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Kara pulled the two obvious introverts along the streets of the International District, where the apartment they just finished cleaning out was located. Two of her tails acted like leashes around their wrists as she kept them close and made her claim of the pair of Crystal Casters and Sapphire neck warmer obvious to any onlookers.
She kept her aura as a polite sphere as well, the Obsidian Caste acting as both a warning to any potential enemy –since any actual enemy would likely burst into flames– and a status symbol that incited awe among the lowbie Casters who could sense it.
“Why don’t you hide your aura like you did when we met?” Phoenix asked with a mixture of curiosity and grumpiness.
“So the people can bask in my presence and the reassurance it provides,” she answered with a playful grin, but it wasn’t entirely a joke.
Once their odd group entered a shop, she no longer needed the tails to prompt them to stay close. They did that on their own and fell into what seemed like a familiar position for the pair of party members: standing side by side behind her as she walked down aisles and around displays.
Uriel seemed mostly bored in this first store of furniture carved from imported woods and she assumed –based on what she had seen in the sparse apartment– that the disinterest was due to either a lack of funds or a lack of desire for extravagance. Maybe both but it was too soon to tell.
Once in a while, Phoenix would quietly point at something and ask a question that the cinderen answered after checking if Kara would answer the question first. It was an interesting dynamic and the voxen could only assume the King who led them and was currently unavailable was whose place she had inadvertently taken in this little information-gathering and barrel-seeking adventure.
Phoenix’s interest in the furniture seemed purely academic and, unlike the cinderen, Kara assumed this was due to the Wayfarer not needing any of it; her adoptive noble family handling that for her. It was good to see that the young woman didn’t seem to desire things she had no need for. It spoke to a practical mind and a lack of greed that was encouraging for someone favored by her goddess.
The clothing store with a variety of different styles of garb from all over the Saaret continent –which was less continent and more giant archipelago on the opposite side of the planet– seemed equally boring for the two Crystal Casters and the still sleeping kitten accompanying her. This clued her in that standing out and looking appealing likely didn’t matter to either of them, which wasn’t surprising. The only thing that was slightly surprising was the flush of embarrassment Phoenix displayed when Kara suggested a dress that was more strings than actual fabric. Perhaps the long sleeves and floor-length dress weren’t just for the cold.
When they reached the shop that held a variety of rarer ritual, enchantment, and crafting supplies from abroad, that was the moment the Astromancer seemed to come alive. Phoenix continually paused in the aisle to look closer at items, asked more questions, and actually debated about purchasing something.
“I know we have a few days while we wait for Daze to wake up,” Uriel replied when the redhead turned to lift up two enchantment kits and ask if he and Dazien would prefer a self-cleaning rug or an automatic warming blanket, “But I don’t think he wanted you to blow up the estate while he slept.”
Phoenix scrunched her nose and retorted, “I won’t blow up the building!” When the taller man simply raised an eyebrow, the Wayfarer added quietly, “There’s an explosion-proof crafting room for me to work in there.”
The Mage laughed while shaking his head, the black ponytail swaying wildly behind him and jostling the kitten as he said, “That doesn’t make it better. Pretty sure everyone has told you that it’s not worth risking your life to craft things without the abilities that reduce the chance for failures.”
“I know,” the Wayfarer mumbled forlornly, “I just thought it’d be cool to give you guys, like, a housewarming gift or something… you know, a ‘welcome to the hallway’ kind of thing,” her face eventually became the color of her hair as she finished with a sad sigh, “Now that I say it out loud, it sounds kind of stupid.”
Kara watched with amusement as she saw Uriel’s expression soften and he took both of the items from Phoenix’s hands while replying, “Rug for Daze. Blanket for Saiya. Let’s go find something else for Rayna.”
“What about you?” she asked, perking up at the reassurance.
“I’ve got my friends,” he said with a smirk, “I don’t need anything else.”
Phoenix rolled her eyes, “It’s a gift. It’s not about needing.”
“How about you get both of us dinner then?” Kara interjected happily, “I would love to try something local. I’ve never been to Tulim before this quest. Plus, none of it will actually sustain me here, so it’s not something I need.”
Phoenix looked at her curiously, “What sustains you then, if not the food?”
“Well, unless they sell Obsidian Caste grub, I’m stuck with the Mana Bits I brought. Luckily, I don’t need to eat a lot of them but this trip is not a cheap one for me.”
“Wait, how do you normally survive then?”
“By staying near Obsidian Caste zones that provide the food I need. Most of us do, which is why you don’t usually find higher Caste people in lower Caste zones. Though, like I said, we don’t need a lot and can go a fairly long time without consuming anything. Our magical bodies are extremely efficient at conserving resources.”
“But how do you get enough Obsidian Mana Bits if there aren’t a lot of Obsidian monsters? I read that the higher the Caste, the less likely they are to spawn since, even in Obsidian zones, the magic is more likely to spawn lower Caste things.”
“Well, that’s where Bit Farms come in,” Kara promptly replied, then furrowed her brow as she turned to look at the Mage and asked, “Nobody’s told her about the farms?”
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Uriel shook his head and responded quietly, “She loots more Bits than she’ll eat, and I prefer cooking magical food for us since we get a bunch from the monsters. She never asked, so I don’t think any of us thought to mention it.”
“I was wondering how they could possibly be used as a currency if they only came from loot powers,” the Astromancer murmured thoughtfully, “Loot powers don’t seem particularly rare, and I do know a basic ritual for doing it as well, but it still didn’t seem like it would be enough for everyone.”
“Yeah, and nobody prefers the ritual,” Kara interjected, “That usually just results in Bits, Shards, and monster parts so it’s only used if a power isn’t available.”
“I see. Mine usually gives me ritual materials which I’ve liked having available to experiment with in my free time,” the Wayfarer admitted.
“So,” Kara said as she began pulling them towards the shop clerk to buy the items Phoenix had selected, “What are you getting Rayna, and where’s the best Tulim cuisine?”
Phoenix glanced up at Uriel again, who gave a half-shrug with his kittenless shoulder as he said, “For Rayna, I’d suggest an actual punching bag she can’t easily break, but I think her room is going to be next door to ours. I don’t know how soundproof those walls are.”
“I haven’t heard anything through them, but I haven’t really had neighbors until now,” Phoenix admitted.
“As for the food,” Uriel continued as he glanced at Kara, “We’ve mostly been taking Phoenix to international places, but I think she’d like The Orchard; it’s not as spicy as most Tulim cuisine restaurants.”
“Perfect! We can talk about where to get the Rayna gift on our way,” the voxen proclaimed and dragged them to pay and be on the move once more.
“Do you know where it is?” Phoenix asked curiously, unfamiliar with the place.
“I know where everything is.”
“I thought you said you’ve never been to Tulimeir before, though?”
The paladin shrugged, “I’m Obsidian. We move incredibly fast and have perfect memories, so scouting out the area and checking out a map lets me know where everything is easy enough. I just haven’t explored inside everything yet.”
“‘Yet’ you say,” Phoenix reiterated, then seemed to have a dawning horror as the introvert turned to stare at her and ask, “You’re not planning to explore every shop, right?”
She chuckled, “Not today, little bird.”
“Not tomorrow either, right?”
Kara burst out laughing at the suspicion and dread that filled the oddly layered aura. She had met a couple of Aurabreakers in her two hundred years of travel, and they always felt odd to her, but their power compared to the rest of their Caste couldn’t be denied. Instead of answering, she simply gave a teasing grin as she led them out of the building. Who knew what tomorrow might bring after all?
As they made their way to the rooftop restaurant within the inner city walls, Bliss had apparently napped enough and decided she wanted to die a very quick death. Leaping from the cinderen’s shoulder towards one of Kara’s nine tails, she lightly batted the kitten out of the air with a tail and straight back into the chest of the Mage who looked stunned from the sudden exchange.
The Sapphire Caster, on the other paw, gave her wide and almost affronted eyes at being kept from the piles of fluff, then got a wicked glint in those tiny emerald eyes, suddenly growing a pair of feathery wings to attempt the new challenge again.
Uriel tried to warn the kitten, “Bliss! Don’t! She will turn you into a pile of burnt meat. Not tasty at all. You don’t want to die like that, right?”
Bliss gave a distraught mewl, and Phoenix placed herself between the chimera and voxen while glancing at the people around them and cautiously asking Kara, “Are you sure you don’t want to eat somewhere more private?”
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” she replied with a dismissive wave, “As I said earlier, I enjoy being a knight in shining armor for the people to look to for help and hope.”
Phoenix shook her head, “I don’t understand. How can anyone possibly enjoy strangers watching their every move? You don’t mind if they see you mess up or if you don’t meet their expectations? Do you really enjoy having your every move judged by everyone around you?”
There it is.
Kara grinned, feeling like she had finally found the key she had been searching for, and said flippantly, gesturing to the random people on the street around them, “Who are they to judge me?” Then she wrapped an arm around the redhead’s shoulders and added in a slightly more serious tone, “Who are they to judge you?”
Phoenix looked taken aback by the question, but the Sunlight Champion pressed on, “If there’s one thing you’ll need to come to understand if you’re ever going to reach my level, little bird, it’s that everyone is an insignificant piece of dust in the grand scheme of the universe. The only things that matter in your life are the things that you give value to.
“I value my goddess and the people who look to me for a champion when they have no one else to stand up for them. Frequently, I find that they won’t judge me unfairly, and the ones that do… Well, they don’t matter.”
“Everyone should matter,” Phoenix pointed out but seemed unsure of herself as she added, “They’re still people like you or me… well, maybe not quite like us, but still people deserving of life and purpose.”
“While that could probably be debated,” she retorted, thinking of all the vile enemies she’s had to face down over the centuries, “Whether it’s true or not doesn’t change my statement. Even if they deserve life and purpose, happiness and peace, and all that good stuff, it doesn’t mean that their own goals and beliefs should matter to how you view yourself. Do you believe everyone should bow to your purpose? Do you think that your beliefs should matter to everyone else around you? Would you force others to conform to your own desires?”
“I– I, um–” Phoenix seemed to stumble over the reversal of perspective before saying, “Of course not… I’m nobod– I mean, I know Rayna pointed out I’m not exactly nobody anymore. But I was! Before all this crazy Wayfarer-ness with magic and monsters and nosy gods happened, that is, but none of that was really something I did. I’m still just a Crystal Caster.”
The Astromancer gestured at the much taller Champion and added, “You wouldn’t even be here if I was strong enough to deserve the kind of attention you get. Why should my opinion matter to them?”
Kara grinned, “It shouldn’t. That’s my point. You don’t need to matter to everyone to have purpose, and they don’t need to matter to you to be worth protecting or ignoring.”
The blonde released her grip on the younger woman and said, “It’s too exhausting to worry about things that don’t matter. Take my advice and worry less about petty people seeing your faults and more about the people who look to you for friendship or guidance. Those are the people you’ll want to sparkle for.”
Then she stopped in front of the building they were looking for and Kara wrapped the two Crystal Casters plus winged-kitten in a tail before giving the briefest of warnings, “Now, don’t scream,” as she flew upwards while ignoring the building’s interior lift system to land directly on the roof. It was filled with magical fruit-bearing trees giving shade to small tables built around their trunks with padded stools offering a place to sit and eat.
As Kara landed in front of what seemed to be a hostess, ignoring any kind of line that may or may not exist, she said merrily, “Table for three and a half! And we’ll have one of everything!”