doom

Cure Wounds

And before their eyes strings of light seem to erupt from the dwarf's hand and wound its way through Paul's wing. Everywhere the strings of light touched seemed to straighten and correct itself. Wounds mending and closing. Feathers were even regrowing.

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At least, the ones on his wings were. The ones near his eyes fell off, as well as a long strip down his throat and chest.

[Carolyn] Hey! Why are his feathers falling out? What did you do?

[Vara] Calm down. Look.

[Adis] His other feathers are... growing larger?

[Carolyn] You're right. Pretty....

Sure enough his remaining feathers were growing longer and bigger. The already colorful parrotlike feathers were also becoming more vibrant and shiny. Although in truth the changes were small, the improvement in quality in fact made Paul look overall quite a bit more stunning.

[Bratum] Hm. Looks like he's done. His mana feels more stable now too. OI. YER DONE YET. WAKE UP.

And wake up he did. With a start. A start and a yell. Vara and Adis glanced at each other as they noticed a wave wash across them, accompanied by what was clearly Paul's voice, but with an oddly melodic undertone they couldn't quite pick out.

[Paul] AH. What ... in the gods?

Now, confusion is normally to be expected when just waking up from an evolution, but this was not the case with Paul. His confusion was rather with the scene before him, the scene of two of Carolyn's tentacles hardened and stretching across the bed where he lay to Bratum's throat.

[Paul] C... Carolyn?

[Adis] Hey Carolyn? What happened.

[Vara] ... That was... Strange.

[Carolyn] I.... I don't know?

[Bratum] Ho. How interesting. Well then, why don't you put your tentacles away before you get hurt eh?

Slowly Carolyn nodded and withdrew her tentacles, although looking unsure and confused the whole time.

[Bratum] Well then boy. I think you ought to be careful when you're surprised. New sirens can't control their powers very well, especially when their emotions aren't steady.

[Paul] Ah. Yes right. I'm sorry.

[Carolyn] Siren?

[Adis] Hm. Aren't sirens supposed to be merfolk ? He's very clearly not a merfolk.

[Paul] Ah. Um. Sirens are originally birdfolk. The merfolk took siren as somewhat of a title later on. So yes he's right I did go down the path of a siren somewhat. It's only a small step though.

[Vara] Hm. Carolyn, you felt a sense of panic and the need to protect him right? I think I felt it too. I mean, Adis and I definitely have more mental resistance than you but.... I don't think he would have had that much power to make you almost attack someone much stronger than you...

[Bratum] Ah don't worry about that. How effective mental attacks like a siren's voice is varies from person to person. All sorts of factors go into it like what you're doing right now, how strong your resistance is, how unexpected it was. Even hidden subconcious feelings like wanting to protect them or being in love with them would change how effective it is on you.

Even behind his large bushy beard it was very clear Bratum was grinning. The others looked over at Carolyn with what could be said to be a very extreme reaction to a weak power of suggestion.

[Carolyn] I I I was just surprised and I'm not any good at thinking and mental resistances and stuff.

Before any of the others said anything, the door to the room slammed open.

[Pyria] Hey! The monster that was giving people trouble's been killed! That means we get to have a go at it right?

[Bratum] Hah. Well that's certainly the case.

[Pyria] Music to my ears.

[Fravit] I'll never know how you have so much energy after being beaten up by Gnet for so long. Well, I do want to give it a shot too though. We are getting rusty with nothing but sparring.

[Alba] Little ones. Watch?

[Carolyn] Yes! Let's go guys! ... You're feeling good enough to go right Paul?

[Paul] Yeah. The evolution fixed me up pretty good.

[Carolyn] Great well let's go then!