Tanner Neired [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ABLVV86CEBGSb6fzhLGJ9cwdzQXqavwMXre6Be6m2wQapNu1WBP9_nbzxK-Ik6DMh7AMa1bmXG-Rik8L1DfXJa37V1-19fi-ci9mtgHFxUiP1lIfjonEiC8dw-UBi5lOkBGb2CgGDgLpGsklwn4b2RPFoeVP=w621-h931-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
Polissa trailed behind Mohala and Tanner on their way back to the camp area they used but found herself wishing she had joined her brother in going with King’s Dream as she watched them retreat to the miniature ice fort to chat. Simmon had asked her to let him talk with the other Healer in private, though, so she instead joined her own party in the large tent they normally shared while out on missions.
The three Chaos Summoners debated about going back to the city to get the materials to resummon Po’s Familiar, Ton-ton, but decided to hold off till the end of the mission since they had been doing okay for the most part till that one overwhelming swarm and rare brood mother spawn.
“As long as she doesn’t decide to blow up the mountain again and call every monster straight to us, we’ll probably be fine,” Tanner sneered, tossing his heavy fur cloak over towards his sleeping area as he bent to grab stuff from his pack.
“She saved us with that move, Tan. None of us could have pulled that off and you saw what it cost her. She could have died if one of those miserlings made it past her teammates after that,” Po defended the Wayfarer as they prepared to sleep since the sun would begin to set in about an hour. While they usually stuck to the odd cycle of an Adventurer that mostly hunted at night, this particular scouting mission would be better accomplished with daylight.
“Exactly,” the runeforged replied in annoyance, “It was the foolish move of an unstable mind. I don’t understand what you see in that girl.”
“She’s a hero.”
“She’s a child,” their leader rebutted, rolling his eyes and pulling a few [Crystal Mana Bits] and a single [Sapphire Mana Bit] out of the pack for them to eat for a meal, “Just because Hero favors her doesn’t magically make her a hero. She’s a Crystal Caste upstart that managed to charm her way into Lord Wayland’s good graces,” he chided, then added with a mutter, “One guess how she managed that.”
Po glared at him, “You’re a real arse sometimes, you know that, Tan?” She crossed her arms in defiance, “Would it kill you to not think the worst of someone you barely know?”
“If they’re traitors, it might. Remember why we’re even here in the middle of these gods-forsaken mountains,” the Pack Harbinger pointed out and he made the connection to other traitors for her, “Turned out I couldn’t even trust my own family.
“Why should I trust the woman who’s Mentor destroyed it? For all we know, he only jumped at the chance to take out a rival House, not that he actually cares about any of the people in Tulimeir. Where was he years ago when the Ruwenas were planning all of this in the first place?”
She let out a frustrated groan and stood up, “I’m going for a walk. Maybe I’ll even go thank Phoenix for saving all of our lives earlier. Such a novel idea, thanking the people that help us.”
Tanner scoffed, “If by ‘help’ you mean making things a desolate wasteland, then sure, she definitely helped.”
Po made a rude gesture towards him, out of words to argue with, then left the tent. The night was clear and lit by starlight which were in the process of appearing as the dusk approached.
She wandered through the makeshift camp slowly, taking her time to let Simmon finish with his talk until she spotted him near the center of the camp observing the small gathering of other Adventurers gathered around a small fire to recount their stories from the day. She glanced towards the small ice fort that she knew King’s Dream rested in and made her way in that direction, trying to formulate exactly what she should say to the Wayfarer who was so unlike anyone she had met before.
The summoner was just finalizing her plan to thank the woman and offer to watch the sunset together when a tan amethyst gemite exited the door she was only a couple of meters from.
They locked eyes for a moment as he registered her presence and then crossed his strong arms over his chest, still dressed in the [Sliksilk Compression Gear] most Adventurers wore under their armor, and gave her a teasing smirk, “Good evening, Noble Teras. Can I help you with something?”
She returned his smirk with confidence as she replied matter-of-factly, “Good evening, Mister Smithson. I simply wanted to see how Phoenix was doing and thank her for saving us earlier. That power of hers was certainly intimidating but I saw what it cost her and the risk she took. I merely wanted to express my gratitude while we watch the sunset.”
Dazien raised an eyebrow, “Arranging for a cozy setting already? You move fast.”
Polissa just grinned, undeterred by the beautiful man, “One must, if they see something they desire. The meek are the ones left with scraps,” she pointedly looked him up and down with an assessing gaze, “You don’t strike me as one of the meek. Are you here to stop me?”
He let out a laugh, “No. I don’t think you’re the type to be easily stopped. Not that I mind a challenge but I wouldn’t do that to Phoenix. I was just on my way to confirm the plan for tomorrow with your party leader. It was quite a rough day we had and I wasn’t sure if we would need to stop back in the city really quick to resupply for your parties’ rituals or potion supply.”
It was her turn to lift a brow at him as she asked, “You would do that for us? You don’t want to gloat about finishing off that Sapphire we failed to kill?”
Dazien gave her a curious look and said slowly, “No? We’re on the same team, remember? Your party’s Familiars and Summons are a powerful asset and it wouldn’t help the success of our mission nor increase the safety of our group to not have them available. My main goal is to keep all of us safe, winning is secondary. What Phoenix had to do today is not something I like having to resort to. Especially when I’m not positive that the enemies won’t remain to finish her off. As you noticed, she was in a very weakened state afterward and I don’t like risking her.”
“You’re rather protective of your teammate. All of you seem to be, actually,” the cinderen noted, still trying to figure out what kind of angle this man was playing at and exactly how he felt about Phoenix, “You wouldn’t interfere with me knowing that I wish to get closer to her?”
“I’m a firm believer in that how close people get is between them and them alone. Treat her well and we’ll have no problems,” he replied with a grin then his joviality vanished and she suddenly wondered if Phoenix wasn’t the only Protégé the Paladin of the Avenger had taken on as he warned, “However, if you hurt her, not even the gods will be able to protect you from our wrath.”
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Po shivered slightly at the promise of pain and death that passed between them and something in his voice made her certain that he wasn’t bluffing, which made the cool twilight feel even more chilling. She was the first to look away and bowed her head slightly, “My intentions are not to cause her harm. She is a beautiful star that I only wish to see shine brighter.”
The smile returned to Dazien’s face, “Excellent. I’m glad we understand one another then. However, you may want to save your thanks for tomorrow. Phoenix has already retired for the evening after the eventful day,” he said, then gave a courtly bow and moved to be on his way once more, “Rest well, Noble Teras.”
The summoner glanced towards the fortress of ice longingly before giving a sigh and following after the Warrior King to go socialize with her brother for a bit before returning to her own tent for the morning to sleep alone.
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Tanner watched in frustration as Polissa made an insulting hand gesture towards him and stormed out of the tent they all shared, “Gods damn it all,” the silvery runeforged muttered as he placed his face into his free hand and rubbed at his tired eyes.
“You know…” the lilting voice filled the space between them and he almost wanted to throw something at the dryad as she said, “I don’t think continuously insulting the woman that the woman you like likes is going to make the woman you like like you like that.”
“That was barely comprehensible,” the Pack Harbinger muttered as he glanced over at the frost-covered woman.
“But not grammatically incorrect,” she stated then leaned forward to make sure he was paying attention to her as she rephrased, “Yucking someone’s yum doesn’t make you yummy.”
“I’m not sure that was better,” he said with a shake of his head and gave her a small smile, “But I think I get what you’re trying to say,” he leaned back, staring up at the tent ceiling, and gave a heavy sigh, “I can’t help it, though. That Wayfarer is just so… so…”
“Lucky?” the dryad offered as he searched for the word.
Tanner grimaced, “I was going to say something more along the lines of ‘obliviously naïve and frustratingly docile’ but you’re not wrong either,” he admitted and began pulling out the ties he used in his silvery hair to keep it pulled back in a handful of smaller tails, “Is that really what Po wants in a partner?”
Mohala shrugged, “Po’s my best friend but I haven’t really seen a pattern in the people that catch her interest. It does seem like Phoenix has her interest now, though.”
The party leader almost growled as he tossed the handful of hair ties into his pack, “She should stop getting so distracted. She lost her Familiar today to a bunch of Crystal Caste monsters. If she didn’t have her attention on–”
Bright laughter filled the tent as the dryad said, “Where was your attention, Tan?” then she crawled across the space between them and booped him right on the nose with a soft finger as she scolded, “You were the leader today. Everyone listened to the orders you gave and, if Dazien hadn’t told Phoenix to explode, we might all be dead. Did you even know she could do that?”
He leaned away to rub his nose and retorted, “We don’t need another party to clear out monsters on the tundra. Our Summons should be able to handle everything that the blood moon might throw at us. Today was a fluke that–”
“That we would have fallen to,” she finished softly, her solid blue eyes looking at him unblinkingly. Her amusement seemed to wilt as she asked him quietly but with obvious sincerity, “What would have happened to us today if we ran into that swarm without King’s Dream to help protect us when our Summons fell? Would we even be here to talk about it?”
Tanner clenched his jaw, unwilling to admit to their failure. They had never failed a mission before. They had never been overpowered like they had been today and, despite his unwillingness to say it aloud, he knew that he had failed to adapt to the situation.
Mohala’s smile became warmer as she surprised him slightly with an extremely soft hug and said, “I know it’s hard but perhaps you can set aside your jealousy at what Phoenix has that you want and instead try to get to know her and better understand Po in the process?”
“What does that mean?” he asked, slightly distracted by the hug. He honestly couldn’t recall the last time anyone had hugged him, even in the friendly manner that his teammate was currently performing.
“I just mean that maybe by being more open-minded towards the others, you’ll see what Po sees. Better understand what Po likes. Maybe even make some new friends?” the dryad asked hopefully as she pulled away to look at him again.
He returned her gaze with a flat look, “Now I know you’re messing with me. Asking for the impossible.”
She giggled and he gave her a slight smile. With a sigh, he added softly, “I’ll try but no promises.”
“Hello in there?” a voice that they recognized as belonging to the leader of King’s Dream said from outside the tent.
Tanner groaned but a look from Mohala made him sigh and he made his way out of the tent to see what the gemite wanted. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt towards the man that seemed to get along with everyone. Overhearing that the shiny Defender had a cheating talent to assist with that, didn’t make him feel more at ease about comparing himself to the other leader, just more annoyed at the unfairness of it all.
He knew he was better at coordinating packs of creatures than dealing with people, which was often required for the position, but he didn’t want to disappoint Polissa either, who seemed to depend on him to take care of actually running their party. He liked that she trusted him with the responsibility and wanted to do his best at it. However, since joining up with the other parties in expeditions, he was beginning to see how he fell short of that.
The runeforged summoner didn’t want to give up though, so he faced the other leader and asked, “Did you need something, Mister Smithson?”
“I just wanted to verify the plan for tomorrow,” Dazien replied with a charming smile, “I know it was a taxing day. If we need to stop by Tulimeir first to get more supplies, that shouldn’t be too much of a detour if you want to do so a bit earlier before returning to our route.”
His eyes narrowed at the Defender as he questioned suspiciously, “Are you suggesting that my party isn’t properly prepared for this mission?”
The gemite’s smile fell a bit as he said, “Not at all, I just know you’re not used to having a portalist available and thought after the unusual encounter with the swarm you might like to take advantage of the asset at your disposal.”
“So you thought I just forgot about the abilities my team currently has available?” Tanner growled.
Dazien gave him a confused look as he stated slowly, “No… I’m starting to think I need to tell each member of your party this but we’re all on the same team. This isn’t some kind of power play or competition. I just want to help our mission succeed as best I can. If going to the city for supplies won’t accomplish that, how else might I help assist you, Mister Neired?”
He was about to go tell the Defender to go put a Silencer around their Supporter too but the subtle sound of Mohala clearing her throat and her icy Familiar landing on his shoulder to give him a little cheep made him hold his tongue and take a deep breath as he said a moment later, “Polissa needs to collect the materials to summon her Familiar from her family estate. We can have Noble Wayland portal her back to retrieve those before moving forward with our route. I’ll suggest she grab extra in case we run into another unusual spawn.”
Dazien grinned and gave a nod, “Very well then. I’ll make sure my party is ready to go a bit early. I’m sure Noble Teras will be thrilled to spend the time retrieving those items with Noble Wayland tomorrow. Rest well, Mister Neired.”
It took all of Tanner’s self-restraint to not strangle the retreating man who he swore somehow just used that dumb talent to manipulate him into setting up some kind of date for Po and Phoenix, likely just to mess with him.
“That was so much better!” Mohala praised him as he turned back into the tent.
“Curse that shiny gemite straight to the frozen abyss,” Tanner muttered coldly as he climbed onto his cot.