PART I - HIGH SPEED JESCA
The large door of Ogre House opened, held by Tazrok. Lena and Xin walked through, followed closely by the Ogre. “Callie? Pixyl? We’re back,” Lena called out. The two were nowhere to be seen. “Are they out in the garden?”
Xin turned to look, but Tazrok waved a hand and pointed to the oversized bed on the left. It was draped with multiple blankets. Perplexed, Lena approached and heard a soft quiet voice.
“There were now thirteen dwarves in Bilbo’s kitchen, throwing dishes and cups around while they sang, but never dropping a single one.”
Lena knelt and picked the edge of a hanging blanket. It was dark inside, but there was more than enough light to see with her Night Vision. “Callie, what are you doing?”
“Shh,” the little Gnome replied, ceasing her story and pointing down to her right. Next to her, Pixyl had curled up tight against Callie’s arm, and was fast asleep.
“Oh, sorry,” Lena whispered. “Is everything alright?”
Callie nodded and whispered, “We’re fine. I think we both just needed to be away from people for a bit, and then she fell asleep while I was telling her a story.”
“Where did you get all the blankets?”
“Major Celeste found them for us, when she sentenced Pixyl to house arrest for kicking that Dwarf.”
“Ahh, I heard. The Major told me a little while ago. Two days isn’t bad.”
Callie carefully untangled herself from the little Pixie to not wake her, and shuffled out from under the bed. Lena stood and helped Callie stand. “I understand why, but at the same time it doesn’t feel very fair,” Callie grumped in a whisper.
“I know,” Lena said, gesturing with her head to go outside.
Callie followed Lena into the sunlight, where Tazrok and Xin had both retreated. The outside air had warmed up substantially, compared to the darkened interior of the bunkhouse, and the sun felt really nice. Callie raised a finger in the universal “hang on a sec” gesture and ducked back inside the house to grab her utility belt with its attached waterskin, as well as her ranger-hat. The sun was only going to get brighter, and she didn’t want to need it later.
“How is she doing?” Lena asked.
“Good. Just tired. The reveals are getting to her. And to me for that matter. They just keep coming and coming, and I’m getting a little tired of having to drop everything to ride it out.”
“When I was talking to the Major, she said that they should end soon, by early afternoon at the latest, so that’s just a couple hours.”
“It is? What time is it?” Callie wondered aloud. How much time had she and Pixyl spent inside the blanket fort?
“Almost noon. You two have been up here for a few hours. If you get hungry, the mess is serving some simple lunch fare. Slices of meats and cheeses and the like. Nothing fancy, but better than the travel rations that will be our normal lunch out on the training field. I guess the big meal comes this evening.”
“There was a big bowl of fruit here when we got back, so we ate a bunch of juicy yellow pear things,” Callie said. She then noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Vanis?”
“He went to see the Healers to get his Curse Rot healed,” Xin said. “He was unsure how long it would take, and said he would find us later.”
“Oh yeah. I’m supposed to go to the weapons forge to talk to them about a replacement bow,” Callie remembered. She debated staying close to Pixyl, worried that she’d wake up confused. “If I go now, are you able to stick around on the chance Pixyl wakes up? She’ll probably get hit with a bunch of reveals and will need the support.”
“Sure,” Lena said. “We were all going to lie down for a little while since we woke up so early, and then go exploring before Tazrok’s punishment event with the Major this afternoon. Can you believe he still won’t tell us what he’s going to do?”
Tazrok put on a sly grin. “It is secret. But will make point.”
“See? Not even a little hint! I’m not sure whether I should be aggravated or excited for the surprise.” Lena then oddly added, “If you want me to, I can come with you to the forge.”
Callie looked at Lena with a little suspicion. “No, that’s ok. I think I can handle it.”
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“Oh, alright,” Lena said, disappointment evident in her tone. “You’ll be able to find us when you’re finished?”
Callie furrowed her brow. “First, Lena, yes, I should be able to find you. I can just ask where the Ogre is and I’m sure everyone will be able to point the way. Second, you’re mothering again.”
“What? I am?” Lena said with a shocked look. “My stars, I really am! I need to get Vanis to kill me soon or I’ll become an incarnation of evil, just like her.”
Callie frowned, remembering one of the racial trait reveals she had received a short time ago.
RACIAL TRAIT: CHILDLIKE CHARM
DESCRIPTION: Gnomes emit a mild charm that affects individuals with nurturing tendencies, even if subconscious. Those affected may view the Gnome as a vulnerable child in need of help or protection, rather than a potential threat. However, this charm is only suggestive in nature and cannot coerce someone into doing something they are not inclined to do. As this trait operates as a suggestive charm, it will bypass most passive charm defenses. Beings who are Gnome-sized or smaller are immune to this charm.
Callie wasn’t sure if she could tell Lena about the charm without giving away the secret of getting detailed information, and more importantly, if she even should. The whole idea of charms being able to control a person’s mind was really weighing on Callie. The experience with Juniper, as beautiful as she was, had left her a little shaken and feeling a little violated when she thought back on what happened. Now to think that she was somehow controlling Lena’s mind without even knowing it? What would Lena say if she found out? That detail about it being ‘suggestive’ made her feel a little better. It seemed to imply that it wasn’t quite like with Juniper, but still it didn’t feel right. She needed to talk to someone she could swear to secrecy. Pixyl? She had a charm ability of her own, and one that sounded more potent, although it was more of a weapon. Maybe Vanis? He’s pretty academic and objective, and would probably keep a secret if she asked him to. Of course, he could be charmed by Callie just like Lena. She was going to have to give this a lot more thought.
The four parted, Callie quickly tiptoeing inside to pick up Master Trainer Thorn’s bow to use as a reference for the bowmaker, before she set off for the forge via the gardens. The remainder of the house went inside to take a brief nap.
“Callie!” a voice called, and she turned to see Jesca waving viciously and running towards her. “Did you get it? Did you get your Ranger class?”
“Uh huh,” Callie said as the Cheetahkin lifted her in the air and spun in a big hug. “I’ve been getting skills and stuff all morning.”
“Oh I’m so glad! I was worried that your worm was going to reject you because of your class void problem. And more importantly, I won the bet with Thucax! He’s going to be so cranky! More cranky than usual, that is. I saw Shul’an earlier, too, and they were wondering if your worm worked, so if I see them again I’ll let them know it worked. What are you doing with your bow?”
Jesca’s words came out as a single, unending torrent of words, with not even a breath taken. Callie had to fight hard to follow the ever-changing train of thought before finally settling on what the actual question was.
“Since this bow is just a loaner, I need to go to the weapons forge and talk to someone about getting a new one.”
“Oooo maybe you’ll meet the Lamia that works there. Remember, don’t call them snakes, they hate that, but she should otherwise be really nice. Lamia can be a little strange sometimes because their body has no legs, but they are nice.”
Callie chuckled, trying to slow Jesca down just a little bit. “I remember you telling me, and I’ll be sure to be polite if I meet them.”
“By the way, I saw what the Pixie did to that Dwarf earlier? The one you walked off with? She’s not supposed to be fighting with other recruits. I heard she’s your housemate. Did she get into trouble? I heard from Shul’an that they heard from Kiasess that he heard from someone I’m not sure who heard from the Ogre that the Dwarf just wanted to drop the whole thing.”
Callie shook her head to get the confusion of that never-ending sentence processed and finally emerged with, “She did get in trouble, yes, and will be confined to quarters for two days starting tomorrow morning. I guess that was fair, but that Dwarf still deserved it after breaking her wing.”
“Oh, he’s the one I heard about that did that,” Jesca said. “It’s hard to know which side to be on, then. Hmm, I guess I can see why the Dwarf would just want to call it even. How is her wing, by the way? I saw it was all bruised and stuff. It must hurt.”
“It hurts when she moves it, or if she moves her body wrong. It will be that way for a few days.”
“Too bad. But she’s allowed to go to the party tonight, right?”
Callie nodded.
“Good, I want to meet her. If you like her, then I’m sure I will as well. Will you introduce me? By the way, do you know what the Ogre is doing one hour before the evening feast that we’re all supposed to go to? Since you live with him, you might know. Rumor has it he’s going to tear limbs off of someone.”
“Uh,” Callie said. Keeping up with Jesca today was proving exhausting. She wasn’t sure if this was the Beastkin’s natural state, or if maybe she had too much caffeine with breakfast. Or catnip, maybe? She was literally changing topics faster than Callie could follow. “I’ll make sure you meet her if I can. As for Tazrok, some people got in trouble for brawling, so they are going to be publicly disciplined. I don’t know what he’s doing, but I’m sure it’s not that.”
“Ooo. I hope he doesn’t tear anyone’s limbs off. That would be messy and it’s so much work to grow a limb back so you must be right that it’s something different.”
“I’m really sure it’s not that,” Callie said, and then quickly added before Jesca could ask anything more, “I do need to get going to meet with the weapons people. I’ll see you later, though, I’m sure.”
“Uh, okay! I’ll see you later!” the Cheetahkin said, waving. And just like that, Jesca turned and ran off.