Trisha POV

Trisha found herself waking up in the store room, having taken a nap, which turned into a full night of sleep at this point. Despite the less-than-comfortable conditions she found herself in, she felt more rested and energized than she would have expected. She couldn't help but wonder if this was the benefit of having Vitmori as her patron, as well as the boon of a strengthened mana heart and mana ring.

Once she was fully awake, she made her way back over to the forge to look over her handiwork. She had gotten started on the blade of a shortsword, using an alloy of several metals that produced a light green hue. It still needed to be sharpened and then fitted with the hilt that she still needed to put together, but all in all, she felt proud of her work so far.

Next up was the dagger with a wicked wavy blade; she used a similar alloy of metals that produced a blade with a light green hue. If she's being honest with herself, she has never made a blade with an edge like this, though she had come across a number of pieces with this style over the years and had a feeling it would suit Vitmori's needs. She designed the hilt of the blade to be compact and thin for the sake of concealment rather than to be worn openly at the waist.

Setting the dagger away, she gave the brown throwing knives a cursory once over before collecting the pouch of black arrowheads and making her way out of her smithy. She's greeted by the noon sun above her, realizing that at that moment, she may not have actually known when she took her nap or how long she slept.

Taking a deep breath of the refreshing mountain air, she made her descent with an energetic pep in her step despite all the hard work she's put herself through in the last couple of days. She felt stronger, healthier, and overall just felt better about herself due to finally getting to work around a forge once more. Especially a forge that she can call her own.

Once she was down in the forest, her senses were almost overloaded with all sorts of new information due to her bond with Vitmori. Before, all she could tell was that there were a lot of birds flitting around the place; now she can feel where all the nearby mana beasts around her are, and that just about every bird and quite a few squirrels in the area have a mark of Vitmori's influence. As she walked, she was approached by a few birds and squirrels who checked her out, and she could feel their minds recognizing her as an ally before moving on and leaving her to do whatever it was that she was doing.

It wasn't much longer when she arrived at the clearing of the Haven, and she could see people milling about, working on various tasks and projects here and there. Woody was working with Lanzak and Twig, mixing what appeared to be some kind of extra thick mud or perhaps clay at the opposite end of the clearing.

She then spotted Harriet, the dogkin woman, leading another class for the children of the group under the shade of the longhouse, using a piece of charcoal to write on the stone of the building as she went over numbers today. Despite the lesson being for the children, a few adults and parents were standing around with the group, listening just as intently as the kids and following along with the lesson.

Walking further through the clearing, she spotted Sylvia, Miriam, and Virtisa working around the old fireplace. The trio sat under the shade of the nearby tree as Virtisa stirred at a pot filled with boiling water and tree bark. Sylvia and Miriam worked on what she assumed to be Vitmori's armor and clothing; they seemed to be chatting quietly, even if Trisha could tell Miriam appeared notably crestfallen, which was odd.

Before she made her way over to the trio, she noticed a group of squirrels heading into the longhouse, carrying a number of pointed stones between them. With her curiosity piqued, she followed after them to find Cinco sitting inside the longhouse at one of the tables. There was a distinct pile of wood shavings scattered around him, along with two different stacks of wood and a small pile of stones that the squirrels added to before scurrying off. There was also a little pile of feathers sitting nearby, which was soon visited by a couple of small birds, which dropped off a few more feathers before flitting away.

"Wow, Cinco, what is all this about?" She asked curiously, flashing the rabbitkin man a smile as she made her way over and settled at the table, sitting across from him. Looking things over, she could tell he was doing some fletching, though she was more surprised by his whole setup than the fact that he could make arrows.

Cinco smiled in response, turning his attention away from the arrow shaft he was carving to look over at Trisha, one of his ears waggling absently as he set down the knife he was using. "Ah, good afternoon, Trisha. It's good to see you." He greeted pleasantly before looking over the table. "Oh, there's more here than I realized." He mentioned, apparently not having noticed just how much material had been set up around him.

Trisha chuckled softly at his response, though she waited patiently for his answer as a couple of spitter wolves arrived, setting down some slightly slobbered-on sticks and adding them to the steadily growing pile of sticks before heading out once more.

Looking over at the spitter wolves as they left, Cinco couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "So I take it you want to know what's going on?"

Trisha bobbed her head once as she smiled some more. "That would be nice, yes." She mused as she took up one of the more completed-looking arrows. The only thing it was missing at this point was the arrowhead.

Cinco looked around himself some more and set down the shaft he had in his hand. "Well, I've been feeling rather listless since I haven't been able to go out and hunt for the group lately. Between my darling wife and Virtisa, I've been confined to the Haven until Virtisa is confident I've fully healed from my gut wound." He explained first before plucking up the arrow shaft again. "Once I heard that Vitmori commissioned Woody for a bow and arrows, I had the idea to make even more bows and arrows."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"That's as good an idea as any I've heard of." She teased kindly as she set the arrow down and leaned forward on the table, resting on her elbows to settle in for the conversation.

Cinco flashed a toothy smirk at her comment and chuckled a bit. "The point of the idea was that if I can't make myself useful by hunting and providing, I figured I could get started with teaching these city folk some more practical skills. More to the point, I could teach them how to handle a bow." He enthused almost cheerfully. "Sure, I probably won't make many of the others into proper hunters, but I've already taught a couple of them how to be trappers." He shrugged a bit at that comment, though he still looked rather cheerful as he looked over the arrow shafts he's already carved and fletched.

Trisha nodded rather thoughtfully at the idea. Sure, they have Vitmori and his mana beasts to protect them, but they can't solely rely on them for everything. "So what's with the supply line?" She asked as she pointed out another pair of squirrels dropping off some more pointed rocks into the ever-growing pile on the table.

He smiled a little more at that as he scratched at his cheek. "Well, since I can't leave the clearing of the Haven, I was asking some of the birds if they could help me with gathering some materials and..."

But before he could continue, Trisha spoke up, doing her best not to be overtly rude, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Wait, you can talk with animals?" She asked, tilting her head a bit at that. "I mean, I can talk to animals now, but that's only due to the bond I share with Vitmori, and it's only with mana beasts that he's bonded with... But how do you do it?"

Cinco couldn't help but look amused by her interruption as he leaned into the table as well. "Well, I'm a Ranger. Not to say that's the only reason I'm able to do what I can do, but even though I wasn't fortunate enough to awaken a mana heart of my own; I was trained to commune with nature and was able to develop my connection to the point where I could have a sort of empathic ability to speak with animals."

She nodded intently, looking fascinated by the idea, though she then furrowed her brows in concern as she watched him. "So you can talk to and understand animals, but you still hunt them, even though you don't even need to eat meat?"

He nodded intently, his long ears waggling thoughtfully as he smiled and answered her question with a question. "Well, how about you? You can talk to animals as if they are people now. Are you going to stop eating meat?" Trisha, for her part, looked rather uncertain of herself at his question; though Cinco continued before she could get her answer out. "Even though I don't need to eat meat to live a healthy life, others do. I hunt to provide for others who can't provide for themselves, and in doing so, I would earn the coin to buy the fruits, bread, and vegetables my family needs to live. In any case, hunting is a necessary part of life. All animals, monsters, and mana beasts will kill to survive and live; and we're all a part of that cycle too, whether we like it or not."

Trisha considered everything that was laid before her before nodding slowly. "I see. Well, then I suppose it isn't too odd for you to hunt animals, despite your ability to speak with them."

Cinco chuckled softly at that as he scratched behind one of his ears. "I'm just happy you readily accepted that answer, I have plenty of philosophy and teachings to call up and explain myself with; however I'm in no mood to try and hold a lecture right now." He mused kindly as he took up his knife and the arrow shaft he had been working on before.

Trisha smiled as well, though she looked sheepish as she cleared her throat and spoke up before Cinco got too distracted. "I don't mean to pester you too much, but how did you get Vitmori's mana beasts to help you gather all these materials?" She asked as some birds flew in, dropping off some more feathers before flitting off once again.

"Ah, right." He remarked as he remembered what they were discussing before that whole tangent. He set the knife down once more before regarding Trisha again. "Well, I was asking the birds for their help in at least gathering some spare discarded feathers for fletching, as those, in particular, would be hard for me to gather on my own. While the birds were agreeable, they were curious as to why I would want the feathers. So, after explaining myself, they decided to go and get Jack." He then chuckled a little as he watched a spitter wolf come in with more sticks. "One thing led to another, and I was explaining what I was trying to do to Jack, Legosi, Oururu, and a squirrel who went by the name of Dionyba. They said that as long as I made Vitmori's arrows first, they'll bring me all the materials I need to make the practice arrows to train the others."

Trisha looked rather surprised by all that before procuring the pouch of black arrowheads and setting it down on the table between them. "If that's the case, then you'll need these." She said before looking to the side as the spitter wolves made their way out. "When do you think they'll stop bringing all this stuff over? It's already looking to be quite a lot by now."

Cinco hummed thoughtfully as he plucked the pouch from the table. "Probably when I ask them to stop. I don't mind it, I've been restless just sitting around, and this has been great work for my peace of mind in general." He said cheerfully enough as he gently poured a couple of arrowheads into his palm, looking them over curiously and flashing a small smile. "My, my... These look wonderfully made." He enthused before looking over to Trisha. "Think I can trouble you for at least a dozen more for myself? The ones I have weren't in the best of condition when I got my hands on them, let alone after the last couple of weeks of use."

Trisha bobbed her head at his request. "Yeah, that should be no trouble at all." Trisha said, clearly beaming with pride at the appraisal of her work.

Cinco was still admiring the arrowheads for a moment more before chuckling to himself. "You wanna know something funny?" He asked though he didn't wait for an answer as he put the arrowheads back into the pouch. "The squirrels seemed particularly interested in the idea of bows. I don't know if you'll notice, but the longhouse is now basically infested with the little furballs." He mentioned as he started pointing them out.

With that, Trisha looked around curiously where he gestured, and sure enough, she started spotting all sorts of squirrels here and there.

There were some above them, sitting along the rafters and messing with smaller cuts of wood. At a glance, it looked like they were making their own arrows, though they were admittedly smaller and rather crude. Looking around further and experimentally tapping into her bond with Vitmori, she sensed squirrels watching Remi, Luna, and Mina as they prepared the next meal. There were a few outside listening to Harriet's math lesson, and even a few over by Woody, watching how he made the bricks using the weird mud.

"If they weren't bonded with Vitmori, I'd be rather unnerved by all this..." She admitted, looking back over to Cinco before just shaking her head. "Who am I kidding? That really is just odd... When did Vitmori start using squirrels anyway?"

Cinco couldn't help but chuckle at her expense as he finally went back to working on the arrow shafts. "A couple of days at least... Remi mentioned how Vitmori came in asking for a bottle of wine, claiming he needed to make peace with some squirrels, and now there are a bunch of squirrels all over the place. So I think it's safe to assume he made peace with them."

Trisha nodded, looking admittedly bewildered as she started to consider just how much time she's lost track of in her pursuit of working the forge. "Damn, what else happened while I was gone?"

Cinco had to think about that, shrugging at first before remembering something. "Ah right, Isaak got dragged away by those drakewarden folks. Silvia said it was something about some kind of initiation training or something, I'm not all that sure." He admitted before collecting one of the feathers. "All I know is that the half-elf lady said something to Miriam, and that girl has been in a mood ever since. Beyond that... Oh! Basti is a person now. She just left, taking some pink-haired woman and riding off on one of the chivosteids... I think that's about everything since I last saw you." He said, furrowing his brow thoughtfully before nodding to himself once he was sure.

Trisha wasn't sure what to make of all that, but if a giant snake can become a person, why not a prowler? Taking a few moments to digest everything, she responded with a simple nod of her head. "Alright, good to know." With that, she stood and flashed Cinco a kind smile. "If you'll excuse me, I haven't eaten for nearly a day by now. So I'm gonna see if I can get a bite to eat." Cinco bobbed his head politely, now fully returning his focus to the arrows as Trisha made her way toward the kitchen.