Swimming upriver with the aid of water magic felt exhilarating.

While I travelled with my fiery companions, I didn’t have much opportunity to really use any speed whenever I practised this. I had to content myself with a general proof of concept until now. But since I decided to leave both of them behind for my trip back ‘home’, I had all the time and distance I needed to steadily build up velocity.

I only hoped they would manage to travel back to the volcano on their own and didn’t get too distracted on the way there.

Who was I kidding?

Of course, they would. The elementals’ long term memories and ability to focus on one specific task for an extended amount of time weren’t exactly their strong points. Vigil would probably remember to at least keep heading in the general direction. But Trigger…?

Yeah, if I didn’t find them when I returned, I’d just look for the most recently burnt down patch of forest or just take the opportunity to get to know Dancer a little bit better.

We had visited the caldera several times during these last two years. The artsy proto-spirit appeared overjoyed to have company after being alone for long stretches of time, but also never wanted to join us when we left again.

Trigger on the other hand always was reluctant to return home at all. It much prefered constantly looking for new things to burn. When we stayed anywhere for even only a few days, it already got impatient to move on.

However, I travelled alone now, cutting through the stream like my freshly sharpened claws through fish meat. I pulled the water in front of me, guided it along the length of my body, added more water from all around my sides, and pushed it out again behind me with a moderate amount of pressure.

I had to learn to hold back a bit there after I seriously injured myself for the first few times because I accelerated too fast. My water spells did have a pretty good amount of ‘oomph’ behind them now.

I still didn’t advance to the next stage of proficiency though. Whatever that would be called. And honestly? I didn’t have a clue what I was missing. I didn’t make any notable progress in at least half a year. Was that another thing limited by my affinity? Or did I just do something wrong?

It was a real pain to pioneer in a new field of… anything, I guess. And I doubted the completeness of this ‘proficiency list’ in any case. I was pretty sure, I had at least basic proficiencies in breathing and eating for example. Sleeping and napping were favourites too. Dancing and Singing… yeah, ok. Maybe not those particular ones.

Well, at least I got basic cooking after half a year of Vigil heating up my food. I let Trigger try once… It was edible, technically. The parts that weren’t charred black weren’t even completely raw anymore.

On that note, I surely should have gotten a proficiency for ‘herding cats’ by now too.

The profile didn’t recognize my extensive magic pictogram code language as writing either. At least I didn’t get a proficiency for it. My occupation strangely changed to ‘Linguist Vagabond’ now.

As if it couldn’t just call me a ‘Linguist’.

I mean, come on!

I invented a freaking magic sign language from scratch. It should call me ‘Wandering Sage’ or something. It really had to recognise by now that I was a damn genius!

I huffed a sigh…

… and immediately choked on river water, throwing me into a coughing fit, breaking my concentration and ending my spell. I had to stop for a bit to recollect myself.

Nobody saw that, right?

I tasted one of those damn spike pikes in the water. Maybe I could take a break for a nice snack? Someday I would eat that chump that so greedily took my leg. Maybe I already had? I couldn’t be sure really. One spike pike looked pretty much like the other to me. And they tasted just fine. Nothing too special. I still always felt a little bit giddy after catching and munching down on another one.

I sadly didn’t find this one though. Maybe it got scared away from all the strange currents I caused with displacing so much water. Most of the water dwellers who were fast enough to avoid me, did so over the last few days. I always had to stop for a while when I wanted to find a filling meal.

It didn’t really matter, though. I was getting close.

It turned out, using the extensive river system, I could cut the two moon trip from the volcano to my spawn pond down to just five days. I didn’t expect it would be quite that quick when I scouted this route together with Vigil and Trigger. Well, we were travelling by foot down and then up along the streams. I just underestimated my magic enhanced swimming speed. By a lot.

A few hours later I departed from my makeshift campsite by the riverside and turned southwards. I left a half-eaten, no longer recognizable fish carcass behind, for whichever scavenger got to it the fastest. I had already noticed a couple of tiny lizards eyeing it greedily, while I ate and rested.

I was maybe half a morning's stroll to the north of my spawning pond. The rest of the way I’d have to go on foot. The compassy draw to go there became ever stronger over the last few days.

I also began to feel a little bit bloated all the time. Not gorging-myself-on-crayfish bloated, rather a bit further back in my lower abdomen. It irritated me more than a little, but the cause was pretty obvious.

Well, I was nearly at my destination anyways. ‘Alleviation’ hopefully wouldn’t turn out to be too complicated.

I heard the crashing sounds of breaking wood first. Then the pungent smell hit me. Not musky, but really foul like a… newtagator. Shortly after, I could make out hissing and growling.

Yep, someone was definitely fighting.

I rushed forward. This was bad. I wasn’t sure how many of my kin would even come here. There must have been larger and more populated spawning lakes out there most of them probably belonged to. I absolutely could not allow a predator to run rampant while everyone was distracted with doing… well, stuff!

A short run later - why didn’t I have a ‘Running’ proficiency by the way? - the pond came into view. It was larger than I remembered it. Filled to the brim and overflown, forming an extensive shallow expansion on the lower side of the original embankments.

It appeared I was late to the party because wherever I glanced, I saw yellow-green males. With the occasional spot of red in between. I didn’t have the time to take in any details though. Because next, an agonized roar of pure pain blared out over the scene.

The ‘Thing’ had his maw wedged into the side of a rusty-red female. She was the biggest scalamander around. Maybe that made her the target? Absurdly, one male was still clinging onto her back and two others still attempted to get close to her, while she desperately tried to fight off the large and ugly newtagator. She squirmed and struggled and bit and clawed. But the ‘Thing’ responded in kind.

Before I reached her, she was missing a big chunk out of her left side and a sizable part of her right front leg. The rusty red scales drenched in blood.

An image of a quirky blood-red Sanguine vanishing in the maw of a grey marbled boulder flashed through my mind.

I blasted the ‘Thing’ with a high-pressure water cannon when it was about to tear into her neck.

I yanked it from her body and instantly started to form a vortex trap around it. It was too massive for me to completely entrap it though and didn’t lose contact with the ground.

The bloody female crawled away. The stupid males in their mating frenzy were fighting to mount her anew. It would have been ridiculous if I didn’t have the same problem of steadily approaching ‘suitors’.

I couldn’t have that right now.

First I had to finish off that ugly, smelly newtagator. Afterwards, I had to take care of the rusty one.

Focus!

I darted toward the ‘Thing’ and imagined water pouring down its hideous oversized gullet.

Next, I added pressure.

A lot of pressure.

My opponent, now partially freed from its liquid prison, took a swing at me. I dodged backwards and duck under its claws.

It lunged at me, intending to bite down. That’s when I triggered my spell.

All the water of the vortex bubble around it streamed down its throat. Then I added more from the pool next to us.

It didn’t comprehend what was happening. Must have felt quite a bit more bloated than me though.

In the end, the newtagator didn’t quite explode. At least its black-brown scaly skin stayed in one piece. It wasn’t a squishy frog after all. I doubted the same could be said about its innards though.

The ‘Thing’ simply squirmed around, croaking at nothing, howling in pain… Well, I was sure the sounds it made would have counted as howling if it had the proper organs. Then it finally collapsed.

I shot a rock through its eye to check if it was dead. Because… ‘duh’! Of course, you always check if the monster is dead for good. At least previous me thought so.

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With all the excitement over and done with, I turned around and saw myself surrounded by shades of green and black. A whole lot of males, probably a dozen or so, were scuffling and pushing each other to reach me. Completely untroubled by the massive stinking carcass at my side.

I rewarded their efforts with a cold highly pressurized shower. I doubted it would discourage them much, if at all, but at least it would keep them off me until I could take a look at the injured rust-red female.

I found her pretty quickly. She didn’t get far and the wide smear of blood in the mud was a dead giveaway. No ‘Tracking’ proficiency for me after this one either, I guess.

She didn’t look good. By the time I got to her, four males were ganging up on the poor thing, fighting each other for a place on top. It all reminded me way too much of toads honestly.

I supplied them with their own special showers and erected a spinning bubble shield around me and rusty immediately afterwards. Then I coated her wounds in water and began the process I usually used on myself to absorb energy, pushing it towards her.

I really hoped that worked. I was pretty sure she’d need to have a bit of water affinity of her own for the process. It wasn’t a real healing spell after all. But since we were from the same pond, she probably had at least traces, right? Well, I would know after a few hours. She didn’t lose any more blood at least.

After focusing on my tasks for a while, which wasn’t easy with the constant attempts to break through my bubble shield, I caught her staring at me with… recognition? When I met her eyes the look changed, though. Contemplation? I wasn’t too confident in interpreting the facial expressions of my kind anymore. It had been more than two years since I had any legitimate contact with another scalamander.

However, this one seemed to remember me. Hmm… rust-red, female, one of the biggest around, same spawn pond…

Realization dawned on me. She must have noticed because she avoided my eyes from that point onwards. I simply settled down and continued sending her water energy.

I knew it worked when the magic in the water slowly started to deplete. So I nudged her to get up and helped her to drag herself into the shallow part of the pond. She still didn’t look at me.

All the while, a couple dozen males unrelentingly tried to get closer to us. The currents of my shield repelled them so far, but I wasn’t sure at all for how long I could keep it up, focusing on two images at the same time. Judging from experience, I should still be good for a few hours. I also knew that her injuries would barely have begun to heal by that point. Energy Absorption wasn’t exactly a fast process. And I suspected that the healing was rather a side effect of flooding one's inner energy network than the main purpose. I still couldn’t manipulate said network directly though.

We settled down in the shallows. I kept her head over the waterline by propping it up on my tail. She was watching my sparkling water sphere intently. I wasn’t sure if it was just a pretence to continue avoiding to meet my eyes or if she was genuinely fascinated by it.

I sighed inwardly, a bit amused. Was she truly feeling guilty to such a degree now? And was it just because I saved her or because she recognized me in general? I mean, she only really tried to eat me once.

A long, long time ago.

I was genuinely surprised that she even remembered. We’ve all been cannibals back then. Well, most of us at least. But her and me?

Undeniably.

I really should find a better name for her. ‘The Bastard’ was really not very nice, was it? And honestly, it didn’t fit her all that much anymore. I wasn’t even sure if it ever really fit in the first place.

In the end, she was just the most gluttonous cousin I had, with the least scruples to eat whatever she could. No more, no less. I had just been resentful for falling into her category of ‘potential food’. I wouldn’t have if I’d only started to eat our relatives a bit sooner myself. And I certainly wasn’t anymore now.

I tried to lift her head with the tip of my tail, to encourage her to look at me. Of course, she didn’t. I wouldn’t force her. I should focus on my magic anyways. I’d better not clutter my mental capacities with fancy stuff at the moment, like coming up with names and reconciling with childhood bullies.

I relaxed a bit and for the first time since arriving at the pond listened to the very low croaking sounds all around me. I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be mating calls or a result of pure exertion. It didn’t tickle any of my instincts at least. So I just assumed the latter. They didn’t carry very far in any case.

Over the next few hours, I watched more females arriving one by one. I also saw a few that left after conducting their ‘business’ here. It could be a pretty quick process it seemed. After a mate was finally chosen at least.

Most ladies just lay down somewhere and let the guys fight it out all over them. Some few appeared to be quite picky though and threw off whoever they didn’t like.

All in all, it didn’t look that appealing to me. More like a chore.

Well, at least the new arrivals drew some of the attention from Ferra and me.

Yeah, I know. I did come up with a new name after all. They’re my mental capacities. So sue me!

Anyways, I just thought it suited her. I mean, her particular shade of red looked like rusted through iron. And she was a girl. Simple, right? No danger of some morbid double meaning like last time… hopefully.

Interestingly, a short time after I decided on that, she suddenly jerked around and stared at me in... shock? Incomprehension? Both? Did I mention that I wasn’t good with scalamander facial expressions? Probably.

What changed?

Obviously the name, I thought of her with. Did she see that in her profile just now? I opened up my own.

Species: Scalamander

  Breed: n/a

  Sex: female

  Age: 3 years

Designation: Sweetie

  Aliases: Caring little Sister, Precious

  Titles: none

Occupation: Linguist Vagabond

Blessings: Champion of Memory

Traits: none

Affinities: Water (weak)

    Earth (traces)

Proficiencies: Swimming (novice)

      Hiking (novice)

      Energy Absorption (basic)

      Ambient Energy Manipulation (novice)

      Cooking (basic)

Quests: Fire-Scalamander

Notes:    Dear Memory,

      don’t forget my pie!

      Pretty please?

I confess I was speechless for a moment. Well, I technically was speechless all the time but… It’s a turn of phrase, okay?

No ‘Pesky Rascal’ anymore, huh? But sister? I doubted that but appreciated the sentiment anyway. I met her eyes. She was still staring.

I tried to smile. Not really feasible with my scalamander mouth. So I lifted my right hand instead and carefully began to pat her head. I regularly sharpened my claws after all. I wouldn’t want to cut her up even more.

Ferra kept looking at me with her utterly confused expression. It was an almost comical sight. I just huffed in slight amusement and started to turn the pats into soothing petting motions. At least I hoped they were soothing. I essentially kept dragging dangerously sharp nails along her skin if I thought about it.

Eventually, she simply deflated and closed her eyes. It seemed like she gave up on making sense of my actions.

Ha! I broke her down! Now she was all defenceless and I could finally take my revenge!

Nah, just kidding. But it was a tempting idea to mess with her at least a little bit. Better not though. Those wounds would take enough time to heal already as they were. No need to agitate them further.

Another couple of hours later I began to notice the strain on my mind. Well, I hoped that Ferra was patched up enough, for now, to survive some male attention for a while.

I couldn’t allow myself to run out of magic here. Not with all these frenzied idiots not caring for their surroundings. I could never know when the next newtagator might show up. Attracted by the smell, on the lookout for large, but very distracted and easy prey.

Of course, I also didn’t want to subject myself to a bunch of suitors at once. I’d just pick one and keep all the others away while we… ehem… did our thing.

The bloating pressure in my abdomen had reached a kind of plateau since arriving here. I guessed there were a whole bunch of pheromones floating around. I instinctively felt that I could trigger the vital process any time I wanted now though. All that really was left to do, was to choose a mate.

I eyed the group that was, after hours and hours of being repelled, still trying to break through my shield. They had quite the perseverance, I had to admit. There was an attractive, healthy-looking pine-green one. A bit on the smaller side…

Well, if I had to drag him around on my back for a while, I’d better not choose someone too big anyways. Pine-Green it was.

I nudged Ferra next to me to get her attention again, then indicated that I would leave now. She just lifted her head off my tail and let me get up. Her wounds had all closed by now, but without magic, she was still moons away from really being healed.

She survived so far on her own, she probably would be just fine. I couldn’t allow myself to start and worry about her now. She once tried to eat me, for crying out loud!

I also wondered how much of that worry was just projection. How much I was just seeing Sanguine in her now.

Damn! Being a genius can be so depressing sometimes.

After a last look back at her, I approached Pine-Green, pulled him into my water bubble and went looking for somewhere a bit more… private.

When I finally left the pond behind, it was already dawning again. It wasn’t all that bad in the end. Nothing really actually happened. Memory must have had quite the fun watching me squirm nonetheless.

I wouldn’t ask her about it. Ever.

But the deed was done. I had my fertilized cluster of tiny translucent eggs neatly packed away in a small ball of water, clinging to my neck below my frill. It would hardly take any focus at all to maintain that.

I just had to hurry a bit, so that I could start dousing my spawn in ambient fire energy as soon as possible.

When I let my eyes wander over the pond of my birth for a last time, there was absolutely no sign that the mating would end any time soon. Now, after I had done the deed, it didn’t even look that gross to me anymore. Well, I guessed I’d be back every year from now on.

I was about to turn and leave when I spotted a certain familiar rust-red cousin of mine, dragging herself away from the scene as well.

Her wounds had opened again.

I just huffed and adjusted my own path so I’d intercept her a bit further into the woods.

Introducing my future kids to fire one or two days later wouldn’t be too detrimental, right?