Reev caught my attention as my gaze returned from the misty ceiling. I checked that I had my alchemy kit and extraction tools in my vambrace of holding and sauntered over to him.

“Shad isn’t the only one that could work on leveling here, Mav. How about you work through the organs and other bits that’ll work for your craft and I’ll have Shad work on skinning and butchering for our meals. They’re big gators after all.” Reev imparted this while pulling his pipe from the pouch at his hip and started packing it with a pleasant-smelling leaf. “Besides, I want to catch up. I’ve been running around with the elf when I want to know what happened between you and Obsidienne.”

Instant rage flooded my system at her name and I puffed out a bit of flame to have a small release valve for the immediate turmoil in my body. “I’ll extract the components, but I’m not talking about her. If you push I won’t speak with you the rest of the floor.”

Reev lit their pipe and thoughtfully took a long pull to provide more time for my nerves to calm. Exhaling the smoke into the form of a draken, his sad eyes communicated begrudging agreement. “Fine. I’ll be quiet about it for now, but you need to talk about it eventually. You reset everything, and it's gonna catch up with you.”

I knew that Reev was correct, and I wasn’t ready to explore that piece of heartbreak. Determined to work through the rest of my rage, I turned to the gators that Reev had laid out. There were three of varying shades and sizes laid out on their backs, and Reev had understated by calling them big. That would give us easier access to the bits I needed at least. “We should let Shad get the claws so they can do dual-level extraction and butchering. I’ll focus on the core organs. Have them get us some water first and purify it please.”

I pulled out of holding a bucket, a screened filter, a barrel, a cauldron and a hanging rack. “This should allow them to pull off the last part. Samir looked like they made the fire big enough to share. Based on what Kiara said we have about two hours to get this done.”

“That sounds right, I’ll go get the elf, Mav.” Reev strolled away and slipped from my mind while I approached the medium-sized one of the bunch.

I pulled out and set a semi-stiff ground cover to place the components on. Arguably firmer than the morass we had spent the first day in, there was still some squishiness to contend with and I didn’t need the eyeballs rolling off into the swamp. Bone saw firmly in hand, I took a second to admire my vambraces.

They were originally a prize Samir and Rakshasa won at the capital companion tournament. On a whim, she gifted them to me, saying they would look better on me than her. I was indeed fond of how they looked against my indigo-colored scales - the vambraces were studded leather and dyed a deep black. I used the left one for all of my profession equipment, materials and finished products. The right had all my day-to-day supplies, weapons, and the items we needed for the delve. The holding capacity was that of a minor mansion for each one - which was not something anyone below level 10 could usually attain.

Smiling grimly to myself as more of my rage leaked free from that side distraction, I turned to the gator with a vengeance and got to work. I sawed through the sternum and worked my way down to expose the cavity and the parts I needed to harvest. I wasn’t proficient at butchering quite yet, so I took my time and hummed to myself to reign in my remaining rage. After switching amongst the tools needed and maybe carving more aggressively than I needed to, I pulled all the organs free from the first carcass and moved on to the second.

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While I was working on the second, Shad came by to collect the water-gathering materials and work through my request. The second gator was not as fruitful as rot was embedded in the lower cavity ruining everything from the stomach down. Fortunately I was able to harvest the heart, brain and eyes of that one. By the time I was ready to start on the third Shad was breaking down the first and cursing softly to themself while doing it. I paused to watch them and realized their toolkit was underwhelming for the task they were attempting.

“How did you even get a skinning skill with that knife, Shad?”

Momentarily stopping their hack job, they sighed and wistfully told me, “I found this knife on a corpse a month or so back and just skinned anything skinnable. That’s how. Are you offering to let me use one of yours?”

I didn’t miss the plea in their tone and remembered the blatant promise of moochiness from them. “No, it wasn’t. It is entertaining enough that I feel calm again, so when you get to the part where you segment the meat for our meals I will lend you a cleaver. I don’t want to see you using your short sword to make steaks.” They continued with their task halfway through my sentence and I smiled at their antics.

Reev returned and assessed our processing. “Try not to ruin the third skin, Shad, you could sell it to get a better skinning knife back at Helmsword. Also, here’s some salt from Chad’s stash. Do you have a preserving skill yet or should I do that part?”

The kidney came free and I set it to the side while listening for Shad’s response. I chuckled at their pantomime and mumbled negative and kept going on my beast. Feeling my component extraction skill level up, I decided that working through a rage could be productive at least. “Looks like you are up for that part Reev. I’m nearly done harvesting the components and storing them won’t take long.”

“Sounds good to me. Samir, Scree and Night should be at the edge of Shad’s range soon so I imagine things will get entertaining here.” I raised an eyebrow to inquire more and Reev laughed, turned towards Shad and elaborated. “Well, Shad, if you are as proficient in your attunement as you are with these carcasses, I would lay money down that you will make a right mess of it all. Trying to pay attention internally and externally seems like it would be hard for you.”

The gentle humor in Reev’s voice clearly took the edge off the teasing as Shad’s response was a short “Sure, yeah, whatever. Carving, thinking, blah blah.”

Thoroughly amused, I popped out the gator’s brain and started cleaning my tools and sorting the components to store and the ones to purify so rot wouldn’t set in. I was hopeful to get more alchemy in but didn’t see enough time left to brew anything properly. I made quick work of purifying and storing and wandered away from Shad and Reev to wash up.

Splashing warm water on my face from the barrel of water Shad had set up, I let loose a final gust of lingering rage. I knew I felt that way because of the grief she had spawned deep in my soul. Obsidienne being alive made it all the worse, as I knew she could pop up at any time and insist on sowing more havoc in my life. Reev wasn’t wrong to try to get me to talk about her and our separation. I just felt too much shame that I missed her and wanted her back.

Shame because everything about who we were together is what needed to be left behind.