Chapter 82
Jay and his group had eaten their pizza and relaxed for an hour or so as they watched people dance. Jay had put his mask back on in preparations for leaving. Jay had turned his title off and then they had all gotten up and moaned and groaned from sitting still for too long. Then they finally had left Redgrass being sure to make it out before the Friday night rush began. They took a cart this time instead of a carriage.
They had stopped off at the bank, a fancy looking building that was brightly lit by magical means. Jay had some gold in his coin pouch that he did not want to lose. The bank was always open for deposits. Jay deposited the gold Walter had given him, four gold, and returned to the cart to find Aiden and Norri thumb wrestling while M'redith looked on with a tired smile as she leaned up against the side of the cart. Her smile widened when she saw Jay and she gave him a kiss on the cheek after he had plopped down next to her and the cart pulled in to the road.
“So what next?” Aiden said after Norri had soundly trounced him in thumb wrestling two matches out of three.
The cart rolled on for a bit before Jay shrugged as he took off his mask and put it up against the opening of his backpack, storing it. “Back to the library? We have one item, time to move to the next item, the Rod of Siphoning.”
M'redith looked confused for a moment, “Wait,” she said, “that spellcaster doesn't have any makers mark from Gaia. The one in the kid's book did. How do we fix that?”
Aiden chuckled, “We could just have Jay Bless them. Doesn't a blessing from a prophet count just as much as one from a priest? I'm not sure how the whole thing works to be honest.”
Everyone turned and looked at Aiden.
“That's.. a great idea actually. I'd forgotten all about Jay's ability to bless others. Would it work on a group of items?” M'redith wondered out loud.
Norri spoke up, “We should ask a priest.”
Aiden grinned, “Or a Librarian.”
Jay chuckled, “Ok so library it is. It's getting late though, don't you guys want to call it a night?”
Aiden nodded, “I do. I'm wiped. Healing you guys was exhausting.”
Norri laughed, “Keeping all those skeletons from beating you up was pretty tiring too you know big guy.”
The group laughed and Norri continued to tease Aiden until they arrived at The Guild.
Everyone climbed out and stretched. M'redith leaned up against Jay until everyone was out of the cart and the group walked to the women's residential area. They dropped Norri off first and then M'redith. Jay surprised her by giving her a kiss on the cheek before she could get him.
Aiden groaned in disgust and she chuckled as she closed the door behind her.
Jay looked over at Aiden with a grin. “Quit your complaining!”
“You two are adorable. It makes me sick.” Aiden teased Jay, smiling as he did so.
The two friends walked back to their rooms in the starlit night.
“Hey, good job today Aiden. You healed like a champ.” Jay said with a lopsided smile.
“Gee, thanks Dad.” Aiden replied. “You did pretty good too. You got hit less often than I thought you would.”
At least he didn't comment on me not being able to fight, Jay thought to himself.
“Ok, nite Jay. See you in the morning.” Aiden said as he gave him a pat on the back and walked off in to the darkness.
Jay let himself in to his room and locked the door behind him. He went to his bed and turned on his Tropical Island Aura for thirty seconds to clean everything off before he stripped down and got in to bed, turning off the light.
Jay slept fitfully at first and dreamed of a spirit mantle dissolving over and over, no matter what he did he couldn't keep the mantle from falling to pieces. The dissolving pieces dropped in to puddles on the ground in tiny strips. It was raining in his dream with a thick gray cloud stretched across the sky. There was something he had been supposed to do, but what was it? The mantle dissolved in to nothing and the dream was torn from his mind as Jay awoke.
He was covered in sweat and Jay sighed. He hadn't had night sweats in a while and he had hoped that was all behind him. Apparently not.
Jay grinned happily as he realized he didn't even need to get up. He activated his Tropical Island Aura and thirty seconds later his body and bedding were as clean as could be and smelled like an ocean breeze. Jay would take that ability over a combat ability any day of the week.
Still groggy from his dream Jay quickly fell back asleep and finally his body relaxed. He dreamed more but they were all nonsense, nothing that he would remember. He needed a break to recover from all of his adventures.
----
Eden, Day 33, Saturday
Jay woke to the sound of someone hammering on his door. He didn't recognize the banging, he knew Aiden's and M'redith's knock by heart at this point. Jay pulled on a pair of pants and groggily walked to his front door and opened it letting in the fresh morning air and bright sunlight. Jay brought one hand up to shield his eyes from the sudden glare.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
M'redith pushed him to the side and walked in before realizing she had placed her hand against his bare chest. They looked at each other for a moment before she blushed and carefully removed her hand. Jay could still almost feel the cool touch of her skin on his even after she pulled back.
“What is it?” he asked, confused. She had seriously distracted him. “You were knocking like there was something wrong.” Jay had not yet completely woken up.
M'redith dropped herself gracelessly in to a chair. “I'm exhausted. I had bad dreams and I woke up all clammy. I hate that!” she said with a furious look on her face. She carefully schooled her face in to one of calm.
“Ya. Me too. It happens sometimes after dungeon runs.” Jay said tiredly as he closed the front door and sat in a chair as he pulled it up close next to her.
“Here,” Jay said as he turned on his aura and let it clean the two of them for thirty seconds. The light vibration he felt when it was active was easily dealt with as he had gotten used to it at this point. M'redith sighed loudly and her body visibly relaxed.
“Thank you. That's just what this girl needed.” she said with a grin as she ran her fingers through her hair giving it even more volume than the aura had just given it.
She looked great Jay thought. He breathed in and could smell a mix of her scent mixed with a tropical beach. It was a heady mix and Jay smiled in contentment.
They sat there next to each other quietly for a time before she stirred in her chair, “How often does it happen? The nightmares and such I mean.” M'redith asked quietly as she looked up at Jay out of the corner of her eyes.
Jay shrugged, “Only once in a while. Sometimes after a run you can get shaky. Some people cry. Everyone deals with the stress their own way. As much fun as we had we were in a life or death situation the entire time we were in that dungeon.”
Jay took a breath and rubbed her arm affectionately. “That's a lot of stress to be under for hours at a time. Your body puts off dealing with it until you're out of danger. It doesn't just disappear, you still have to deal with it after the danger has passed. It's ok. If it helps any it has gotten better for me.”
“Did it happen to you last night too?” M'redith asked curiously as she studied his face as he answered.
Jay nodded, “It did. I got night sweats and nightmares and woke up. My aura makes that an inconvenience more than an actual problem though. Thirty seconds and I was back asleep.” Jay said with a shy smile.
M'redith nodded. “Good.”
Jay visibly startled, “Good?!?” He leaned back away from her to get a better look at her as she spoke.
M'redith laughed at the misunderstanding. “Good as in good that I'm not weird and it happens to other people too – not good as in good that it happened to you silly.” She gave him an affectionate slap on the arm but left her hand there after she made contact. She was still very much aware that he had yet to put on a shirt but made an attempt not to stare.
They sat at the table just enjoying being with each other for a few minutes as they both thought about the dungeon run yesterday as well as the night's struggles.
M'redith had enough and stood up abruptly, “We should get going, the others are probably at breakfast already.”
Jay got up as well. Any time things had even a chance at progressing past the light flirting stage either Jay or M'redith would change the topic. They had done a great job until then at staying friends with.. a promise. Or maybe a hope – that they would pursue each other further, but after graduation.
Until then they were inseparable and clearly had eyes only for each other.
Aiden would have said it was gross but M'redith thought it was romantic, two not-yet lovers separated by duty.
Jay thought it was frustrating but necessary. There was no way he'd get anything done otherwise. Jay grinned and M'redith looked at him in confusion.
“What?” she asked.
“I was just thinking about what things might be like after graduation.” he said with a sly smile.
M'redith coughed, “Yes, well. Maybe I should wait for you outside?” she said as she walked to the front door with a smile. “Go get dressed big guy.” She let herself out and Jay could see her tilting her head towards the sun as she soaked up the warmth and the front door shut blocking her from view.
Jay sighed and grinned but went and got dressed, assembling his belongings in his backpack as he usually did when he didn't know what the day might hold. He wore his Glimmerhide armor. It was quite comfortable now that he knew how to wear it properly. He covered it with his shirt, belt, and load bearing vest.
He walked outside and snaked an arm around M'redith's waist while her eyes were still closed as she enjoyed the warm sunlight. Jay pulled her close and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
She opened her eyes and asked a bit breathlessly, “What was that for?”
Jay gave her a serious look. “It's easy to focus on the nightmares. That was just to remind you that there's good stuff too.” Jay smiled and gave her waist a squeeze with his arm.
She leaned her head on his arm for a moment and then straightened her shoulders and stood up straight casting off his arm. She held his hand in hers and they walked off to breakfast.
“Thanks Jay. Maybe today we can just relax together? No dungeons or glimmerhides or creepy staffs or anything like that?” M'redith asked quietly.
Jay nodded, “I could use a break too. I was actually half expecting Walter to try and rope me in to a dungeon run for him with C'nthia's group. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm glad he didn't ask me for a run for today.”
M'redith nodded and smiled. “You can turn down five gold that easily huh?”
Jay laughed, “What would I spend it on? I already have five gold and it's just sitting in the bank. Almost everything I really need is either in my bag, on my body, or standing next to me.” he said as he winked at her.
M'redith blushed but smiled happily. “Once you graduate you'll need somewhere to live. You'll want more equipment. There will be plenty to spend coin on trust me. Besides, you can always buy me something pretty!” she said teasingly.
“That's not a bad idea,” Jay responded thoughtfully.
“I was kidding!” she insisted with a grin.
Jay gave her hand an affectionate squeeze and she squeezed his hand back as they got in to line for breakfast.