It was the middle of the third day when I wondered if I should go back, collect my pack, let the team know I was okay. Most of the morning was a repeat of the first and second days, with me practicing my sword techniques. Instead, I kept my sword as a longsword and trained as Adrien had instructed me. Already I was feeling more efficient than before. I couldn’t level up my [Bladed Weapon Mastery] as it was currently capped by my class level. Even still, I felt the improvements in my form and movements.
I had just wrapped up lunch, put out my fire with the intention of returning to Kinnesville when I heard the rustle of leaves behind me. Turning, I drew my sword and roused the napping foxes. They had hunted for us early this morning and were taking respite. They quickly sprang up and their heckles rose as their noses lifted. In my mind the thought of ‘Predator’ came from Luka, and a brief image of Amelia. I frowned wondering if he meant she had come to check on me but brushed it aside as a couple of wolves started to circle to pile of entrails we had left as bait.
I readied my sword and took a deep breath. Seeing the wolves, hale and healthy as they were, reminded me of Brioche. Of Luka and Sky's mom, my first friend on this world. As pathetic as it might seem I felt myself become emotional. Remembering the nightmare from two nights before I had to steady my breathing, clear my mind. I knew better than to activate [Meditation] but at this moment, with such negative emotions pestering me, I truly wanted to. I knew however, that doing so would leave me slow and distracted and decided to keep the skill away.
I stepped slowly and quietly from my hiding spot behind a tree as the wind shifted. That was all it took for the duo of wolves to turn to face me, their lips upturned in a snarl and drool dripping from their mouths. I shuddered at the sight of their massive canines, the sharp fangs glistening with spittle and specks of blood from other prey. Gulping, and knowing I had been had, I stepped into the clearing.
One of the wolves, medium sized for the pack, growled at me. I felt a pang of sadness knowing that I’d be killing her, she was a truly beautiful beast who simply lived as her instincts told her. Another, a touch larger, leaped at me and I lashed out with my sword. The blade slashed in an upward diagonal, slicing through the wolfs neck as I stepped to its side. Blood spewed as the wolfs arteries were severed. There was a quick yip and a choking sound as it crashed to the ground and quickly died. This wolf had been the aggressor and yet my sole purpose for being here was to slaughter them. I steeled my budding emotions to focus on the fight to come, ignoring the crimson liquid spilling out of the wolfs neck. A wolf still hidden by the brush howled and another took its call.
The wolves howling was eerie, powerful. I heard first the one, then a second third fourth and then I lost count. Some of the howls were deep and others high, and as they trailed to the end some barks and yips filled the air. Birds flew from their nests and the sound of a rustling undergrowth was quickly growing silent save for the sounds of the wolves. Goosebumps flooded the surface of my skin at their mourning song. Another wolf leapt at me from the side and two others joined before I could counter the one heading my way.. Abruptly, I found myself weaving around them, pushing my [Portent of the Thaumaturge] to its limits to keep track of incoming attacks. I dodged one wolf by ducking low and drove my shoulder into the belly of another, stumbling it. I had to turn off my notifications in order to focus, the dinging that typically came with it an unwelcome distraction during this brawl, each one a tug on my feeble focus.
I ducked beneath a flying wolf and sidestepped another, still crouched over. My heart raced, pumping blood and adrenaline through my body. I growled with the wolves, regretful that I had to slaughter such beautiful creatures but understanding the necessity. I lopped off an incoming paw, my blade catching momentarily before it broke the bone and severed the tendons. I shivered at the yelp of the wolf as I backed up from it. Behind me the plodding of paws and shifting of mana forced me to turn. The wolfs maw was stretched wide, saliva flying through the air. I spun just in time to drive the pommel of my sword into the side of the snarling beasts head. My heart faltered a moment as viscera and the sound of bone cracking splattered in the air. The wolf yelped loudly and crashed to its side before shaking its head and rising up again.
Surrounded by wolves I attempted to dodge through them towards the middle of the clearing, dancing around the predators claws and maws. I lashed out at a wolf that rushed towards me. My blade, still a longsword, cut along its flank. A steady stream of blood soaked the earth, muddying the dirt. Feeling the mana shift behind me I ducked just in time to have a skinny wolf fly over me.
Another swiped at me, their paw whistling in the air under the sounds of snarls and growls. I lunged to meet it, realizing I had a brief moment away from the rest, and impaled its chest with my blade. I watched its life fade from its eyes before kicking myself backwards to dodge another beast approaching from the side. My foot met the stomach of the beast impaled on my blade as I rolled backwards, pushing it off of my sword. As I came up from my roll I was forced to launch myself upward to avoid an incoming wolf, and upon landing stabbed into the base of its skull.
With the several bodies creating obstacles, I started to weave my way around them and behind the rest of the wolves, hoping to gain a brief moment to refocus and identify where all of the animals were, and how many they were. I had no such luck, instead they continued to hunt me as a highly functioning pack. They were enraged that I had slaughtered some of their kin, and their intelligent eyes spoke of the revenge they’d take on me.
The ground grew sticky and slippery with blood and I found myself backing away, following the circle of the clearing to keep even footing, the center growing too packed and too slick. I lost count after killing the fifth wolf, concentrating on my assault and defense as they kept coming. Vaguely I knew that Luka was hiding at the edges, avoiding the wolves but using his magic to cause them to slip or stumble, staggering the amount of creatures attacking me. Sky seemed to be distracting a small number of the others so I would only have a few wolves to face at a time.
I watched a small tendril of earth climb up and tangle with a wolfs paw, just as it attempted to leap. Instead it fell flat and I drove my sword into the back of its neck severing the spine. Two wolves were chasing after Sky who was dancing and sprinting around the clearing and through the edges of the trees.
I kept up my assault, taking the opportunities that the foxes were giving me and slaying the wolves that Luka tripped, ignoring the ones that Sky was leading off. My chest was growing cold as I poured all of my available mana into [Portent], knowing without the skill I’d likely have already been injured. I felt the flow of my mana becoming a trickle as time went on, and knew soon I would have to drop the skill. In an effort to not be caught with my pants down, so to speak, I quickly moved to kill the nearest wolves. I ramped up the combat with rhythmic movements while continuing to dodge and parry the beasts. I was panting when I deactivated the skill. In my earlier years when I was practicing my sword dances I quickly discovered the consequences of running out of mana. A migraine was one of the lesser consequences but could still debilitate someone during combat. The thing I was worried about was fainting due to energy loss.
My blade was growing heavy by the time the wolves stopped attacking me. There were three left in the clearing, glaring at me and stalking around the circle. A howl broke out behind me and before I could react a weight crashed into me, pushing me to my knee. I felt a sharp flaring pain from my shoulder and heard the snapping of a bone as the creature that bit me whipped its head back and forth. A scream left my lungs before I could stop it, and tears dripped down my cheeks, leaving lines in the dirt that had accumulated with the kicking up of dust in the clearing.. [Pain Resistance] didn't so much as mitigate pain but only allowed me to push past it to focus on what was important at the moment. Even still, I struggled to stand so instead I reached behind me with my good hand, letting go of my shifting sword, and grasped at the fur of the beast holding me down. Even as I did so the other three wolves, the last of them, fled. It seemed this one was trying to give them a chance at escape.
Once my hand was closed around the fur of the heavy beast I pulled at it, trying to throw the wolf over my shoulder with a twist of my hips. With a whimper its jaws were ripped free of my shoulder and the pain I had been feeling grew thrice, four times as bad. A shrill cry left my lips and I looked at the large wolf before me, larger than the rest of the pack. Likely the pack leader. I growled with it, and started to face it, but rather than attack me it ran off through the woods after its kin.
I stood there listening and waiting for several minutes, clutching my shoulder and beating myself up about leaving my pack. About expecting this to take a single day. I removed my armor after a few minutes of silence and took off my shirt as well, tying it around my shoulder to soak up my blood. It was difficult to do with only one hand and took multiple tries, each eliciting whimpers of pain. In the end I had to fight through the pain and use my other hand to help, as difficult as it was. As soon as it was secure I donned my armor again, smiling as the plates that had been pierced by the powerful wolf started to repair themselves, siphoning a small amount of my already depleted mana. I resisted the pull of the mana, knowing I could repair the punctured and dented plates at a later time and that if the rest of the wolves returned I’d want to have some mana to use to fight them off.
The armor was uncomfortable with the shirt bunching up over my broken and pierced shoulder. I debated briefly taking the easy route and leaving the wolves bodies here but instead decided to harvest what I could from them first. Grimacing and withstanding the pain I started to skin them. I used my left hand to sometimes pinch or pull the skin and my right to skin them, carving them quickly as I could to mitigate the amount of pain I felt in my left arm.
It took the better part of three hours to skin the wolves, take a few fangs and claws from them, and move them into a pile. Briefly I consider burning them but decide if I felt so inclined I could return. For now, I needed to get to town before I bled out. With levels I knew I would heal quicker than before but I wasn’t sure by what metric, and I didn’t want my shoulder to suffer by not setting it in time. With the twelve wolf pelts slung over my right shoulder I started back towards town, not entirely sure on the route but knowing the general direction. As I walked I started to go over my notifications, grouping them together.
You have slain a Wolf LVL: 36
You have slain a Wolf LVL: 41
You have slain a ...
You have slain a Wolf LVL: 44
I confirmed that I had killed twelve total wolves. Most of the fight had been spent blocking, dodging, and deflecting attacks but over the course of it I had made my own counter attacks. I frowned, wondering how quickly I could have finished the fight with my spells. Overall though, despite my injury, I was rather proud of fending off and killing the majority of a pack of wolves even if they were lower level than me. Next I looked at my level gains, frowning when I saw only one level up. It made some sense, the wolves were lower level than me. Aside from the alpha that I fought at the end, the rest were below level forty-four. Next were skills. All of my capped skills in [Bladedancer] leveled up, remaining capped, but I was surprised to see some other gains.
Your skill [Portent of the Thaumaturge] is now level 11
Your skill [Meditation] is now level 33
Your skill [Intuition] is now level 45
Your skill [Pain Resistance] is now level 29
I was pleasantly surprised to see the increase in [Portent]. When I gained the skill I was shocked to see it wasn’t a class skill. When I’d asked Liana about it the next night at dinner she explained it was because [Bladedancer] wasn’t a full wizard class, and it counted as a warrior class. Also, that [Portent] was a skill that anyone who gained [Mana Sense] could gain given enough effort and the ability to grasp it. That [Intuition] increased as it had was what really surprised me. I wasn’t sure which actions in particular had aided its growth. Perhaps it was deciding which attacks I could deflect or figuring out when to attack. After all, aside from the bite to my shoulder I hadn’t taken a single other injury.
Before long the flimsy walls of the town became visible and I hurried to the gate. The guard looked worriedly at my arm, coated in the blood that had run down it before wrapping my shoulder up. My hand tingled slightly and I knew I would need healing soon, and rest. I smiled at the guard, a dozen pelts slung over my shoulder and trailed by a pair of silver foxes.
I quickly made my way towards the tavern hoping to find Amelia or Liana there, ignoring the stares of the townsfolk as they wandered the streets. Opening the door to the watering hole I sighed in relief at seeing Liana. I waved at her before heading up the stairs to stow the skins. They needed to be treated yet, but would last a bit longer and I didn’t want to toss them onto the table. I made my way back down and saw her frowning at me.
“Really? No notes, nothing? Couldn’t have checked in with us... What happened to your arm.” She started with her frustration but quickly quelled it when she saw me wince and noticed the blood coating my bicep in the dim lantern light.
“Wolf, sneak attack. I think the shoulder is broken.” I grimace and start to pull off the armor. She helps me, cringing whenever I wince. “I’m sorry for not coming back to check in, I thought about that this morning.”
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“Hmmph it’s fine. As long as you still live.” She gingerly helped me pull the armor off and unwrapped the shirt, handing it back to me. I was suddenly aware that I’m half naked in the tavern but, aside from the barkeep and barmaid nobody else seems to notice. The barmaid made her way over with some rags and a bucket, her cheeks red as she tries not to stare.
“Thank you... By the way what’s your name miss?” I asked, trying to distract myself as Liana took the bucket and started washing the blood from my arm and side. I had to take some steadying breathes to stop myself from wincing or yelping as she wiped the blood from my shoulder.
“M My name is Kristen, sir.” She was pointedly looking at the floor. “Is there anyfin else I c’n get ye, sir?”
“Two ales and a meal with extra meat?” I glanced down at the foxes, they had curled down tiredly under the table. They fought with me and were just as tired as I was, they also deserved a little bit of decent food.
“Aye sir, comin’ righ’ up!” She turns quickly and heads to get my tankards.
“I don’t drink ale Lios.” Liana glanced at me. I watched her pull a needle and some string from somewhere. “Don’t worry, the needle’s clean and the string is specifically made for sutures. It’ll hurt though. We’ll have to wait for Amelia to set your shoulder, my spell doesn’t do that well.”
“The ales are for me.” I nodded as she talked about the needle and let out a pained breath as she started to stitch the first of the four punctures. Most of the wolfs fangs hasn't penetrated the armor, but the two longest on the upper and lower jaws did. “Thank you Miss Liana, for taking care of me. Where are the others?”
“They went to take care of a quest. Some ruffians have decided to tax the locals and Elric found their camp, they’ll be back soon.” She spoke succinctly, still concentrating on stitching up my shoulder.
“I didn’t know that Amelia was a healer... How is it that she can mend bones?” I asked, letting my curiosity get the better of me.
“I’ll let her tell you. How many of those wolves did you take out? The guard captain said there were at least ten.” She finishes another stitch, causing me to let out a soft, totally manly whimper.
“I killed twelve, I saw four get away.” I grumbled internally about not taking them all out, but recognize that they would likely try to find a new hunting ground. They had just been slaughtered, so it would be a number of years before they came back here.
“Wow! Impressive. How did the kits do?” She washed my shoulder again then pointed at my now repaired and clean shirt. I had been idly pouring some mana into the clothing as Liana sutured my shoulder. “Put that back on, stop showing off for Kristen.”
“I’m not showing off...” I protested even as I donned the shirt, glad for my enchantments. I felt that without them I would quickly go broke trying to buy new clothes. Thankfully the enchantments were weak enough that the material wasn’t set aflame from holding them. My first attempt had been on a weaker cotton that set ablaze at the amount of power imbuing it.
“Riiiight. Of course not, you totally had to wait till you were shirtless to ask her name. Next you’ll tell the one about the priest and the cultists aye?” She chuckled at me and stuck her tongue out, observing me as I still didn’t move my left arm.
“What the one abut the priest and the cultist?” I had never heard the joke.
“I’ll tell you later. Give me your room key, I’ll go sell your pelts for you before they stink up your room.” She smiled knowingly. It seemed she wanted to force me to think about a stupid joke, take my attention from the pain.
I fished the key from my pocket and handed it to her. As she left Kristen reappeared with pink cheeks, two ales, and a platter of food. I sat up straight and glanced at the hefty steak before me. The prideful part of me wanted to eat it with my hand like a savage, the flirt in me wanted me to ask Kristen to cut it for me. It wasn’t a great move, nor did I want anything to come of it, but it could be fun anyway. She set down the platter and before she could go I sighed.
“I’m so sorry to ask this but... Could you cut the steak up for me? Just slices would do. I cant move my left arm and am afraid I’ll look like a beast should I tear into it with my teeth.” She nodded and smiled sweetly.
“Of course sir, that wont be a problem at all.” She started to cut into the steaming meat and I took the first two pieces to give to the beggars beneath me. “How’d you get so hurt, iffen ye don’ mind my askin’ Sir?” She put an odd inflection the second time she said sir, as though it were a title rather than a polite honorific.
“You can call me Lios, and I was hurt by a wolf. You see I took up a quest to slay the wolves harrying the local farms and...” It didn’t take long to regale her the story of baiting and fighting the wolves, but it did take me a bit longer than she did to cut my steak. She ooed and awed at my unembellished tale. I wasn’t a proper storyteller, but even so I felt it was a decent story. After I was done I looked up at her with a lopsided smile. “Ah, apologies, I should let you get back to the other patrons.”
“Aye Lios, I shoul’ get back.” She took the coppers I held out, an extra three to thank her for the service on top of the cost of the meal and the ale.
I sat by myself for a while, watching to other patrons as I waited for everyone to get back. My meal and ales were both well and gone by the time I saw Liana walking through the door followed by the rest, each covered in blood and dirt aside from Amelia. A third tankard of ale sat before me, half empty, when they came and sat down.
“Wow, I spose I wont be getting a drink from you today Lios? I can smell the iron from your wound quite heavily. Let me see about fixing it up.” Amelia sidled up next to me and placed both hands on my shoulder. I felt a warmth pull from my chest and arms towards my shoulder for a few moments then let out a soft shriek as one fo the bones that had started healing was rebroken and set. I was better prepared for the second break and only let out a muffled yelp, sounding like Luka yipping into a pillow. With tears in my eyes the warmth fades a bit, but a small amount remains.
“How are you able to heal anyway, Amelia?” I asked before stopping myself.
“You’d do well to worry about that lass over there instead of our Amelia.” Liana teased me and I glanced up to see Kristen watching Amelia cling onto my arm. She looked away and made herself busy when I caught her watching. “What did you say to her, she’s been staring ever since we got back. Not to mention how close she was when I left.”
“Hey hey! All I did was ask her to cut my food up cuz my arm was broken!” I protested with feigned innocence. “Nothing so untoward as you suggest lady Liana.” I clutched my chest as though I were aghast, wincing as I jostled my arm.
“Did I not hear you regale her of your modest heroism? Did she not first see you without a shirt? But sure, tell us all that you are innocent!” She rebutted with a bit of dramatic flare. We all laughed, despite the pain it caused my shoulder.
“Before we get into all that, Liana can you make the boy a sling? Even with my blood magic it’ll take a bit to heal the bones.” Amelia, being the good doctor, crossed her arms and shook her head. “Now, Lios, I trust you will not strain your arm for a few days. You must give it time to heal. That means no sparring with the brutes.”
“Hey! Ah am not a brute!” Adrien growled from his seat.
“I am. I’ll gladly admit to it.” Elric laughed and Liana joined in.
I frowned slightly. “What am I to do for the next few days?”
“Well, to that end, I can finally teach you more about growing your core and improving your ability to manipulate mana. With your new sensory skill I think we’ll be able to make some profound progress.” Liana nodded in my direction as she cut a strip of cloth and tied it to make a sling for me. “That and lets see if we can make a new enchantment. I went through your old journal but your mother gave you a new one yes? Mayhap we can develop some enchantments so you can sell them for profit.”
“I see. That sounds great. Thank you for fixing up my shoulder Amelia.” I offered a pained shoulder as she helped me to don the sling that Liana handed over. Wincing, I lifted my arm and shrugged into it. Once it was on, the pressure on my shoulder was largely alleviated and I let out a soft sight of relief.
“Alrigh’ kid. Tell us wha happened.” Adrien intoned after my arm was secured.
I spent several minutes going over the past few days, then cringed at the last bit. “... as I was facing off against the last few wolves I heard a growl from behind me, a rustling in the woods, and was suddenly tackled by a wolf that was larger than all of the rest. It pushed me to one knee and latched onto my shoulder before I could turn, giving the last few an opportunity to flee. I grabbed it and pulled it over me, I think that its fangs tore my muscles even further when I did but my shoulder had broken right when it clamped down. After that, it fled and I spent a couple hours skinning the wolves before heading back.”
“You should have come back immediately, your shoulder is in tatters,” Amelia scolded.
“Maybe so.” I nodded reluctantly, acknowledging the advice. “I was able to perform some minor first aid before it became too much of a detriment though.”
“Aye lad, bu’ wouldya have been able to fight should te need have arisen?” Adrien commented, a steeliness to his tone that I recognized from the interrogation after my classup.
“Fair point...” I looked down into my ale. For a brief moment I remembered not drinking much in my past life. Already, at least this week, I drank more than I ever had before. Frowning I stared at the tankard, the image of my uncle clear in my mind. He had been an alcoholic. So thirsty was he that he’d steal our alcohol whenever he was over, filling his own flask or bottles. I sighed heavily before looking up at everyone else, interrupting the unwelcomed memory. “Aye, I could have been attacked while I was injured. The wolves could have returned to finish off their prey. But I felt even with one arm unusable, I could finish off the remaining wolves rather easily.”
“You very well might have, but what if-”
“Sorry Elric, but I don’t like dealing with hypotheticals. I could always be more cautious. I’ll take it into consideration next time I’m injured. I appreciate the advice everyone, but I think I need to get some fresh air.” I stand up, leaving the ale on the table and turn towards the door. “I’ll try to be smarter going forward.”
I wasn’t sure what it was; frustration, irritation, the memory of my uncle? I didnt know for sure what was on my mind but I made my way to the back of the tavern and did what I’ve learned to do to mitigate my ire. I started a sword dance, careful not to jostle my injured shoulder. With one hand on my sword I moved slowly, taking slow rhythmic movements to practice the techniques I wished to perfect. I danced with slow, agonizing precision, ensuring that each footstep, each swipe of my blade, was as perfect as it could be. I feared moving too quickly.
As I danced I recalled something I had read about ages ago, hearing a notification ding in my ears. I ignored the notification and focused on the memory. I remembered reading a book on meditation in order to help with my insomnia as a kid. In it, the author spoke of acknowledging and gently brushing aside the thoughts that worried you, rather than burying and pushing aside those thoughts. I wasn’t sure why the thought came to me now. Why I had never remembered it before.
So, with that in mind, I started with the recent thoughts on alcoholism. I found myself wondering if I was developing a dependency, but found that I wasn't. Upon introspection, the few ales I had been drinking weren’t enough to develop an addiction. Even still I resolved to slow down. I wasn’t even fifteen yet after all.
I danced slowly still, not actively activating the [Meditation] skill but pulling from it to focus my attention inward. To anyone watching, I felt they would believe my movements to be agonizingly slow. Difficult to watch. But I didn’t care, I needed to clear my mind.
I swallowed the guilt of killing so many animals acting exactly as they were designed to. I pictured the wolves in my mind, a brief flare of a memory reminding me of my old dogs. They weren’t particularly wolflike, one was a border collie and the other a corgi. I thought about them for a few moments, taking a deep breath and ensuring my movements remained perfect all the while. I smiled at their memory before letting it pass. They weren’t here, they never would be.
I thought of my family, wondering what they’d think of me now. If they’d recognize me. I wondered if they’d welcome me back, knowing that I had killed people. That I likely was going to be in a position to kill more. That thought brought the images of the bandits to mind and this time I acknowledged them. I didn’t try to make any excuses for their deaths. It wasn’t truly in self defense, nor would they have had a chance to hurt me if I hadn’t involved myself. But they were folks who relished in the suffering of others, who bound themselves to their desires above morality. It wasn’t so much that I felt they deserved to die, for I was not an arbiter of life and death, but according to my beliefs I was at least justified in ending their lives.
Finally, I started to picture my family. For once I didn’t shy away from the emotions welling up inside of me. I looked at each of their faces, missing them all dearly. I pondered how they’d see me now. If Jess would still love me. If she’d still want to marry me. If my brother Aaron would still go disc golfing with me. I chuckled at the thought of missing the sport, it was so simple and would be easy to recreate here. Even still, such leisure wasn’t affordable here. Not yet. Mayhap someday, but then I’d only think of my siblings.
My mind went to Zach and Zoe. My brother and sister. We weren’t as close as I was with Aaron, but I missed them a ton. When I died my sister had been pregnant with her first child, and my brothers wife had just had their second. I hadn’t thought about them in so long I never really processed that I would never know my nieces and nephews. I had never processed that the stress of my death could break them. Not for the first time I wondered how I died. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t remember it. Maybe I died in my sleep. Maybe I killed myself. Maybe I was hit by a truck. It didn’t really matter. All that mattered were the things I could affect. The life I was living now, regardless of the one I lived before, was the only thing that mattered now. I had read a quote once, though I was unsure if any one person was known for it, that said ‘We cannot control what happens to us, only how we choose to react to it’. Now more than ever I realized the truth in this statement. Why had I grown so frustrated at the advice my friends, mentors were giving me?
I brushed aside the musings, and stopped my dances. My heart ached. For the first time in a long time I wished I had someone I could talk to about this. When my parents had asked questions about my family and world I didn’t let myself talk about anything that would sadden me, I’d always just told the most jovial stories. Always happy moments. It hurt a little bit but I told the stories as though they didn’t belong to me, even though they were my own.
My legs gave out and I fell onto my ass. Wrapping my arms around my knees I let myself cry. I pictured everyone again. I wondered how they all were. What they had been up to. I let myself remember them, truly remember them and I let myself miss them for the first time in a while.
I was outside for far too long. I could tell. The moon was high in the sky by the time I reentered the tavern, my cheeks pink and eyes red. Amelia, unsurprisingly, was at the table still. She waved at me with a smile on her face before it sank. She stood up to come talk to me, seeing the look on my face, but I smiled weakly and waved at her to sit back down. I went up the stairs and opened the door to our room, listening to both of the larger men snore loudly. In fact they were so loud I could hear them before opening the door. Both of the foxes were already curled up on my bedroll and I had to move them to lay down. I laid on my right side, closed my eyes, and felt the two small fuzzy bodies wriggle up against me. I supposed I wasn't as alone as I was feeling.