Lizzy's blocky chest heaved laboriously, a pickaxe supporting her limp weight.

"Why am I working so hard? Weren't you the one who was all gung-ho and responsible?"

Ellie smirked and spoke the magic words.

"Seeing you sweat is attractive."

*Tink-Tink-Tink-Tink*

Lizzy's pickaxe swung furiously, striking the rugged rockface repeatedly. She roared with gusto.

It doesn't apply while you're a middle-aged man, though.

She snickered uncharacteristically and wandered off.

The past several days had been spent mixing in with the Eben locals. All of them were distrusting and oddly wary of outsiders. Ellie tried to pry more information out of the Speaker until she realized that, too, was a lost cause. The infuriatingly pious woman couldn't stop herself from mentioning The Elder in every sentence.

The other "devotees" were also blathering fanatics. However, if Ellie could manipulate the conversation just so, the cultists would be delighted to blab on and on.

All this sleuthing made Eliza miss her younger days when she'd get into brawls with anyone who walked into her father's Hall. It took lots of lost duels from her Father to turn her into a proper queen. She had walked around with a shaved head for nearly two decades. The citizens used to call her the Head Collector, since any idiot who saw her shaved head and thought her an easy mark would soon join in.

At her core, Eliza is a very blunt individual. However, that didn't mean she couldn't be annoyingly deceitful and political to get what she wanted.

That was the difference between the Elden couple. Lizzy only had one setting. Crude, lewd, and frustratingly forward.

That's one setting, not three. It's a bundle of one. Whatever.

A pebble skipped along the ground, prodded by a bored foot. Ellie played with her shortened hair, amazed at her own work. The copper-red hair came just across her eyes. Cross-eyed, she noticed the subdued vibrancy caused by the shade of a twirling parasol.

She smiled, her steps sure.

After a few days of working under a beating sun in a quarry with little to no cover, Ellie reinvented the parasol. They had gone out of fashion ages ago, but they remained a constant in poorer areas. She applied her Great Aunt's crochet skills to some overgrown weeds sprouting in the area. The locals were glad to be rid of the flora since it interfered with their rock worship.

While Lizzy worked tirelessly to provide some sort of shelter for them, Ellie traversed back to the Eben Pavillion. Her skin cooled as the exposed parts became shaded underneath the rocky pavilion.

Eyes adjusting to the shaded light, Ellie registered a figure waiting on a stone bench. Ramping up her pleasant persona, she greeted the Elden.

"Good afternoon, Wael."

"Ellie."

Wael was large for an Elden, it was clear he used to be bigger before his muscles retreated with his middling age.

"My sincere apologies for making you wait. My partner needed a little bit of encouragement before I could leave them alone."

Ellie tittered, her leylines glowing briefly.

"You didn't have to wait up for me. The others usually drop materials off and come back later."

Wael's back hunched dramatically, a result of hard labor. The diminished glow of his leylines seemed more pronounced than they should have been for his age. As he stretched his arms forward to grab a basket of plucked weeds, Ellie spotted cracked skin lining the inside of his palms.

"My daughter told me to make sure you get this personally."

The corners of his eyes crinkled. It caused Ellie to mimic the gesture.

"I was unaware you had a young one. I haven't had the pleasure to meet any of the children yet."

Wael kept his hands on the basket.

"Rez prefers like company."

"Well. Tell Rez that she'll have to pick the parasol up herself. It gets awfully lonely here with my partner working elsewhere."

Wael adjusted his posture, self-conscious of his hunch.

"I'm sorry, but you're still new. Most of us keep to ourselves, too. We don't mean to offend."

Ellie breathed out, fanning herself with a cool wind. A minor magical cantrip. Weak enough to not cause suspicion, but noticeable, and a display of minor skill. She adjusted it to include Wael. His boulder-like shoulders seemed to rattle as they loosened ever so slightly.

"Since you're here, may I ask about your daughter? What's she like?"

Ellie inched her hands toward the bowl of gathered materials.

"Tell you what, I'll get started on your daughter's parasol ahead of my other orders, and you can tell me her preferences. Favorite colors and the like. I'll also need to know how tall she is so that the parasol fits."

Wael chewed on it. He pushed the bowl forward to meet Ellie halfway. As the basket was exchanged, a tiny spark shocked Ellie. She cursed softly and sucked on the finger. Wael jumped to the other end of the bench.

Ellie laughed lightly, forcibly putting a halt to her thoughts and revelations.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to it after all."

Wael's wide eyes fluctuated, his mind reeling from the implication.

"That... that's never happened before."

"I won't tell if you won't."

"..."

"Sit. Stay. Please. I don't want that to be the reason you leave."

Wael hesitated but eventually sat back down. He remained silent as Ellie started to pull out materials. They remained in uncomfortable silence for nearly ten minutes. Then Wael finally seemed ready to speak.

"Is that normal for you?"

"Hm? Oh. Not much anymore. It used to happen every now and then with my partner, but they don't have those symptoms anymore. I had all but forgotten about it until now."

"Your partner. Was he..."

"They were. A long time ago."

"How did he get better?"

Ellie remembered Lizzy's explanation. It brought a frown to her face.

"Painfully. I wouldn't recommend it."

Wael contemplated, speaking to himself.

"I didn't realize there was more than one cure."

Neither did I.

Ellie avoided eye contact, focusing on weaving weeds rather than on Wael's conspicuously hidden hair. She'd falsely assumed the oversized bandanna was to keep his head cool.

"If you've already found a way, why are you here?"

Ellie's hand paused momentarily before resuming the automatic work.

"So there is a cure here?"

"It is compensation."

"From the church?"

"There is no church. Just the Speaker."

"What about the obsession with the Primal? The Elder."

Wael scoffed, but it sounded more like gravel rubbing together. He waved an exasperated arm as he freed his emotions.

"No one believes that nonsense. That there is a Primal underneath the quarry, and we're digging toward it? Water-logged banter that the Speaker twisted into religion. Sure, the rock is saturated, and the crystals are the real deal, but that is the end of it."

He snorted.

"This might have been a true safe haven for us if the Speaker weren't the one to find the source. With a monopoly, no one can defy her."

"So that's why she's so strong."

"Devil's fruit. I learned too late... and now I'm stuck here. I'm afraid the Speaker has my daughter's ear. Whispering poisoned truths."

Wael grunted.

"If I'd known there was another way, I would never have brought her into this mess."

Ellie tried to reel him away from such thoughts.

"Tell me about Rez. Your daughter. What's she like?"

He sniffed, eyes unfocused.

"Turns out she inherited her mother's hair. A deep green that waves just like Nellian fruit trees."

"She sounds beautiful."

"Just like her mother. Real smart. Smarter than me. With 'er passion for plants. They both hated this place."

*Crack*

Ellie forced a deep calm onto herself, warily looking around for others. Covertly reaching over, she ran two fingers over the splintering cracks crawling up Wael's forearm. Smoothing them over with her large reserves of magic proved simple. It seemed someone performed this treatment before.

Wael continued talking about his daughter and his deceased wife as if Ellie wasn't there. More fissures spread out from the leylines swooping up his arms, but Ellie was quick to the draw. He didn't seem to notice her tending to his grievous and spiraling injuries. After a full minute, the cascade ceased. Wael's eyelids drooped, exhausted.

Ellie retracted her mana, sighing.

"Hm? Did I zone out again?"

"Where's your home? I'll escort you back."

"No, that's alright."

"I insist."

Strong-armed by Ellie, Wael had little choice but to be manhandled back to his home.

=

Lizzy smashed a rock in two.

"That was rude."

The second talking rock was similarly obliterated. A new voice cried out.

"Oi. What'd you do to Victor?"

A third and fourth rock smashed.

"Missed me."

"Me too."

"Over here~."

A vein bulged on Lizzy's forehead. She spit into her hands and choked up on her pickaxe. She went to town on the strewn rubble like it was a whack-o-mole tournament.

Translucent Eldens phased into existence by the dozens, more appearing for each rock she split. The onslaught continued until they stopped increasing in number. When there was nothing left but rubble, dust, and strange silence, Lizzy halted. Panting, suspicious, sunburnt, and wielding a vengeful pickaxe, Lizzy cursed.

"Qorxau remnants..."

"Yoohoo."

*WHAM*

Lizzy had the briefest moment to ponder the amount of magical power she imbued in the attack. All the ones so far had been birthed of pure brute strength. Now, with the boiling energy of a royally pissed-off peak-second-color-phase Elden, Lizzy cast a Gravity Sphere and smacked it like a baseball.

The catastrophic spell phased through the horrified Remnant and straight into the side of the quarry wall.

Damn. Missed.

It was the only regret she could muster as she watched the cliff shatter and collapse into a rumbling rockslide.

=

Rocks and boulders were tossed aside languidly by a peeved Elden Queen.

Lizzy spat out rocks like they were watermelon seeds.

"Remnants..."

With a growl, she extricated her legs from the remaining debris and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Resting an elbow, she twirled a finger in the air to indicate her surroundings.

"Not my fault."

"Not your fault?"

"Nope. Remnants."

Ellie pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Remnants? As in, ghosts? The very same ghosts who are completely intangible, and consequently, harmless? I conveniently recall them being immune to all manner of physical and magical means."

"Uh-huh."

Ellie shook, the pitch of her voice rising with incredulity.

"And using this knowledge, you still rampaged around, shattered part of the magic-infused quarry that is revered by the locals, buried yourself under a mound of rubble, and exposed the fact that we are hiding our power level from the dangerous cult we are currently infiltrating?"

"Whoops?"

"That better not be a question."

Lizzy had the decency to appear abashed.

Ellie rolled her entire head and flailed her arms wildly, cursing, kicking rocks, and generally feeling indignant. Looking for something else to mangle, she grabbed two elk-sized rocks and pounded them together like gongs until they crumbled into dust. Lizzy watched, embarrassment growing in her cheeks. No longer being able to watch her love's justifiable pouting episode, an explanation tumbled out.

"A stupid remnant innkeeper messing with me is one thing. I can handle their quirks and gluttonously self-righteous attitudes long enough to perform a cleansing ritual. But it wasn't just one snooty asshole I had to deal with discretely and quickly. I thought I had somehow messed up when the ritual concluded, but I realized it was an entirely different snooty asshat I was dealing with. Still, I gritted my teeth and did it again. And again."

Now Lizzy was the one flailing her arms.

"I was nearly pulling out my hair after the fifth ritual! It was impossible to cleanse dozens of them without someone noticing, so I tried ignoring them, going as far as to deafen myself for good measure. Qorxau remnants worked around it somehow. I couldn't work without a new one appearing and calling me names, taunting me..."

"Elderberry!"

A translucent blue apparition catcalled, waving an unnaturally flaccid arm in a rude gesture.

The apparition's eyes grew comically big as it yelped and ducked back into the earth just before a rugged boulder impacted its position.

Ellie came out of her thrower's stance and dusted off her clothes.

"With a foulmouth like that, I understand completely."

Lizzy's lips pursed cutely.

"Is this your way of marking your territory..."

Lizzy couldn't prevent the vulgar expression from crawling across her ugly mug. She was still a middle-aged man.

"...because I could think of some other ways you could... assert your dominance—Ack!"

A pebble flicked Lizzy's defenseless forehead.

"Remnants are the least of our worries.".

"Did you finally find our contact?"

"My cousin? No. I still can't find him. I'm afraid he might have Fractured. And that rest of this town will soon follow."