Chapter Thirty-Five

Despite the rough night. Harmony awoke with a renewed desire to advance in the face of destruction, and to Ambrosia sitting on the side of her bed.

“I was singing my throat raw last night, while you were getting letters from the queen?” Ambrosia waved about the treacherous letter. The card inside was half sticking out of the purple envelope because that was exactly how far Harmony had gotten.

“Wait!” Harmony cried as Ambrosia pulled it the rest of the way out.

Ambrosia continued anyway and read aloud. “I acknowledge you, Lady Harmony White.

While Adric is at residence, you may present yourself to any tower guard and they will escort you to him. A runner will fetch you when the time is needed to present yourself with him for the Charter. Signed, The Queen.” Ambrosia stopped with no big surprise. “Rather bland letter from the queen. No threats of doom or offers of friendship.”

That was a bland letter. If [Recall] wasn’t so visceral about what happened last night. There might have been doubt, maybe\ marking it as a bad dream. Even now the excess authority that spilled over was making her skills flair up, and she could only feel more coming. Outside the obvious solution of leveling to accommodate it, there was that skill slot to fill.

“I’ll take bland over either of those.“ No need to worry Ambrosia about last night. There was a slight chance that it was an accident. Wouldn’t any healthy noble love a personal acknowledgment from the queen?

“I suppose we do have enough tasks on our plates. The five new staff members wouldn’t be enough if we had to entertain her.“

If Harmony never saw the woman in person, it would probably be for the best. “Speaking of tasks. I’d like to hear what we’ve got for skill stone options. I’d feel more stable having one in hand.”

“Oh? Oh!” She didn’t miss that hint, yet ignored her call to wait with the letter. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m not going to break right now, but I feel I need to be as complete as possible soon. Have you gotten any news about acquiring one that might work?”

“I have a list going. Breakfast will be shortly. I’ll have a complete organization of what’s available after that.”

“Your little birds are still gathering letters?”

“You only told me you wanted this yesterday. I should have known because of your levels, but you don’t know how many balls I’ve been juggling. I saw your face at the new staff. They really will help things work smoother. You’ll see.”

“Fine. This has been hard on us all. I’d be lost without you and Bates. Shall we go B]back to being the lady and her maid?”

Ambrosia flipped over to her professional role. “Lady White. How would you like to be dressed for breakfast this morning?”

The answer was dressed for war. Well, not really. But appeasing all of her skills helped keep them calmer. Night was the outfit for that. Protective, striking, and fashionable in a way no other outfit could produce.

After filling up on biscuits and gravy, it was a counsel of Bates, Max, and Ambrosia over tea to discuss skill stone “shopping”. Shopping was only loosely on the table.

“What do you mean we can't afford most stones?” Harmony burst out at the news. The chest of gold they'd received as a gift wasn't that long ago.

“It’s a drought out there and we’re looking to buy water.” Max commentated.

“I’m sure Gothheim would lend you gold outside his gifts, but he’s also cornered most skill stones before the rush started. Maybe consider the gift from him a debt paid because no doubt your information inspired him.” Bates added.

“So, what do I have available?” Harmony asked.

Ambrosia pulled out her list. “The dirty dozen are still available and cheap. [Alarm], [Scream], [Dig], [Slap], [Spit], [Dim Sight], [Wet], [Swim], [Scrape], [Warm], [Feed], and [Fall].”

The dirty dozen were a collection of common and uncommon skill stones nobody wanted. [Feed] was rare, but again nobody wanted it. Their effects were disappointing, and even more worrying they were hard to advance after you evolved. She’d experienced both [Warm] and [Feed], both her mother had used. Not needing to eat a meal wasn’t the same as not being hungry.

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“I know you’re good at making the most out of skills others avoid,” Ambrosia added hopefully.

Her friends clearly had more faith in her than she did. There was a reason she had those spots available when Tyler offered up skills. Oh, she considered mixing [Warm] and [Wet] so she'd Always have a moist Towelette to offer guests. Or a damp cloth to scrub With.

The Dig Boys took [Dig], of all the dirty dozen that had the most growth options and they had tactics that would work if most of a team had it. Sometimes you needed a bigger hole.

“I'm not that good. What else?”

Nontraditional sources. Ears To the ground. Friends and favors. Which resulted in an extremely random collection of options and requirements. Gohl, The Flow’s drummer had [Echolocation] but didn’t want to make noise for extra senses. There is a fan group, more heavily located in Hazeldown, and that would require time to get more options. However, the Naewauld chapter president had found [Dazzle].

The guild had two quests that offered skill stones as rewards. One was to find a lost cat, and yes she’d checked to make sure the incident was before she and Hyacinth arrived in the city. While Hyacinth's nose might be up for the job, having the apex predator hunt you down would probably end in a merry chase, assuming something else hadn’t permanently made it go missing long before. The other was, well, she didn’t have time for it.

“No quests or agreements that will take up more than an evening to complete. I don’t feel like I have enough time as it is. I don’t need to add a side quest to what is already on my plate.”

That eliminated about half of the options. Not that all of the offers were unreasonable. Two Gyms offered endorsement deals where she’d need to show up to three matches, schmooze, and show support. [Power Through] and [Inspire] weren’t terrible options. But again, time.

Delve that queen. If Harmony didn't feel like a glow stone on its way to dimming out there might be days to find a better match. That left seven options, [Echolocation], [Dazzle] through the band. The abbess, feeling bad, has offered [Chaos Seed]. Chaos despite having a place with the temples, was not kindly looked at. It could also do wild things to a person's path of growth.

For the low price of an in-depth interview one of the premiere news rags, The Naewauld Times offered [Ink Heart]. Rot and weeds if that wasn’t the most tempting so far. It had gone unused in the Times resources because no one was quite sure what it did. Heart was often stamina-based but ink was non-combat or scribe-like. Her love of books inspired the desire more than any practical reason.

Less desirable [Feint]. [Body Enlargement], and [Killer Instinct] rounded out the lot. As though making herself twenty percent bigger would make her anything but a slightly different category of small.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t nudge a certain Lord?” Ambrosia asked.

“I know his collection. He doesn’t go for anything useful. He’d never pick up [Danger Sense] or anything with known qualities. He likes the unique where you don’t know what you’re getting. He’d probably find something like, [Recall] ran through her memories of cleaning his collection, [Apocalypse Awareness] or [Royal Road Wanderer].”

“He once bragged about having [Love Sense],” Max added.

Harmony and Ambrosia both shuddered at that one.

“I'm open to suggestions about what I choose.” If someone could convince her away from choosing the risky [Ink Heart] it wouldn't be the worst thing.

Max opened his mouth with a conflicted look, then closed it as he shifted into a stoic and proud one. [Chivalry] in action.

Harmony couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that.

“Lady White, an honorable exchange could be made. Your dedicated knight requests a boon.” Maxwell’s hands slapped over his mouth as he flushed a pink almost as bright as his beard, leaving him all one color. That clearly hadn’t been what he’d hoped for when he used his social skill.

“What do you mean?” Harmony asked. His oath of honesty hadn’t flared up like this in a while. And she didn’t tweak it as he was helping willingly and fully enough such a leaver would be rude, but that didn’t leave out asking.

“Oath forsaken class! I heard it and thought…then of course my oath kicks in.” He lets out a long sigh. “I have a [Keen Investigative Awareness] stone For my progression. I'd trade it for [Chaos Seed] if you want.”

“How would that help Harm and Why would you want a chaos skill?” Ambrosia asked with a hint of disgust.

“I don't want to be a knight, or even a scribe. It's not my path. Do I look like either of those things? My family, well, that skill is key to a glorious knight-scribe path. Having chaos in my skills is the best way to break out of that.”

“And [Keen Investigative Awareness] will help her how?” Ambrosia pressed.

“Keen makes it special, family paid a premium for that adjective. And I know it might not sound it...” Maxwell’s tone switched to the boring drone of a lecture heard a thousand times. ” It's better than [Spot Weakness], with preparation you'll outdo [Battle Tactics] and it will always let you know how to make your opponent's bad day worse. Gramps never shut up about it.”

“So, you want to trade me your family's prized skill stone for a random one from Violet?” Harmony asked, not even using a skill to keep a straight face.

“Yes!”

Tess, who'd been serving the group tea. Fumbled her tray at the excited exclamation, breaking two floral teacups. Her metal spider was already on the job of picking up the pieces.

Would it be a tossup between [Ink Heart] and [Keen Investigative Awareness]? Max's oath prevented him from lying. If [Spot Weakness] or [Battle Tactics] she'd take them. And if there was one thing Harmony could relate to it was rebelling against the expectations of your parents.

Harmony raised her teacup high. “I think this might be the exact kind of chaos Abbess Violet might enjoy. A toast to new paths.”