Nyx and Kseniya stared at the little doe excitedly running around the inn room. In her deer form, Giselle couldn’t speak to more than one person at a time. It hadn’t mattered in the forest since Akashic could hear everything Brivaria could. It mattered now because the little doe was only talking to Nyx. Eventually Kseniya gave up on the hyperactive deer to wait for Brivaria.

The angel made it to the inn and used Current Control to blow-dry both herself and Giselle. The sensation of being dry did not last long as Trixie arrived immediately after. The dog decided to dry herself with a powerful shake that moved the water from her golden coat to Brivaria. Now more drenched than she’d been from the flight back to the inn itself, the angel had to go through the drying process a second time with her dog.

Heads turned when the angel entered the inn room. Trixie bounded in, gave Giselle a proper sniff and lick, and then made the rounds. The golden was getting pets from the lamia and catfolk girl alike while Giselle ran over to her bestest angel friend. Brivaria scooped up the tiny deer and walked to her bed since they’d chosen the double to have the discussion, as was quickly becoming the norm.

“Is this really the golden hind? I expected it to be bigger, you know?” Kseniya asked.

“She can change her size. Giselle can be big and majestic, tiny and cute, or even bipedal if she wants,” Brivaria explained while petting Giselle.

“Wait, she can be normal? I mean, people-sized?” Nyx asked. “Why didn’t she just do that when you got back? I mean, she’s really cute like this but her speaking magic is kind of odd.”

“She’s a spirit. Spirits are functionally children after formation. It can take a couple months for their origin to communicate knowledge to them. They learn fast but they are very child-like early on. I doubt it even occurred to her,” the lamia said with a complicated expression as she regarded said spirit.

“I think that’s a good idea, though. Giselle, can you become a person for us?” Brivaria asked the tiny deer.

“I will do so,” Giselle chirped excitedly. The angel held up a hand to signal for Giselle to wait then took the small deer and placed a bed sheet around her.

“Okay, transform now,” the winged girl said. Giselle grew back to her iveskan form. Hair that shone like spun gold flowed down Giselle’s shoulders while impressive, flowing antlers rose above her. The sheet gave her some much needed modesty as they lacked sufficient clothes.

“Wow,” Nyx breathed while looking Giselle up and down. “That’s not a child. She looks older than me and Brivaria.”

“I said ‘functionally,’” the lamia corrected. “Spirits do not grow physically as other living creatures do. Giselle, how much has your spirit origin taught you?” Giselle blinked at being addressed so suddenly.

“Some? I am still learning,” Giselle replied. Brivaria remembered Giselle saying the same thing the previous day. “Each morning I wake up with more knowledge of the world, of myself, and of my ancestors.”

“Ancestors?” Brivaria asked. “Do you mean the other golden hinds?” Giselle nodded.

“Yes, it is foggy but I can recall their thoughts, feelings, and knowledge. Some of what I know comes from the land itself, drawn in from those who live upon it, and some comes from them. Each day I know a little more. I’m a little more complete,” Giselle explained.

“Brivaria has explained the situation, yes? If you are gaining the memories of those spirits that came before then some mornings to come will doubtless be unpleasant,” Kseniya rose to study Giselle as she spoke. “The situation you have arisen to face is rather complex and presents problems.”

“They want to hunt me and eat me.” Giselle’s words didn’t hold anger but fear. “Brivaria said she would stop them.” Nyx and Kseniya looked to the angel. Trixie also looked then went over to put her head on Brivaria’s lap.

“I did and I mean it. I know there’s going to be a lot of problems when they go into the forest and don’t find a golden hind but Giselle is a person and I won’t stand by while she’s murdered.” Brivaria had steel in her voice. There was no doubt in her words. She recalled the demoness’ words the night before but those only strengthened her resolve.

“This is a bad idea,” Kseniya said, chewed on the words for a long moment, then made a correction. “No, bad is the wrong word. I agree with the little angel. This is a dangerous idea but it is the right thing to do.”

“So how do we do this?” Nyx questioned. “Do we hide her here, secretly bring her meals, and take turns watching out for spies? Do we need to get one of those big coats with lots of pockets that people use to disguise themselves?”

“How do you know about those?” Kseniya quirked an eyebrow at the cat.

“I read books,” Nyx said defensively.

“I was thinking we register her at the adventurers guild,” Brivaria suggested before the two could go further off-track.

“What?” both said at once. Giselle was looking at the angel strangely, but Brivaria thought that was because she didn’t know what an adventurers guild was. The angel had to explain herself.

“Giselle looks similar to an iveskan woman, right? She has combat skills and isn’t registered. No one is going to look at her walking down the street in broad daylight and think ‘that’s the golden hind.’ People are even less likely to question it if she’s a registered, copper-rank adventurer on our team. The guild already knows we’re looking for a new member so if we show up with someone then they won’t bat an eye. As long as we don’t make a big deal out of it then no one else should.” The angel finished and looked between Kseniya and Nyx.

“Seriously? Is it really that easy?” Nyx looked at Kseniya.

“Well,” Kseniya began, then thought about it. “That sounds like a workable plan. We’ll need clothes and maybe armor for her. We’ll probably want to rehearse some answers to common guild questions. I’ve heard some guilds are very thorough with new member interrogations. Pemburne’s was not but Barton is a city so it would be wise to prepare. What about her archetype? What can you do?” Kseniya directed the last question to Giselle.

“I can grow larger or smaller, change the weight and size of myself or whatever I’m holding, help you heal faster, and I have my herd ability,” Giselle replied. Brivaria smiled encouragingly at the land spirit while scritching Trixie between the ears. Suddenly she had an idea.

“Here, why don’t you show them the size part?” the angel said while producing Rory’s old mace from her inventory. It was a lightly enchanted, flanged mace once wielded by one of the gaborn brothers. Giselle looked at the metal mace and took the handle.

One hand held up the blanket to cover herself, which Giselle didn’t fully understand the need for, while the other held the mace. As the other three girls watched, the mace grew larger and larger until it was so gigantic that she needed to rest it on her lap. She then shrunk it down to a size that would let her still hold it with one hand.

“Do you know how to use something like that?” Kseniya questioned, nodding at the mace.

“I have the Battle Instinct skill which should help me know a little about using it. Brivaria helped me pick out skills,” Giselle replied with a bright smile.

“Oh she did?” Kseniya replied with equal cheer but Brivaria could see the smile wasn’t quite reaching the lamia’s eyes. Oops. Maybe she should have done that with the group. Brivaria coughed politely.

“Just a few skills. Giselle has a good mixture of utility and combat skills which will help her in her regular form or iveskan form. You haven’t seen the best skill yet. Giselle, give your herd skill a try,” the angel said with growing excitement. Brivaria resisted the urge to grin when the System prompt appeared in front of her face.

Giselle has invited you to join her herd.

Do you wish to accept this invitation?

Yes or no.

Brivaria selected yes from the System prompt and suddenly she saw all four of them on a System screen in her vision. Giselle, Kseniya, Nyx, and Brivaria herself were all present. Trixie let out a wuff of excitement and then, to everyone’s surprise, Trixie’s portrait joined the others. Everyone looked at the golden sunchaser but it was Kseniya who spoke first.

“This… What is this? I’ve never seen a System screen like this or a skill like this. How does it work?” Kseniya asked with wide-eyed astonishment.

“I can invite and remove people. It gives a little boost in attributes to everyone in the herd.” Giselle was very shy in her Celian form. She quietly offered the mace back to Brivaria. The angel took it and stowed in her inventory while everyone else examined the skill’s effect.

“My attributes are higher,” Nyx exclaimed.

“Mine too,” Kseniya echoed.

Brivaria pulled up her attributes and, sure enough, all of them were five points higher. Generally speaking, a person gained about eight attribute points for each level. One’s race and other factors dictated how those points were allocated. Getting 30 points was equivalent to nearly four levels of growth. For Brivaria whose endurance and awareness were utterly awful, it was closer to seven levels of growth for those specific attributes. In other words, this was a big deal.

“No one can ever know about this skill,” Kseniya said, breaking the stunned silence that took over in the wake of Giselle’s skill activation. “If you can give this attribute points to anyone just by existing, everyone will want you to join them. Some will not ask nicely, you know?”

“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t talk about Heart of the Herd and Giselle, when they interview you at the guild, don’t talk about that one.” Brivaria’s tone was so serious that Giselle nodded her head up and down immediately.

“I promise I won’t. Should I talk about my skills?” the golden hind asked. Kseniya made a thoughtful sound.

“You can fight with weapons and I presume you have some sort of defensive skill? Maybe one that doesn’t require armor if it functions in both forms?” Kseniya’s question got an affirmative response from both Giselle and Brivaria so she went on. “I am not an expert on adventurers but I think the guild will want to label you as a generic warrior. We should lean into that and avoid telling them about any special skills you might have. That may change at some point but for now you should seem as uninteresting as possible.”

“If I do this, can I stay?” Giselle looked hopeful and scared. She’d known nothing but the forest until yesterday and was now in a strange place, surrounded by strange people using words that she understood maybe half of. The winged girl could relate and that was probably among the reasons she wanted to help Giselle.

“Of cour-” Brivaria didn’t get to finish the words as three sharp raps on the door heralded a visitor. Everyone looked up in alarm except for Brivaria. She already knew who this was. She approached the door, cracked it open, and then invited the person inside.

Isolde stepped into the room. The lephori woman arrived alone which surprised Brivaria. She’d expected the rest of Seasoned Steel to be here. It was curious to only have the summoner. The angel predicted a visit as soon as she saw the blue bird. They’d had more time than she anticipated but then maybe that was because Isolde had excused herself to come alone rather than dragging the whole team along.

“Do you have the,” Isolde started to say until her eyes landed on Giselle. The deer woman was clutching the sheet around herself. Brivaria closed the door during the awkward pause that followed. Isolde’s brain turned off at the sight of Giselle and took a good 15 seconds to reboot itself. “Is that the…”

“Hi. I am Giselle. It is nice to meet you,” Giselle said with a little bit of forced cheer. Isolde began blinking rapidly.

“Giselle, this is Isolde. Isolde’s blue bird helped us fly through the rain earlier,” Brivaria explained. She pointedly looked to Kseniya and Nyx who were horrified at first but caught on quickly.

“It… she can speak?” Everyone could see Isolde’s mind slowly working through the situation.

“Yes, she can. Now stop being rude,” Kseniya answered hotly, emphasizing the word “she.” Isolde stiffened.

“Right, sorry. It’s nice to meet you too, Giselle,” the lephori summoner replied, somewhat stupefied by the situation.