The two Honorable women looked enough alike to be sisters, and similar to the young man in the lead to be related. All had black hair and blue eyes. The shape of their mouths was similar, but Sir Fenrick's squire's lips were thin while the women's were full.

The Freeman around the campfire rose to greet the Honorables, which seemed to make the smaller woman uncomfortable.

Heral spoke first. "Thank you again, Mister Aldo, for inviting us to share your dinner. We brought wine to share, a white cherry wine from my father's Groveland estate. Miss Bergin, Miss Cerise, it is a pleasure to meet you under less trying circumstances. I'm not sure if we were properly introduced. I am Honorable Mister Heral el-Treborant. These are my cousins, Mahayan am-Affel and Izrai Affel, Honorable Misses both. Mahayan, Izrai, Miss Cerise is the young [Healer] who made such a good impression on Sir Fenrick and Honorable Mister Ethrick, and Miss Bergin, her mother, who aided Miss Cerise in restoring our full patrol to fighting fitness. I have not had the privileged of meeting the two good men joining us."

"Ah! Allow me to rectify that!" Mister Aldo said. "Mister Rhene is Miss Bergin's husband, and Mister Mykhal is quite the young [Hunter]. We will be dining on almiraj he caught earlier today."

Mister Aldo, Honorable Mister Heral, and Honorable Miss Izrai carried the conversation with small carefully polite additions from the others as the talkers tried to include them. Izrai grew frustrated with her sister's terse responses and said, "Oh, please excuse Mahayan her sulk. There was a boy she was interested in, but it would have been--."

"That's not true! You have to stop making up these romances for me! Tomais is my friend! He's not my beau!" Mahayan snapped, obviously upset by her sister's prickling.

"Really? 'Cause you've been moping like--," Izrai started to rejoin, a twinkle in her eye.

"Cousins, this is not the time. Izrai, I'm sure Mahayan will be happy to provide light for you to read that little blue book your mother provided you as we were leaving." Heral said that with a smiling, stern authority.

"You saw that?" Izrai asked while her sister smirked.

"Mother gave me own copy to learn to read from." That, Heral delivered with something more akin to sympathy.

Shortly after that bit of sibling squabbling, Cerise's mother announced the food was ready to be plated. As the host, Mister Aldo provided the plates. It was the guests' responsibility to provide their own utensils. Some people used skewers, other's blades, and a new fashion had started to head in the from the coast of using a miniature two-tined fork. That was more popular with the higher strata who could afford to use metal for their eating utensils. Most people who used blades preferred a small utility blade with which they took care of all sorts of small cuts.

Cerise's family used skewers in pairs that her father had made, with a point a nail's width long before a wider panel used to grasp bits of food that flaked when pierced. At the other end of their skewers was a spoon bowl.

Normally, her father preferred to make such pieces from apple or pear wood, but they had found a downed golden heartwood tree early into their time with Mister Aldo's caravan, and her father had happily harvested all that he could from it. Cerise had found a handful of seeds for the rare trees and tucked them into her growing collection. Even though they did not fell the tree, her father gave his offering to the land good, and Cerise left a small bundle of some of the seeds she had plucked from the magic rich herbs and grasses Mykhal gathered for Daisy.

After her realization of how much Fortuna had been smiling upon them, Cerise couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude when the very tools with which she ate reminded her of these opportunities. She bowed her head as she offered up a spontaneous, heartfelt prayer of thanks to Fortuna, and to all the gods, greater and lesser, who had shown them kindness.

When she looked up, she saw Heral watching her. He smiled in what he probably meant to be an encouraging manner, and ate. Cerise noted that he and his cousins used eating forks. A look of delight crossed his face, and he gave voice to a moan of pleasure that startled himself. When he swallowed the bite, he said to Cerise's mother, "Miss Bergin, this is delicious! I'm having a hard time believing this is almiraj with how tender the meat is, but you've mellowed their distinct taste into a wonderful compliment with the carrots and the layered poms!"

Cerise's mother smiled and dipped her head. "My thanks for the compliment, Honorable Mister."

Everyone took a few minutes to savor the meal, small sounds of gastronomic pleasure escaping the diners.

When someone started up the conversation again, it was Mahayan, asking, "Miss Cerise, I'm quite curious. Why are you wearing that sling?"

Cerise looked to Mykahl. As far as she was concerned, the eggs were his find, and he was their team leader. He nodded back, his mouth full, so Cerise said, "It's for a commission. Mykhal and I recently joined the Free Lancers Guild. We're a new Copper Rank team and we need to complete guild commissions to prove we're good enough to take on client requests. Mykhal's been hunting monsters, like the almiraj, the horned rabbits, as Mama likes to call them, and this is the second time he's found eggs. Some of my [Healer] skills give me an intuition about what the eggs need to stay viable, and turning them over to the guild will earn us points toward qualifying for the rank-up trial."

Mahayan's entire boy brightened. "Those are monster eggs? May I see?"

Cerise looked to Mykhal. He said, "Showing one around won't hurt. Even if it breaks or hatches, we just need to turn in one for the reward."

So Cerise selected the least stable of the three and brought it out. The egg was the size of her doubled over fists, brown with white speckles. The others around the fire wanted to see, too, so Cerise passed it around. The wash of Identify skills passed around Cerise, who watched the increased ambient mana soaking into the egg. It reached Izrai before her sister, and the older girl had a bit of fun teasing her sister by taking her time examining the egg.

*CRACK*

The sound of the egg hatching made Cerise sigh internally. Everyone else paled.

Heral looked furious at his cousin and was just opening his mouth to say something when the shell fell away from a tiny baby almiraj. Its coat was a light brown with white paws and a white, deer-like stiff tail. The single horn on its forehead was just a dainty nub of ivory. It chirped at Izrai and put one of its paws out to her.

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"Astrid. Her name's Astrid," Izrai said, her eyes glowing as the Tamer's Contract firmed up between them.

Before anyone else could say anything, Cerise said, "Fortuna smiles upon you." She locked gazes with her best friend and said, "As much as we have benefited from her smiles, it would be churlish of us to begrudge being her instruments in another's good fortune." Looking back to Izrai, she said, "Congratulations, Honorable Miss Izrai."

Mykhal relaxed, smiling as he took in Cerise's meaning, and quickly offered his own congratulations. Cerise, meanwhile, rose and went to Mahayan, holding out the second least stable egg. "As you didn't get to examine the first."

Mahayan smiled her thanks, deliberately turning her envious gaze from her sister. "We will compensate you for the lost reward," she assured them.

The young woman then used a few mana-rich skill to inspect this egg. Cerise was nearly back to her seat when she heard the second *CRACK*.

Mykhal laughed, and Mister Aldo and her parents joined in. Cerise smiled for the radiant joy in the two young women's faces. Heral spent a moment looking constipated with chagrin before giving in and congratulating his cousins.

Mahayan's newly bonded almiraj kit was pure white in coat and gave the bond name Glatadia. Astrid had a heaviness to her that suggested more Might while Glatadia's long, slender limbs looked more inclined for quick movements.

Mykhal excused himself to get some of the magical grasses he had foraged for Daisy.

Heral turned sad puppy eyes to Cerise. "Please accept my apologies for the loss of your prosperity and allow me to compensate you."

Cerise turned up her palms in a reflexive gesture to emphasize her sincerity. "Honored Heral, Fortuna really has smiled deeply upon us, and the find of those eggs was her gift to bestow as she chooses. Perhaps, instead of thinking in terms of compensation, let's think in terms of camaraderie, and laying in a foundation of good will between us."

Heral's sad puppy gaze turned somber. "I was a real ox's backend the last time we met, wasn't I? I am quite sorry for how I acted then. It is inexcusable that even as you aided my father's men, I returned my frustrations upon you. And even after your example helped me gain a measure of understanding in my class's core skill, I let my frustrations hold back the apology due you then.

"I had hoped to find you along our way to the Sea Crest Dungeon, to offer this apology if for no other reason, and I brought along some [Healer] skill books from our kizanelium to lend you.

"I was taught that the best way to learn from skill books is to copy them, so I also have some blank journals and writing instruments. If you need help learning to read, I would be honored to aid you."

Cerise opened her mouth, realized she didn't know what to say, closed her mouth, and listened to the intuition her newly acquired Basic Etiquette skill whispered to her. "Thank you?" she tentatively tried out. "Um. Mykhal learned to read from his mother and taught my mother and me enough to get the Scribing skill."

"Is Mister Mykhal the best friend whose father ... died?" Heral asked, looking uncomfortable.

Cerise nodded, and swallowed back tears, caught off guard by the surge of grief. They had been traveling for something like five or six months since Trall burned by rebel torches, and it was easy to get lost in the demands of each day. They had cried a lot together at night during that first month marching out of the Sartlag Mountain foothills, but the newness of their loss had worn away by the time they met Miss Sanyel's caravan.

Cerise shook off the grief and said, "Yes. Um. The books will be most appreciated. Have you made much progress on that skill since?"

Heral shook his head. "Sadly, no."

Mykhal returned with the grasses already divided into two bunches. "What did I miss?" he asked, looking at the somber group.

Cerise's mother said, "Don't worry at it now. What herbs did you bring along?"

Mykhal dipped his head in acquiescence and handed the bundles to the two Honorable Misses. He started listing them off, explaining that they grew around the trails he usually found almiraj using while he hunted.

That reminded the girls of just what kind of meat they were eating. Izrai seemed perfectly fine, but Mahayan's expression grew conflicted.

The almiraj were happy with the treats, but seemed mostly to enjoy being in touching range of their bonded. Glatadia hand climbed up onto Mahayan's shoulder, nestling into the crook of her neck. Astrid splayed herself on Izrai's chest, determinedly returning when Izrai, blushing, moved her.

Cerise asked, "May I use some detection skills on you and Astrid to see why she prefers that spot?"

"By all means, yes," Izrai responded.

Cerise laid a hand on Izrai's arm and one on Astrid's back, opening herself to her Mana Sensing and Mana Proprioception skills. She could feel a kind of cycling of mana taking place, and after a few moments she glimpsed what might as well be considered as another vascular system in Izrai's body, except instead of moving fluids, it moved mana around.

And in Izrai, most of her mana was concentrated near her heart. Cerise said as much to Izrai, who shook her head.

"I'm a [Sword Dancer], not a [Mage]. I don't have Mana Pools," Izrai scoffed.

Cerise shrugged. "I don't know about Mana Pools, but everything that lives has mana, from the worms in the soil to the dragons in the skies. There is at least enough mana in your body to let you bond with Astrid."

Izrai said, "Huh. Good enough. And mana settles around my heart, and Astrid likes my mana. I guess I need to get a proper carry harness for her."

"If they're like a lot of newborn critters, they're going to want to be warm and near their 'safe' person, until they're ready to explore," Cerise's mother offered up. She shot Cerise a sly, side-eyed grin, and Cerise felt a telling of 'that one time' coming on. She just gave her mother a flat, dead-eyed expression in return. Cerise had learned by now that the more she reacted, the worse the telling would get.

Heral saved her by groaning, "They aren't going to be as bad as puppies, are they? And, can they be house trained? How do we mark them so no one thinks they're wild almiraj?"

Mykhal and her father exchanged a look that ended in her father saying, "The Free Lancers Guild sells manuals for new [Tamers]. Mister Aldo, how close is the next outpost for them along the route?"

"That would be fully stocked? Va'Savine is nine days off now. In the mean time, I've seen [Tamers] collar their bonded monsters, and you'll want a stout leather for those carry harnesses. Everyone watches the horns and forgets the claws." Mister Aldo sagely shook his finger at that reminder.

Mykhal spoke up. "There was some boar sign I saw while out hunting. I can't take one on my own, nor carry it back alone, but finding them shouldn't be hard."

Heral looked at the older of his two cousins and her new bonded monster. "If we can come up with a temporary means of safe guarding your Astrid, you and I should be sufficient to take out a boar. And if we can safe guard Astrid, we should be able to do the same for Glatadia, which would give the pair of you more than just our practice bouts in terms of experience fighting together."

Her father spoke again. "We came across a windfall of a downed golden heartwood tree. I might be able to put together a cage you could have the loan of, until you know what you would actually need. As a bit of a magical wood, its right at the edge of my skills to work, but it's also well known to be safe around babies. I doubt the little horned darlings could chew through it in the course of a few hours that you would be gone. I do have to ask, Honorables-All, but do you have the means to tan the leather?"

Heral's shoulder's slumped, then straightened. "No, good Mister, and I must thank you for bringing that up before we set out to hunt."

Cerise's father smiled and waved away Heral's glumness. "Oh, just reimburse us for the reagents, share the meat with the caravan, and if there's a mana cryst let Mykhal and Cerise have it for their commissions. Bergin and I have been tanning the leathers these two have brought us since Cerise took it into her head that she needed to learn Leatherworking to become a [Healer]. Cerise, I never did ask, did that do anything for you when you classed?"

Cerise shrugged. "Collapsed into General Crafting with Tailoring, Woodwork, and Tinker, and the skill's capped now until I make my Intermediate breakthrough."

Her father laughed. "You are your mother's daughter!"

She nodded. "Yeah. You doubted this?"

Heral looked genuinely confused as the people around them laughed. It reminded her of his admission when she apologized to him, a month or two past now. Maybe he was farther from understanding than her mother's adage liked to claim.