“These children are remarkable,” said Biggle. “I wish I had access to a Physician to understand precisely what’s happening here.”

The kids – who were all lined up in front of the gnome – were mostly taller than Biggle, but they all beamed at the apparent compliment. One even threw his hands into the air in celebration. However, Elijah knew that none of them – save for Bryce, perhaps – had any clue what he was talking about.

“What’s the difference between a Healer and a Physician?” asked Bryce, who looked uncomfortable at the scrutiny she’d just endured. Biggle didn’t have much use for boundaries, so after feeding each of the children some concoction that he claimed would make things clearer for him, he’d leaned in close enough that his overlarge nose touched her cheek. “I thought they were the same thing.”

“Ah – that’s a common mistake. A Physician is a Scholar class. While a Healer specializes in fixing problems, a Physician’s main purpose is diagnosis. They endeavor to understand, rather than heal. Though many of them possess some ability in the latter,” Biggle said. “Tell me, child – you weren’t with these other children in the beginning, were you?”

“Uh…no. I was adopted before the apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse?” Biggle asked, clearly confused. Then, his eyes widened in understanding. “Ah. I can see why you humans would see the touch of the World Tree in such a light. But this is no apocalypse. It is an opportunity. Think of it like the great forest moths. They begin life as the spotted caterpillar, no larger than you are now, but then they undergo a transformation that lets them take to the skies. They grow so large that they can block the smallsun.”

“A caterpillar as big as me?” she gasped. “That’s…”

“You don’t have those here?” asked Biggle.

“No, we don’t,” Elijah said, smiling slightly. “Our caterpillars are usually smaller than a finger.”

“What? That makes no sense. How would the moth grow so large, then?”

“Moths are tiny,” Bryce said.

“She’s right,” Miguel pointed out, staring at the girl. If she’d noticed the intensity of his gaze, she might’ve been a bit uncomfortable. Thankfully, she hadn’t recognized the young man’s clear infatuation. In retrospect, it should have been predictable. They weren’t far off in age, and Miguel clearly hadn’t encountered many girls over the past couple of years. “Moths are really small.”

Elijah nearly chuckled at Miguel’s pointless contribution to the conversation, but instead, kept his mouth shut as Biggle said, “That…is troubling.” He shook his head. “But never mind your oddly sized moths. My point is that you didn’t endure the same transformation that blessed these children. When they come of age – provided they survive that long – they will be well on their way to the first stage of body cultivation. I have never seen something so remarkable.”

“What does it mean?” asked Konstantinos.

“Two things,” Biggle said, holding up two tiny fingers. “First, you saved these children’s lives. That concoction you’ve been feeding them is primitive but inspired. That’s the difference between a passable Tradesman and an exceptional one. Creativity. It’s what separates us from those less talented.”

“Humility, too,” Elijah pointed out.

“Bah. Humility. What use is it? If you’re good, let the world know!” Biggle insisted, emphatically thrusting his finger toward the ceiling.

Elijah rolled his eyes. “What’s the other thing?”

“The second is that I know how to help them,” Biggle stated, puffing out his chest. He addressed Konstantinos, who still wore a pair of denim overalls with no shirt. Otherwise, he had on a straw hat, with what looked like a piece of swamp grass sticking out from between his lips. “It’s a pill meant to do the same thing your little potions have done. The difference is that it’ll last a lot longer.”

“How much longer?” asked the other Alchemist.

“Well, you’re getting a day or two out of your version, right?”

“They get dosed every day,” Konstantinos answered.

“And it’s yucky!” one of the children shouted. Another mimed like she was vomiting, while yet another pointed at his open mouth while he wore a grimace.

“This pill will last at least a month. Maybe two. And it uses ingredients that grow all over the place. Not just this damnable swamp,” Biggle said, punctuating that statement by slapping his hand against his neck, killing a mundane mosquito. There were much bigger ones out in the swamp. “That’s if you don’t want me to cure them.”

“Course we want you to cure ‘em,” said Marcy. “Why wouldn’t we?”

“It’s complicated, but the gist of it is that these kids’ bodies are being tempered, much like what’s required for body cultivation,” Biggle said. “It’s a dangerous practice, but it’s not entirely unheard of. The problem is that if the mix is wrong – even by a little bit – it’ll kill the subjects.”

“Are they in danger?”

“Left untreated? Absolutely. They would die within a few days,” Biggle said. “But because of your…husband’s efforts, calamity has become an advantage. The conditions in the swamp struck the perfect balance, naturally creating a situation that would require an Alchemist far more skilled than me to engineer. But I can cure them. I can turn them back to normal. I know a potion that would do the trick. However, that would squander the opportunity in front of them. A Body of Wood? Before they even begin their path of progression? It would be an immense advantage, and one that would set them up for success.”

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“But we’d have to leave the poison,” guessed Konstantinos. “And if they miss one dose…”

“It’s too dangerous,” said Marcy.

Konstantinos was obviously less convinced. Perhaps he knew how much of an advantage Body cultivation could prove to be. Or maybe he simply took Biggle at his word. Either way, the decision was far more complicated than it might seem. Sure, there was danger. But if that danger was properly managed, the potential rewards could be incredible.

After that, Konstantinos and Marcy sent the children away while they retreated into a back room to discuss the issue. For his part, Elijah hoped they would take the path Biggle described, but he could understand their hesitation. When a child’s life hung in the balance, risks were difficult to embrace, even if logic dictated that one should do so.

In the end, they did not reach a decision before Elijah, Biggle, and Miguel – much to the last one’s regret – left. However, Biggle did give Konstantinos the recipe for the pill meant to manage the poison as well as the concoction that would cure them. That gave them the tools to make whatever choice they felt most comfortable with.

Meanwhile, Miguel had mustered his courage and asked Bryce to visit him in his magical grove. The girl clearly didn’t believe the following description, but she half-heartedly promised that she would try to visit if she ever got the chance. That put Miguel on cloud nine, even though, to Elijah, it seemed pretty obvious that she was just being polite.

He had no intention of telling the young man, though.

In any case, both Miguel and Biggle were in great moods as they returned the way they’d come. What made it even better was the fact that Konstantinos consented to usher them to the edge of the swamp on one of his boats. So, Elijah didn’t even need to get his scales wet.

The trip back to Argos was equally uneventful, save for the fact that Elijah took the two by the ravine, where they saw one of the massive spiders ambush another bird. That delighted Miguel, but Biggle found it horrifying, prompting a discussion on how the gnomish Alchemist could find giant moths so normal, while an enormous spider terrified him.

Elijah barely listened as the pair bickered. His obligations were nearly satisfied, which meant that he was on the verge of setting out for Easton. When he got there, he would exact his revenge. At present, the only question was whether or not he intended to hold the whole city accountable for his sister’s death – and Carmen’s as well as Miguel’s exile – or if he would only take vengeance on Roman.

He had yet to decide, but Elijah knew the time would come when the choice was forced upon him, one way or another.

In any case, they arrived in Argos a couple of days later, which meant that they had a free day. So, Elijah allowed Miguel to wander the town alone while he stopped by Atticus’ shop to see if the merchant had had any luck filling his requests.

“No luck, my friend. I have some items that would fit,” Atticus answered with a shake of his head. “But they’re nothing special. I feel certain that I will have a chance to obtain the equipment you require in a month or so. There are a few scheduled tower runs upcoming, which usually results in an influx of inventory. We have also been getting more traders of late.”

“Really?”

“Yes. From a wide variety of places, too. I’m told there is a tribe of nomadic hunters who reside on the plains past the swamp to the south. Some of my products come from their forays into that region’s towers. We’ve seen quite a few traveling merchants as well,” Atticus explained. “I only wish Argos had more dedicated crafters. We’ve a few decent Leatherworkers, Builders, and quite a lot of Farmers. No Blacksmiths or Tailors, though.”

“Once Carmen gets settled, hopefully we can figure something out,” Elijah said.

“If she’s as good as you say, we will all get very rich!” he exclaimed.

Elijah shrugged. “I’m told she’s good, but I’ve never seen her products,” he said honestly. “In any case, I’ll be heading back home tomorrow, but I’ll try to stop by here sometime soon.”

With that, Elijah returned to his hotel room, where he got started on the next phase of his cultivation. He knew the basics of how to take the next step with his Core, but he’d only spent a little time practicing the technique. It required him to take in as much ethera as he could – enough to make him feel like he was going to burst – then swirl it around before expelling it as slowly as possible. To Elijah, it was a little like taking a long, deep breath, then holding it in, though with the added difficulty of doing some calisthenics along the way. It wasn’t a perfect analogy, but it described the process well enough for him.

Regardless, he quickly found the first issue.

The ethera density in Argos was severely lacking, and as a result, it took almost ten minutes for his Core to reach complete saturation. Then, another ten to push it to its uncomfortable limit. But even then, it felt hollow. Like he should have been filling a balloon with water, but all he had was air.

It was the best he could do, though, and he spent the next half hour swirling the ethera around until he could hold it no longer. Then, he let it out.

Almost an hour, and he’d done very little good. He couldn’t even notice any difference, even though he knew it should have expanded ever so slightly. To him, the activity seemed a lot like working out. It was meant to be a long process, and he wouldn’t notice improvement for a while.

He kept going, though, repeating the cycle a few more times before he started to lose focus. He probably would have continued, but Miguel’s return was distracting enough to throw a wrench into those plans. So, after his nephew excitedly described his foray into Argos, Elijah broached the subject they’d begun to discuss on the way to the swamp.

“Would you like to train with Kurik? If so, I can set it up when we get back,” Elijah said. “Don’t feel obligated to agree, though. If you have no interest in learning the skills he can teach, then it would just be a waste of time.”

Miguel narrowed his eyes. “Why wouldn’t I want to do it? I would have given anything to have those skills after we were exiled,” he said.

“Alright, then. I guess that settles that,” Elijah said. He glanced at the window, seeing that darkness had completely settled over Argos. “Get some sleep. We’re going to leave early in the morning.”

Miguel quickly agreed, but even after the lights were extinguished, sleep was elusive, and for both of them. Miguel was clearly too excited for slumber, but Elijah had other things on his mind.

Because now that he’d met his obligations with Konstantinos, he only had one more task to accomplish before setting off for Easton. Once he’d introduced Miguel to Kurik – who he still hadn’t asked to mentor the kid – there would be nothing else, aside from a few preparations for the journey, to delay his departure.

And now that it was so close, Elijah was eager to get started. Excitement wasn’t the right word. Nor was anxiety. Instead, it was a mixture of both, with a healthy dose of dread thrown in. Some righteous indignation, too. A sense of serving justice, as well. To put it mildly, he was beset by a snarl of varied emotions that were extremely difficult to identify. The end result, though, was that he looked forward to looking his sister’s murderer in the face and watching the light life leave his eyes.

That, at least, was a comforting thought that ushered him into sleep.