Crue and Sturgis showed up just as we were starting the fire for the night. They both looked like they'd gone rounds with a champion boxer. Even though there were some signs that some healing magic had been used on both of them.

Crue had a black eye and Sturgis had remnants of a bloody swollen nose. They both looked like they'd rolled around in rocks and dirt. Crue even had some dead grass in his hair. They had freshly healed cuts as evidenced by the blood on their clothes without any wounds.

They were smiling though. Whatever they had been fighting over had been resolved. I'd never had a brother or any sibling, so that sort of thing never happened with me. Gran didn't allow fighting in her house. The one time I'd started a fight in school... I never did it again.

Don't get me wrong conflict resolution wasn't my thing either. There were times in school when I wanted to just pummel some jackass, but my fear of my Gran kept me in check. My Gran could be scary for an old lady. That didn't mean I couldn't defend myself. Gran was fine with that.

Hell, I'd once seen her take down a twenty-something drug addict in a grocery store parking lot when he tried to run off with her purse. Never fight an old lady with a handbag as big as she was. They were used to carrying around a forty-pound weight and weren't afraid to smack you with it if they chose. Life Lesson Learned: Never fight an old lady they've been around longer and fight dirty. They give no shits and aren't afraid of jail. Drunken fist fighting is nothing on an old lady living on her pension check.

Looked like Sturgis and Crew could have taken some pointers from my Gran. Whenever she got into a fight she never had any marks on her. Finish it quick, brutal, and with the most efficiency, that was my Gran. Sweet old lady, damn I missed her. A lump formed in my throat.

"Hey, you ok?" Crue came up to me and gave me a back slap.

"I should be asking you that. Work it out?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Good."

"Umhum," Sturgis agreed. He was busy poking at the fire with a stick. Why did people always feel like they had to poke at fires?

"Really?" Lotte put both her hands on her hips.

"What?" I asked.

"You're all really going to stand there going yup and good and um hum? You're not going to ask what happened?"

"They worked it out." I really didn't see the problem here. It wasn't my business how much they beat the shit out of each other as long as they came back feeling better.

"They stand there and gape at us like we're the incomprehensible ones," Illia sighed. When did this become a guy versus girl thing?

"We're fine," Crue shrugged. "We've got an understanding."

"And?" Lotte asked.

"And what?" Sturgis replied.

"Ugggh!" Lotte threw her hands up in the air and walked away.

"What is with her and storming off today?" Sturgis questioned scratching at the stubble on his chin.

"She's a teenage girl learning how to deal with the frustrations of the male gender. Give her a few years, she'll learn it's a losing battle." Illia began to cut up an apple and take bites of it off her knife.

"Oh, if that's all it is, ok then. What are we having for dinner?" Sturgis smiled at her.

Illia sighed and pointed to me.

"Um, we have what's left over from Tuck's packed lunch, some leftovers from the canceled celebration party, or we can cook something."

"I don't feel like cooking, just bring out the leftovers," Crue bumped my hip knocking me off balance. Well, he certainly was in a better mood.

"We should save some of it for breakfast."

"We can have cold fruit for breakfast. You bought some when we went shopping."

"Is that fine with everyone?" I asked. The two people who were left nodded.

"We'll have to cook something tomorrow. We're out of ready-made food after this." I warned them pulling items from my inventory for them to pick over and choose what they wanted. Amisi buzzed over it all and picked out what she wanted.

She found that she rather enjoyed cheese. Could bees even digest cheese? Well, she wasn't a normal bee. She could eat a mouse whole. Perhaps cheese was a good source of protein for a growing Death Bee? If I was lucky, I would find a book about the eating habits of Death Bees. Probably not, most people didn't want to find themselves that close.

Lotte came back to pick up her own food, but she sat some distance away. Illia decided to join her. I had to stop Amisi from carrying her chunk of cheese over to where the girls were. Lotte probably still needed some time to vent and think. Amisi scaring her wouldn't help.

As for the guys, we didn't really talk much. It was a comfortable companionship.

"Illia or I should team up with Lotte tonight for the watch. If you hadn't noticed she's a bit pissed off at the both of you."

"What'd she say?" Crue asked lowering his sandwich.

"I'm not going to tell you that." I sliced the green tops off a pile of strawberries and tossed them into some bushes. I was planning on dicing them up and mixing them with honey for Amisi. Sure she could eat the green parts but this was supposed to be a treat for both of us. Yes, I was planning on eating some. I was running all over the place surely my diet could handle a few cheats here and there. I wasn't eating the fried food or the cakes tonight.

"I can probably guess," Crue muttered.

"Can you now?" I gave him a look. A 'really dumbass' look.

"It's not my fault," he protested.

"I can see that," I sighed. "but do you remember being 16 and how hard it was to struggle to become your own person? I think she's going through that and considering all the rest of the shit she has to put up with, it's especially hard on her."

"It was all our parent's idea anyway," Sturgis grumbled. "I was lucky I aged out of it. Lotte is my kid sister, hell I'm nearly old enough to be her father.

"And you stop talking like you're an old codger, you're not much older than she is." Sturgis pointed at me. Well, I couldn't tell him I was actually older than Crue but was sent back a few years into a younger body.

"I can't believe she's held on to that for this long. I would have thought she'd give up when I joined the temple."

"She had hope that you'd come to your senses and go back to the guard. When she found out you'd become an oracle at the trial I think it really hit her that it wasn't happening. She's been holding it in all this time trying to work with you, but well... emotions got high today."

"Poor kid, I had no idea she was holding all that in. I thought when she joined the guard she was finally doing something about her life. She's normally so happy, I didn't realize she was still getting pressured by her family. Dad's pretty much given up at this point, thank Aequitas," Sturgis sighed pulling apart his fried chicken. Damn, it smelled good. I had to remind myself that my eating issues were no reason to become surly. Though, I did resent him a bit for the chicken.

"Why did you leave the guard?" I was trying to change the subject to something a little less innocuous. But both Crue and Sturgis stiffened and seemed to freeze their movements. Shit, did I step on a landmine?

"Lotte doesn't know, we kept it from her," Sturgis started in a whisper.

"No," Crue held up his hand. Then lowered it looking at me. He lowered his voice in a barely audible mutter. "I promise I'll tell you, but not right now. I'll tell you tonight when I'm certain Lotte is sleeping. That ok?"

"Ah, sure, ok" I nodded. "That means we're watch buddies for the night?"

"I guess so," Crue lightly hit Sturgis on the shoulder. "Sorry brother, you're on your own."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Sturgis chuckled. "Let me tell you about the time when I was first training this idiot. He fell asleep and..."

Sturgis spent the rest of the evening regaling me with stories of Crue's misspent youth. Crue added a few of his own. The time they'd both gotten in trouble for stealing all their mother's blackberries so Sturgis could gift him to his then girlfriend, now wife. He's been 19, his father said that since Crue was to get spanked for it so was Sturgis. Crue and I were cracking up at the mental image of Sturgis, the tree, being spanked by his father.

Crue and I would take the first watch, Sturgis would take the second watch, while Lotte and Illia was morning watch. Lotte seemed fine with this arrangement and packed herself off to bed early. While it may not have been as physically a tasking day, it was certainly an emotional one. I sort of envied the girls as they bundled into their tent. I wasn't a morning person and so I would be shit at morning watch, but sleep sounded wonderful.

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Sturgis went to bed shortly after them. When I could hear his snores echoing off the surrounding rocks I began the conversation with Crue. I had a feeling we were going to do a bit more sharing tonight. It was just that sort of day. Everyone was getting rid of their emotional constipation.

"I talked to Illia earlier, while you were busy getting your faced smashed in."

"I see, can you tell me about it?"

"Dunno, do you know anything about how she got to Yellow Springs and why she left?"

"So she told you that? I'm actually surprised she shared that with you so soon. Her family is not uncommon, unfortunately. She was lucky she had enough strength and luck to escape it. She's even luckier she found herself in Yellow Springs where we can help her."

"What do you mean? From what she told me no one would really take her into their party. Mary found her and gave her a job, but it looks like she's always been the type to help herself rather than rely on others."

"Don't worry about it. I just meant that she's got a network of friends willing to help. She didn't have that before when she was in her clan." I had a feeling that wasn't what Crue had meant but didn't press the issue.

"I also told her about me. About being a Succuba and not being from Elrich. She seemed fine with it," I paused. "Well, after she asked me so many embarrassing questions I wanted to be swallowed up by the ground," I sighed. "She asked me about prostitutes," I hissed the word.

Crue was a great friend and laughed at my embarrassing misfortune. I lightly kicked him in the leg, jerk.

"You should get over this prostitute thing you have. Not all of them are bad, ya know? Perhaps we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket, just hoping that you learning Sexual Healing will work. Have you thought about what will happen if it doesn't?"

"Why are you bringing this up now?"

"You were sort of freaking out last time we talked about it. I didn't think it was a good time to bring up the possibility of failure."

"My question stands, why now?" What was he driving at?

"When you said you'd talked to Illia, I thought perhaps you were coming to terms with it."

"Nope, still in denial." Well, part of me was still in denial. The logical part of me knew that Crue might be right.

"Really? Then why'd you tell Illia?" He crossed his arms and gave me a stern stare.

"We were talking about how if shit hits the fan I can run for it."

"And? We've talked about that before."

"Well, she mentioned that even if I run for it I might still be hunted."

He nodded, "that is a possibility."

"She started talking about how she ran and how it was probably time for her to move on from Yellow Springs because she didn't want to be found by her family. Moving around would hinder any efforts of people tracking us."

"Us?"

"Illia said if I left, she wanted to go with me. I do plan on eventually traveling, and I think she feels like she's been hiding in Yellow Springs for too long."

"She really said she'd go with you?" Crue uncrossed his arms and gaped at me. Well, he didn't need to look so stunned. It's not like we were planning on eloping.

"Well yes, I started feeling guilty that I was keeping the truth from her. Planning a trip with a human is one thing, planning a trip with a possible sex maniac is another. I sort of felt that she needed to know in order to make an informed choice for when I do leave."

"I...see," he whispered more to himself than to me. Then he straightened and cocked his head to the side.

I knew that look. I thought the gods were too busy for our mundanities right now. I waited for him to finish up. After a while, he was just staring into the distance.

"Well?" I finally broke and asked him.

"Can't tell you, not right now at least, sorry." He shrugged his shoulders a bit and gave a rye smile. What was that goddess up to now?

"So you wanted to know why I left the guard," Crue began changing the subject. Damn, I did want to know.

"I was on patrol one night, I had only been in the guard for about two months. I turn a corner and I get jumped by a gang of drunks."

"That seems like something most guards have to deal with at some point." He had stopped talking and I thought I'd say something.

"Well yes, I'd only been with them for two months and dealing with drunks is nearly a nightly occurrence. Problem was, these guys were also guards. They were off duty.

"This group had a small problem with me from the beginning. You see I've never really hidden the fact that I'm ok with girls or guys. I don't announce it to everyone on the street, but I don't hide it either. They weren't ok with that.

"They didn't want a queermo in their ranks. Made them all look like sissies."

"Fuck them," I said.

"Right fuck 'em. Problem was there were more of them than there were of me. I got beaten badly, but even after that I might have stayed with the guard."

"But?"

"But as I was laying there and they were kicking me, two other on-duty guards walked right by. They didn't do anything. Just walked by."

"Shit."

"So I passed out and the next thing I know some woman, a prostitute, was dragging my butt to Amoris' Temple. She'd seen what had happened and once they left me for dead, she did what she could to save me.

"I guess it was then that I realized I could do more for this city devoting myself to helping in a different way than I ever could with the guard. You don't have to be a symbol of law and order to be able to do good work.

"Sturgis lost his shit when he found out. Nearly got demoted when he found each of the guys and beat the hell out of them. That prostitute though, she stood witness for me during the trial. She showed more courage than any of those idiots who were are supposed to be protecting the people."

"That magistrate didn't seem like the kind of guy to take a woman's word for it."

"No, but he was faced with the fact that I had been beaten. I knew who they were and she corroborated it. On top of that, my dad and brother were ready to destroy shit if justice wasn't served."

"Family that kicks ass together stays together," I smiled.

"Yes and no, they were ready to crack skulls for me, true. At that point though I was still technically with the guard. I was carrying on a legacy of sorts. After the trial, I decided to quit and devote myself to healing.

"Sturgis was fine with that, but my dad and Lotte weren't. Lotte didn't know about the attack the trial was hush hush. My dad knew and he was pissed. Really pissed. He eventually got over it, but at the time I was kicked out. I think I'm the only one in my family who hasn't been involved in something dealing with the military for five generations. To him, I was spitting in the face of my grandparents."

"But he's over it now?"

"He's accepted the fact that I'm the weird one in the family, but I don't think he's forgiven me for not taking up some other military type job."

"Why is the military so important?" I had a feeling this would get to the core of Crue's family issues.

"My grandfather was sort of a savant. He couldn't cook, clean, or even remember to bathe regularly, but he was a genius when it came to strategies. Anything involving a strategy was his thing. It started out as games when he was a kid, then at some point he realized the best strategies took place on the battlefield.

"My great-grandpa had been in the army fighting against the Zyanthropes when his son started sending him these plans and maps and just boxes of detailed possibilities. They used my grandfather's plans to easily defeat the army they were against. He was conscripted and was placed in an undisclosed location. He wasn't allowed to leave even if he wanted.

"They gave him maids and even a caretaker to make sure he ate and bathed. He turned away from his strategies long enough to fall for one of the maids, marry her, and get her pregnant. With a baby on the way, he began to come out of the trance he'd been in.

"He tried to get out of the army. The kingdom told him that he was too important. They refused. They set guards to watch him 24/7. Before he couldn't leave, but he hadn't wanted to. Now that he wanted to leave..."

"Isn't that illegal it can't be legal?"

"It was wartime, The kingdom could do whatever they wanted in wartime. So he started coming up with strategies to end the war. When the war ended he thought he'd finally be able to leave."

"I take that as a no?"

"No, Even when he was no longer needed he was too valuable an asset to let just run off. If he ended up in enemy hands..." Crue sighed. "He lived the rest of his life in that place. My dad and uncle grew up there never knowing the outside world.

"My dad thought to escape that cage by becoming the best. He trained like crazy and eventually, he was able to leave, but only so he could become the kingdom's champion. He thought that if he won he'd be able to be free, but that's not how the real world works. He was forced to go back.

"Then after another four years, he was told he'd be the champion again. He refused, but they didn't take no for an answer. He was forced to compete and against the odds, he won.

"He also met my mom and she had her father hire my dad on as a captain of her father's private guard. In this way, dad was able to escape. My uncle hired himself out too. As long as the family remained in the military they could, theoretically, do what they wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone is always watching, sending reports. He's never allowed to travel alone, never allowed to leave the kingdom. My uncle was killed."

"What!" I was honestly shocked.

"He was killed, supposedly it was bandits, but everyone knows that the kingdom sent their assassins after him when he tried to leave the kingdom. That really scared my dad. I think he thought that if I left military service I'd be killed. So far he's been wrong."

"That's insane, surely they wouldn't bother once your grandfather died. He is dead right?"

"Yes for a while now, but my dad was remarkable in his own way. My uncle had shown signs of some of his father's strategic talent. They probably think that we are some sort of military genius family."

"Are you?"

Crue paused, "I'm not, but I think Sturgis is and he's hiding it. The dumb shit he pulls always seems far too calculated to actually be dumb. You know what I mean?"

"He's faking being normal?"

"Yes, that's it. I mean I don't blame him."

"I guess not. Does that mean you'll never be able to leave? Either of you?"

"Well, maybe not for Sturgis he's married to the guard at this point. I might be able to though."

"How so?" Seems to me like it'd be risky.

"Well, the temples as a whole is one major political mover. The Guild is another. Do you think it's a coincidence that I happen to be employed by the two groups who might actually be able to get the kingdom to back the fuck off?" He chuckled. "No, when you leave let me know in advance. With my skill set any Amoris Temple will take me, so will any Guild. Now that I've become an Oracle I've become a little more difficult to control. No one wants to truly piss off the gods and messing with an oracle is one sure way to do that. After all, we literally speak for them."

He gave me a huge grin. Hell, he was looking forward to flipping the finger at the kingdom and saying bite me. Perhaps Crue was more of a strategist than he thought. It seemed like he put all those steps into place purely because he'd planned on leaving. Had to respect a guy willing to work at outmaneuvering an entire kingdom.

"You're really willing to leave? I mean you have friends and family here. It's a good life."

He nodded, "that is true, but if you were told you couldn't do something wouldn't that make you even more determined to do it? It's not like I plan on leaving for good, I just would like to see more of the world than Yellow Springs and the surroundings."

"You don't have to leave the kingdom to do that." I pointed out.

"I'm a stubborn sort. I was planning on going eventually, but I've always just put it off. Maybe I just needed a reason other than my own idiocy to leave. Really now, how do you expect me to leave you and Illia to run around out there by yourselves? You'd be killed in a week."

"I'd give our odds higher than a week," I laughed at his joke. I was glad he was thinking of leaving when we left. I wouldn't know how I would have said goodbye to him. He was my first friend in this new world. No one wants to leave their friends behind.

"Well, we have some time yet. We can't leave until you get yourself sorted for one."

"I guess so," I still didn't like to talk about it.

"For another, we have to formally finish your Surveyor training. Even though you can easily do the job, having been trained in it will allow you to hide your Blessings if you go to another Guild."

"Am I being trained?" I laughed.

"Hell, you couldn't even pitch a tent until yesterday. We'll make you a real Surveyor yet." He slapped my back and laughed. "It's nearly time to wake up Sturgis. We need to get to bed."

We both got up and I checked the area one last time to be safe. All clear.

"Just so you know," Crue teased as we walked back to the tents, "I don't mind being the little spoon." I punched him in the arm.