Jasper opened his eyes in the shrine and stared dully at the lake as he massaged the phantom pains in his chest. Never going to get used to that.

It was a scorcher of a day.As far as Jasper could tell, the region seemed to be entering some sort of dry season, and the sun’s rays, once they’d left the cooler mountains, had become downright oppressive.But the shrine was pleasantly cool.The roof extended beyond the floor, offering a welcome relief from the light, and the open side facing the lake acted as a perfect funnel for the occasional cool breeze that wafted down from the northern plateau.

He knew he should get up; there were a million things waiting for him to deal with. The S̆addu’â guards and the woman and her son at his manor. Kaṣî’s party. And the one he really didn’t want to think about, dealing with the Brotherhood of Yas̆gah. Isn’t adventuring supposed to be fun? Feels more and more like a job every day, he griped.

Instead, he lingered. Closing his eyes, he let his feet splash in the lightly lapping waves and the winds play with his hair, enjoying the rare moment of peace.

“Fancy finding you here.” A vaguely familiar voice echoed behind him, a voice he knew he ought to recognize, but Jasper couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to greet the newcomer.

A woman with pale skin and long, blonde hair sat down gingerly next to him. “Oh, hey, S̆anukkat,” he greeted his cousin.

“Just call me S̆ani,” she corrected him, with a smile. The wind blew at her long, white dress, and she readjusted, revealing the small bulge in her belly. It had grown considerably in the two months he’d been away, and there was no hiding her condition now.

“Is your pregnancy going well,” he asked.

She offered him a half-hearted grin. “Well enough, I suppose. There was a bit of gossip around court at first, but that faded pretty quickly. Bastards are pretty common around here, after all, what with the need for spare heirs, plus I’ve been the subject of gossip for years now. Honestly, I’m kind of old news at this point. The only one who really cared was Mother.” S̆ani sighed deeply. “She’s still pretty upset, a lot more so than I expected.”

“Really?” Jasper was surprised. The elf had struck him as a bit conniving, but she had also absolutely doted on her daughter. “Your mother was the one upset? I would have assumed S̆arrābī would have been the one to have a conniption.”

S̆ani shook her head. “Nope, Dad never said a word.” She splashed her feet in the water, kicking up a row of spray that the wind blew straight into their faces. “I think after what happened with your mom, the only thing he cares about is keeping me close and safe.”

“And your mother doesn’t?” Jasper’s opinion of his aunt plummeted. “I didn’t realize she cared that much about what other people thought. She seemed so free-spirited.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it at all - she’s upset because she cares about my safety,” his cousin protested. “Just as much as Dad. Unfortunately, she’s leapt to the conclusion that maybe the reason the Anzuzu gave her a vision of my death is that I’m going to die in childbirth, and nothing I can say can calm her fears. I don’t think she’ll have a moment’s rest until the baby comes.”

Jasper was surprised. “Do a lot of women die in childbirth here?” He knew, of course, that it did still happen on Earth but it was also fairly rare. But with magical healing available here, he would have thought it was pretty rare.

His cousin bobbed her head back and forth uncertainly.“It depends, I guess.It used to be pretty much unheard of, unless you lived in a really remote village.Every decent-sized temple would support a healer whose services would be available for any who needed them.”

“But as the number of mages has continued to shrink, that’s just not possible anymore.There aren’t enough healers to go around, and those who are blessed with the class find themselves in high demand.Most of them are snapped up by the army or guard for mandatory service, and once they’ve retired, they tend to sell their services to the highest bidder.”

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“Only the largest of temples can still afford to have a healer on staff these days. The rest hand out healing potions now, but those can only heal you if your body has enough energy to provide. They work great for high-leveled adventurers like yourself, but for a farmer’s wife who has maybe four levels?” S̆ani shook her head. “They can heal small injuries, but they’re probably not going to be good enough to save you from death.”

“That’s too bad,” he commented sympathetically. Jasper had heard, time and time again, about the gradual decline of magic in Corsythia, but he had rarely thought about it outside of the context of battle.Frankly, having fewer mages to fight made things easier on him, but he hadn’t considered the repercussions for society at large. “I had no idea it was such a problem.So I guess your mother’s really not wrong to be concerned.”

“Nah, she’s being ridiculous,” S̆ani huffed. “Sure, if I were the average citizen, it’d be a valid concern, but the As̆rukkat employs a dozen healers. The chances of something going wrong with the birth and none of them being able to help is basically nonexistent but,” she shrugged, “no one said worry had to be rational.”

“It rarely is,” Jasper agreed with a smile. The conversation between them lulled as he cast his eyes back toward the waves. The roar of the wind and the crash of the waves swelled to fill the ancient shrine, and his eyes slowly slipped closed again as he embraced the moment of peace.

“So…are you almost done here?” S̆ani finally piped up.

He cracked his eyes back open and glanced over at her. “Am I bothering you?”

“Well…” she responded slowly, “I was hoping to meditate here.”

“You hit level 100?” He asked in surprise.

S̆ani’s cheeks reddened slightly and she looked away, her hands twisting uncomfortably in her lap. “Not even close,” she admitted quietly. “But remember when I told you I wanted to earn a few more levels, back at the island.” Jasper nodded, vaguely remembering the conversation. “I did manage to earn a few levels. Father’s arranged for me to join a few hunting trips, and I think - at least I hope - that I’ve gained enough to reach level 40. I was hoping meditating in the shrine might give a boost to my reward.”

“Gotchya.” Jasper hopped to his feet. “Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Best of luck with your reward.”

“Thanks,” she smiled up at him. “And I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Jasper began to ask. Then he froze as his uncle’s invitation - really, his summons - popped back into his mind. Oh crap. I still have to break the news to Ihra. He flashed an uneasy grin at her, “Uh, yeah. See you then.”

----------------------------------------

Convincing Ihra turned out to be an easier task than he’d expected.

“There will be presents again, right?” His friend had been lolling on the couch when he’d arrived back at the manor, but she bolted upright when he’d broken the news about his uncle’s invitation.

“Probably?” Jasper shrugged. “You tell me. You’re the only one around here who seems to be getting any attention. I’m apparently invisible,” he sniffed, pretending to be hurt.

Ihra’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Invisible? What are you talking about? Barely a day went by without one of those scouts offering you something: gifts, food, themselves.”

He rolled his eyes.Technically, Ihra was right.After the night with the ēslu berries, the women in the division had realized he wasn’t too fond of the food his little party knew how to prepare.Each day after that, they showed up, fresh kills in tow, to prepare him a tasty meal.

Jasper had protested a bit, but not that hard. He didn’t take advantage of the other sort of services they offered, but he just couldn’t bring himself to turn down the food. The simple truth was that despite their many other talents, no one in their party was a particularly good cook. “I meant presents that aren’t corpses or food,” he clarified. “I can’t believe my own aunt is more interested in hooking you up than me. I’m an eligible bachelor too.”

“I don’t know.The ladies around here don’t seem very interested.Maybe when your horns come in,” she teased him.

“Hopefully never, then,” he quipped back, and Ihra just laughed. “You really don’t mind?” he persisted, more seriously.

A grimace flitted across her face. “I mean, I don’t exactly love the attention but…as long as they keep bringing me presents, your aunt can throw me as many parties as she wants. Do you know how much money I made selling them off?”

I should have known. If ‘love languages’ were a thing in Corsythia, Ihra’s would definitely be money. I suppose if I’d spent my childhood in an orphanage, I’d value that security pretty highly myself. Jasper sighed. “You realize those presents come with strings attached, right? Sooner or later, they’re going to expect you to pick one of them.”

The elfling shrugged. “And when that time comes, we’ll be far, far away. Your uncle is sending us off soon, isn’t he?”

He nodded. “Supposedly, yes. So, yeah, you’ll probably get away with it. Although…” He offered her a sly grin. “Are you sure you don’t want to become a Djinn trophy wife? I bet it's a pretty Posh lifestyle. You won’t even have to pretend to sing - just got to find your Beckham.”

Ihra just raised her eyebrow. “You know I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?”

Jasper just sighed. One of these days, somebody’s going to get my references.