Joan looked over her notes before giving a small nod. “Perfect.”

As if sensing her work was complete, there was a light knock on the door. “Joan? Are you about ready to go?” Bauteut asked.

“Oh, yeah, coming!” Joan said before getting to her feet. Some clothes and her gear were already stuffed into her bag, at least the stuff she was taking. The fact they’d be staying at one of Vivian’s friend’s homes meant she didn’t have to pack for a long adventure. Just a few days of getting clothing and relaxation.

“What’s that?” Bauteut asked once she came out of the room, the healer motioning towards the small stack of papers Joan was holding.

“Oh, just some minor things for the Chosen to take care of while we’re there,” Joan said. “I figure we’re going to be near them anyway, might as well deal with it before the merfolk and the nagas break into a full war, right?”

“The who and the what now?” Bauteut asked. “We’re going to be visiting merfolk?”

“Nah, this is Chosen stuff,” Joan said. “There’s like, only a few things they can deal with while we’re there, anyway. Oh, and a ghost ship that’s caused by an old cursed island. Oh, right, and I guess that ancient underwater god that’s going to try and create tidal waves to wipe out the coasts in a few decades, probably best to take care of that while we’re there.”

Bauteut just stared at her as if she was insane.

“What?” Joan asked.

“We’re going to be there a few days, do you really think there’s enough time to do all of that?” Bauteut asked.

“Normally, no,” Joan said before holding up the papers. “Except I already know how to deal with everything and what the Chosen need to do. The whole war thing was spread out over YEARS. I swear we had to go back there like twenty times to try and stop it from getting out of hand. It turns out there was this advisor among the merfolk who actually thought his sister had been killed by the naga, but it turned out that she had actually been abducted by a leviathan due to her beautiful singing voice and is trapped in this weird realm of…” She trailed off, her cheeks going red. “It’s not as complex as it sounds. Okay, it is, but I know what they need to do and deal with it all now, rather than having it explode in our faces later.”

“One of these days I’m going to have a long talk with you about the concept of ‘vacation’,” Bauteut said with a soft sigh.

“I mean, doing this bit of work today will literally save us years of work,” Joan said. “Besides, as busy as the Chosen are now, once this is all over they’ll have so much time to relax. It’s a lot like compressing fifty or so years of work into a few days. Which sounds way worse than it is.”

Bauteut rolled her eyes and started walking away. “Come on, let’s go. Though that analogy works very poorly. I’d say it sounds more like you’re putting medicine on a cut before it becomes infected and you need to amputate the arm.”

“Considering the amount of deaths we’ll be avoiding with this method, that’s probably fair,” Joan said softly. “It’s just going to be Korgron, Searle and Myrin, though. I wouldn’t give more than they could handle. I wish Chase was here, though. He’d be really helpful for a lot of these.”

“Because he’s a changeling?” Bauteut asked.

“Nah, his water magic,” Joan said. “Korgron is amazing, don’t get me wrong. The greatest mage in the world, easy. But he was water incarnate. His magic was an absolute wonder to watch. Though, I guess that’s not surprising. They’re all incredible in their fields.”

“Even Searle?” Bauteut asked.

“Especially Searle,” Joan said. Her cheeks turned a little red when she remembered the way that Qakog and Searle had been sparring. They were both growing so quickly, what if she couldn’t keep up in the end? Well, at least she knew Searle would never lose to Qakog so long as he was fighting to protect her. After all, protection was what he embodied in so many ways. That and if he lost, she might be trapped with Qakog and there was no way Searle would allow that.

“Were you two ever this close before?” Bauteut asked.

“When I was the Hero? Not at all,” Joan said with a roll of her eyes. “The Hero was an idiot. I was an idiot. I thought a shield was useless and I was already so angry when I met him that I just never really gave him a chance.”

“Do you think it would have fixed things if you had?” Bauteut asked.

“Maybe,” Joan said with a shrug. “Who knows? I mean, I tried so many lives, but I was always on the attack. Trying to find the way to just break through everything. Maybe I should have focused more on defending. Just… I don’t know. It’s not like I can ever know now, right? I made my choice, I’m here, there’s no going back. So I have to accept it rather than worrying about the what could have beens. Right?”

“Right,” Bauteut said before glancing ahead. “Hope you’re ready for this.”

“As ready as I can be,” Joan said before the two walked out into the courtyard. To her delight she could see that the others hadn’t packed more than a few bags themselves, all neatly piled onto the teleportation circle. She walked forward and put her bag besides theirs. Just a few days, that was all. Her, Korgron, Searle, Bauteut, Qakog, Zorn, an annoying little blue spider, Myrin and Vivian.

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“Here,” Joan said before holding out the papers to Searle.

“What are these?” Searle asked, though he took them.

“Just some minor things for the Chosen to deal with while we’re there,” Joan said sheepishly. “Shouldn’t be more than a few days works.”

“I thought you said there wasn’t anything pressing? How is this just a few things?” Korgron asked.

“There isn’t anything that difficult, it just looks worse than it is,” Joan said. “It’s just some quick things that will later become big things. You don’t have to do them, it’ll just save some lives and effort if we deal with them now.”

“Fine, fine. The life of a Chosen, it seems. Always taking care of chores,” Korgron said with a roll of her eyes before moving into the center of the circle. “Okay, everyone hold on. It might be a bit bumpy. Bucket, what are you doing?”

“If I throw up I’m throwing up on you,” Bauteut said, her hands locked on Korgron’s arm. “So go ahead. Make it bumpy. I dare you, Corked.”

Korgron blinked a few times before she grinned wide, showing off her fangs. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Bauteut. Fine then, let’s go.”

Joan held her breath before the world, once more, shifted around them. For a moment they were nowhere, everywhere and somewhere all at once, then the next they were in the middle of a large, walled in courtyard.

“Don’t do it!” Korgron yelled, her eyes locked on Bauteut. The healer was clasped tightly onto her arm and leaning into her, her face slightly green as she took slow, deep breaths.

“Okay,” Bauteut said softly. “I’m good. I think I’m good. I think-- oh dear. That’s a lot of… wow.”

“Huh?” Joan asked before glancing up. Oh, there were a lot of arrows pointed at them. Oh. Right. Demons.

Vivian cleared her throat. “Err, just give me a moment and I’ll take care of this. They were supposed to be expecting us, I don’t know why they’d react like this,” she said before slowly walking away from the circle and towards one of the soldiers. At least those on the ground hadn’t drawn their weapons, it was only the archers on the walls who were ready to attack.

Still, Joan really didn’t like having so many arrows aimed at them. Hopefully this wasn’t an omen for how the rest of their trip would be.

------

“My cheeks hurt,” Joan said before collapsing onto her temporary bed.

“What did you expect?” Bauteut asked in a teasing tone. “You’re the Joan they’d heard soooooo much about.”

“Who pinches someone’s cheeks that much?” Joan asked. Still, despite herself she couldn’t help but grin. It had felt nice to be the center of attention for once. Apparently this friend of Vivian’s, Bridgett, had known her since the two were little girls. She didn’t have any grandchildren (yet, as Bridgett had repeatedly informed them, though she hoped to have that changed by the end of the year), but she hoped when she did have one they were ‘half as adorable as little Joan’.

Bridgett had barely seemed to even notice the Chosen, instead focusing on her. Unfortunately, the woman apparently thought pinching cheeks was a sign of endearment and had spent half the introduction pinching her cheeks followed by complaining how thin she looked, only to praise her a moment later for being so accomplished as a daughter of one of the Chosen.

Joan was beginning to think she understood now why Hardwin hadn’t wanted to come. Still, the woman was nice enough to let them stay in her manor during this trip, so she could endure a little bit of cheek pinching. Though she really wished the woman hadn’t said she was nearly the splitting image of Hardwin at that age, if a bit thinner. She knew it was supposed to be a compliment, but it didn’t feel like one.

“How’s your stomach feeling?” Joan asked.

“It’ll be fine,” Bauteut said. “I think I’m going to just stay here and rest for a few hours. If you want to go out and explore the city, you’re welcome to.”

“Eh,” Joan said before giving a shrug. “It won’t feel the same without you. Besides, I’ve explored this city before. I wanna show all of you some things. Maybe--”

There was a light knock on the door and she froze. “Yes?”

“It’s me,” Searle called in. “I just wanted to let you know we’re going.”

“We?” Joan asked before jumping to her feet and darting to the door, yanking it open. “What? Why? Where are you going? We just got here!”

“These,” Searle said before holding up the papers she’d given him. “We’re going to try and get some of these done before we settle in. We shouldn’t be gone too long.”

“Oh, right,” Joan said sheepishly, her cheeks turning a little red. Why in the world was she so disappointed they were going so soon? “Well, Bauteut needs to rest anyway. How about after you get back I can show you around the city? All of you?”

“That’d be nice,” Searle said with a small grin. “Don’t wait up for us, though. We’ll try and take care of these as fast as we can.”

“Yeah, I know,” Joan said with a small smile. At least it wouldn’t be that long. Would it? She gave him a small wave before watching him leave, her stomach tightening into a knot.

Damn it. She mentally kicked herself. Why did she have to send them off on tasks as soon as they got here?

Oh, right, because hundreds, thousands or possibly millions of innocent people could die otherwise. Ugh. Why did saving the world have to be inconvenient to her enjoyment? All she wanted to do was grab all of her friends and take them on a wild adventure through the city.

“Do you think I’m selfish?” Joan asked before walking back towards her bed and collapsing on it.

“A little bit at times,” Bauteut said. “That’s okay, though. Everyone is greedy sometimes. It’s all about moderation.”

“I just want everyone to do what I want, when I want it and for there to be no ruining my plans,” Joan said softly. “Is that so much to ask?”

“Probably,” Bauteut said. “For what it’s worth, I wish they did too.”

“Thanks,” Joan said with a light chuckle. “As soon as they get back, we’re going out though. If they feel up to it.”

“Of course,” Bauteut said with a small nod.