Finishing up with the latest observations, I pick the bag up once again. My wounds grind my flesh and the other three hear the roar of my vocal engine. Einervaene offers me a hand and I wince a little more as I adjust my weight. Damn bullets. I got healed by Brewbrt, only to get shot up again!

"Should I keep an eye out on our surroundings? It'll give you time to rest." Einervaene offers and I shake my head without much thought to it.

"No... I don't think that is a good idea, no," I say, the sensation of my claws lying to me. There's nothing in them, but I remember.

"Why? I can get up high into the sky and get a clear view of where we are. And quickly come back down and warn you if needed." she explains, and the logic is hard to argue against. However.

"You also can't do it for long. The moment problems start, you might get seriously hurt. So no," I tell her, gesturing for the other two to come along now so we can get moving again. We've been lucky with the lack of valley-riders, but complacency and a lack of attention started this mess. Not even my unmasking, my original capture by that spike-backed shortie.

"I can do it if I work my way through the issues!" she insists, and while I commend the determination, I am hiding my amusement.

"Einervaene. Last time you nearly died if I did not catch you. The offer is appreciated, but please, don't do it." I insist right back, as her stubbornness irks a smidge of my heart.

"B-But you are fast! ... Just catch me each time!" she says, her tone firm even as she backs off, that usual cute colour to her cheeks. My glass-hidden eyes shift to Rose-sweerui as her eyes otherwise blow the warning horn. I hold my jaw shut and breathe out until some air starts to leak from my eyes. A quick noise of joy escapes me.

"Still, not fast enough." I say, wincing at the sudden pain in my chest area. A claw lingers on the stretched-for-too-long wound.

"Do I need to sear them shut again?" Einervaene asks as she comes to inspect the growing wet feeling on my chest. It's not much, just a broken scab, but enough for the attentive woman to notice.

"No, it's fine. It just hurts a little." I dismissively say, moving my arm away and setting my chest somewhat still. At the very least, I can make my back stiff to stop my front from stretching, however many ways.

"How about I try and properly heal you? I am not sure if my magic is better than yours. But, at worst, I am the second strongest here and not far behind you. I might be able to do something if we stay close..." she offers, a cute smile wobbling her lips as she bridges her fingers together.

Coming to a stop as my mind gets active, I find myself blinking a bit excessively. I'm the only one right now who cannot properly see or feel magic. Am I going crazy that it is something I can do? Is Rose-sweerui influencing me with her way of seeing things? Is that even possible...?

I am not mentally equipped for these kinds of thoughts. It might be a normal thing for magic users such as us. It must be. Even the spell-less valley-riders have the means to detect magic. It caused me enough worries, any who!

Well, at the very least, with this journey, it ends in a school for magic. I can count on Thrurstradtur to be insightful! Maybe I'll even take the time to finally learn my magic properly. Though, given my primary goal, it might only be a somewhat accomplished task.

"Nin-kischu?" Einervaene asks, bringing me out of my head with a gentle touch as well.

"O-Oh. Sorry. I suppose you can give it a go." I tell her as I swear she shimmers a golden hue as I focus on an odd feeling. I start to feel fuzzy, like she's straightening my hairs out. Not that I have any, anymore.

I blink as Einervaene snuggles up closer, lodging herself between my body and an arm, "Is this fine?"

I nod at Einervaene and then try to find Rose-sweerui. Only, I discover that she's timid all of a sudden, speeding off as such. The confusion furrows my brow. She's normally quite confrontational about this kind of closeness, especially from a woman. Did Einervaene's prior remark wound her pride with how she can't really help me?

I really cannot tell and I am worrying about how this will blow up...

"Give it some time. We'll see if it is helpful." I reassure Einervaene with, anyhow.

"I am fine with that..." she says quite quietly, her eyes going away. Her hands find the bracelet I got from Motrtha and she's familiar enough with the markings.

"Is this a gift from your mother?"

"No, it's from... A friend." I almost choke on. Motherhood is certainly related. Just not in the way she expects. Besides, is referring to a goddess as my friend a good idea? Is it even accurate? She smooched me a fair few times, admittedly. I've got a real source of pride with that!

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For all the bad luck I've had these past few weeks, and more since leaving Tobaballe... Motrtha really did give me enviable experiences that no one else can hope to have! It's so baffling to think about, even now. Me, a mortal, getting a right bit of tongue from a conceptual entity from the dawn of time. It makes me huff with externally confusing amusement.

"Why would your friend give you something so entwined with motherhood?" she asks, her small smile growing quite considerably as she ponders who knows what, "Is it perhaps something you are meant to give to someone else?"

"I honestly could not tell you." I say with a dry laugh, and she surpasses it with a livelier one. And, well, it's true. I cannot say what I will do with it in the future. Motrtha insisted I keep it on and that is it. Maybe at some point I will figure it out as Rose-sweerui enjoys it when I have it on. Though, that might just be her appreciation for the holy given her past.

Or maybe it's a really powerful item? A goddess did make it, after all. Who knows? Who very much knows?

"So... Have you ever thought about being a father?" Einervaene dares to ask with wayward eyes and I blink and flinch.

My surprise meets her head on, "Can't say I have to be entirely honest. It was just not something I could focus on back home."

"H-How come? Family was a very common topic for me back home. Who to marry, what your family stood for, where they came from and so on?" she goes on about, her face too red for how serious her words are otherwise. Does she...?

"My home puts a lot of emphasis on proving yourself. Until you reach a certain level of prestige as it were, you'd not even be able to support a family. Not that it matters, I suppose. Children don't live with their parents most of the time. At least, ones from the lower floors." I explain, cramming what I can without feeling like I am overwhelming her. Our upbringings couldn't be any more different, really.

She's like if someone was born into the Crown and stayed there!

"That sounds awful. Why would you separate a child from their family?" she asks, a hand moving to cover her mouth.

"We weren't separated, we just did not live with them. They could still visit and do stuff with us and we could keep steady contact with them. But, I can understand that it is quite distant. Especially when the better-off families could keep their children in their homes." I clarify, trying to make it sound softer. Though, I have my doubts as she seems pretty made-up mind wise.

"Either way, I don't think I would have been able to do anything like that. I was barely able to make it through the early portions of my journey to your lands..." she almost whimpers, this talk of family affecting her deeper than she's letting on.

"You still miss them?" I ask rather stupidly.

"Of course I do! They are my family. It's just, I don't understand how a people can exist where their children... Spend so long away... From their mother... -'s! and fathers. It's... Awful." she sniffles, her mind a clear mess.

"Well, if there's one benefit, I can clearly say. It toughens us all up, for one thing. On top of simply establishing how it works back home. How it should be."

"Should be?" she struggles to digest, her head tilting.

"Yes, as it should be. Nothing good ever came from just being given something. If it is not earned, then I will not have any respect for it." I recite, the Tobaballian in me, probably speaking more than the Nin I should be.

"There's a few stories of people from my homeland not respecting what great wealth they own. And they most certainly have earned it at some point. So, I cannot agree with your philosophy of life." she says to me and I find myself shrugging a bit.

"Your example sounds like the dullness of repetition. Eating fine food so often will make it seem average. Barely eating at all will make you even consider spat out seconds." I point out, thinking of the times I and many others have found themselves more hungry than they can afford to be. Finding your feet is a struggle when you first set out to join the other Grounders.

"I know that... But my point remains the same. Just because it is not earned doesn't make it of less value. All that changes is an arbitrary way of getting it." she says.

"Why would I value a donation of money more than the wages I earned?" I question, one having intrinsically more worth than the other.

"Because it means someone cares for you and wants you to do well! Surely the kindness alone makes it valuable? I would have most certainly not made it this far without Lord Brewbrt's help. I am immensely grateful for what he has done for me," she says to me, a hand over her heart.

I shake my head, a cautionary message lingering in my thoughts, "You still had to do it yourself, for the most part."

My mind wanders backwards, before any of this ever happened. Before the visit to the Crown and Iishar's offer, before any of it. So many broken friendships because people could not keep up with each other. A common occurrence in Tobaballe. Thankfully, I suppose, my friends back home were not all that close.

So, I've not much to worry about with hurt feelings and wounded egos. No rifts to worry about and while not the best, I had a place to fall back to. Unlike out here, where I'd be lost without Rose-sweerui's kindness. Still, enjoying people's company is enough reason to continue to try and associate myself.

"But... Now you contradict yourself." Einervaene lets out, her thoughts coming together.

"How?" I ask, my thoughts having gone the opposite way. I've lost track, to admit to no one.

"Because your kindness to me is what ensured me helping you. The fact you are a good person saved your life in a way." she argues and I think about it. What she says is... Dauntingly incomprehensible.

"I am not a good person," is all I can think to say, and I shake my head. Einervaene's expression sours and her grip tightens.

"And why is that!?" she asks quite loudly, enough to get the attention of the other two.

"What kind of good person looks like this? What kind of good person needs to hide behind a dark cloak, stern mask, and filthy bandages?" I ask, though I am probably not saying this right. I know my current state of existence is far too complex to...

"Don't judge yourself on the actions of other members of your kind. You are you, not them. And what I have seen is a good person who is willing to risk their life to keep others safe. On more than one occasion!" Einervaene insists quite passionately, and I am taken aback by it, though my mind lingers.

"My kind, huh..." I repeat, not sure what it means anymore. Am I am what I am physically? Or what I remain as mentally? What am I...?