Now dressed in leather armor, Fia had pulled back a chair, spun it around, and perched atop it. Despite already having a packed bag on her shoulders and looking ready to go, she seemed eager to hear Soleil and Maeve’s recounting of the events that led to them confronting a living embodiment of humanity’s mistakes.

“Sooooooo.” Fia drew out the word. “You came to the lady knight’s aid. She in turn fought off a small army of corrupted plants to protect you. And you somehow impressed a spiteful force of nature. Now we’re lucky to have you all here to prevent us from all starving to death. All that before level ten?” She cocked her head to the side. “Assuming I understood your recounting of your exploits correctly.”

“That is one way of describing their misadventures. Yes.” Metis said, seemingly nonplussed. The immaculately groomed black furred feline featured counterpart to Fia had remained standing. She nevertheless looked quite cozy in her black and white lace dress.

Soleil thought the decor of the room almost looked inadequate by comparison. She would have wagered anything that Metis regularly met with or was themselves a highly ranked tailor.

“And you.” Fia stabbed a finger in Soleil’s direction. “Want us. A loveable pair of rogues, to round out this jolly little party of yours.” Fia had made it a declaration, not a question.

“That is cutting to the heart of it, yes.” Metis said with more gentleness, this time rolling their eyes. “Forgive Fia. She can be a touch dramatic.”

“Hey. I didn’t exactly drop out of the sky on wings of flame to land in your arms. All I am saying is that I could have.” Fia waved Metis off. “Ignore the straight laced sour puss. Metis really quite sweet for a spoiled noble girl. Now, where do we sign up? Assuming of course you’ll have us.”

Soleil and Maeve exchanged a look.

“Um. Here?” Soleil offered.

“Aster! Show them our credentials!” Fia shouted.

The Blossom knight shook her antlered head. She had spent the time braiding her black hair, taking great care to rearrange the flowers. “Already handed them to the guild marm, Lillian. At your request I might add.”

Maeve shook her head. “You know, we could all just go in a circle and describe what we can do.”

“Right.” Fia clasped her hands together. “Ladies first.”

Metis sighed.

“Sorry girls. Allow the one who exists outside any binary classifications to start us off.” Fia amended.

The look that Metis gave Fia was almost murderous. “We stab things. No sense buttering it up. I do so at range. Fia prefers to be up close and personal. She can even be something of an elegant fencer if she has half a mind to do so. The two of us are mostly interested in scout work. We each have modestly ranked perception, identification, and stealth skills, but we might be looking to branch out still.”

Fia glanced at Maeve, who looked like she wanted to say something. “If I may first make a quick addendum. Metis mostly just stabs clothing with a needle. If you need a tent or shirt mended, they are your cat. Neither of us have exactly been in a fight per say. I have so far only succeeded in collecting mushrooms, berries, and herbs. That is why Aster offered to accompany us out.”

Maeve accepted Fia’s gesture prompting her to ask her question. “I just wanted to get a rough estimate of levels and ranks.”

“Unless you are counting Metis’s tailoring rank. Nothing above 3.” Fia started, with hesitation. “We are both just over Soul Level twenty. Twenty is kind of an important level around here, if you didn’t already know.”

“That is as good a lead in as I am ever going to get.” Aster took over the explanation from here. “Until level twenty, anyone in the Grove who wants to engage with mana is called a Sprout. Think of it as something of a coming of age process. All who have come before make themselves available in teaching the Sprouts a balanced set of skills. Only after they reach level twenty and pass an examination do we turn them loose to learn whatever it is they want. Most immediately start to change their bodies afterwards. We just want to make sure they understand what that means.”

Fia had tensed up as Aster took over the explanation. Her ears drooped as she mustered up the courage to offer an explanation.. “I don’t know what it is like for swords, but learning [Knife Proficiency] causes you to pick up so many memories of murders.”

Maeve offered a sad smile and words of reassurance. “Swords are no more a noble weapon than any other. This is why knights mostly use Magitech Armors and Fusils. It keeps the memories inside a mana engine.”

For some reason, that bothered Soleil more than anything else. “Why rely on them though?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The looks that she got from around on the table ranged from sad to sympathetic.

Not Metis though. They almost seemed to look right through her. “Few can tolerate enough trauma to reach the levels that Magitech Armors grant.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Soleil looked down at the table, that nagging sense of wrongness tugged at her. It had never quite gone away. She could often shove it into the background, but in moments like this it made itself harder to ignore. Was there a right and wrong answer here that she was missing?

Were the likes of Irellia and her Mothers rising to levels in the high hundreds an anomaly?

“If this isn’t insensitive to ask.” Soleil hedged her question before turning to Aster. “What level are you? I just want to make sure we are not getting into too much trouble than we can handle.”

Aster closed her eyes and inclined her head. “I appreciate you asking with the respect a question like that deserves. I am Soul Level Fifty Three.”

The table got quiet after that. Maeve mouthed Fia and Metis a silent apology.

That kind of level range would put most of Soleil’s skills at around Rank 5. The halfway point before most skills capped out. This all hinged on even being able to raise her skills that high. Soleil wasn’t sure what to do with [Mana Detonation] or [Calamitous Wings.]

Soleil’s head was slowly beginning to throb with pain.

Oh, right. She was exhausted and currently drained down to level two out of eleven. She really needed to assign those skill points to something that gave her more Focus or Endurance.

“Hey.” Maeve started. The look on her face suggested she sensed something was wrong. “Are you okay?”

“Well she’s the first person I have ever seen remain on their feet under Moderate Mana Corruption.” Metis remarked rather coldly. “I am still going to assume the answer is no.”

“I am fine.” Soleil snapped. “I can still shape spells.” She would just have to power through the pain and exhaustion. “Maeve here knows [First Aid.] So I’m not the only healer here.”

“Um. Just about everyone is taught that skill.” Maeve said gently. “But most don’t have access to the Intensity attribute. So uh, very few people bother to learn [Heal.] The ranged application of the skill and ability to draw from two different attribute pools would make you better suited to the role than any of us. If you want it.”

“You really are a demon.” Fia whispered under her breath.

Soleil had to strain her ears to make out the words. Did she have better hearing than the average human? What about the cat ears that Fia and Metis had?

Fia’s attention remained on Soleil. “So. Does that make you our healer? Or something like the Knight equivalent to an Evoker? Except, you know, actually useful because you’re not hobbled at level 2 like most Knights.”

If she was not heavily corrupted, yeah.

Soleil tapped Focus to confirm that raising [Heal] to rank 1 would indeed give her more Focus. Her head ached worse in response, but she got her answer.

She sighed. “Shaping spells takes time. So sure. I’ll focus on the role of Healer for now.” If she thought about it, she really did not want anyone to die on her watch. Everything else came secondary to that.

As far as consolations went, having an increased capacity of Focus would allow her to raise her other magic skills quicker in the future.

“There is more to a party than the roles of what everyone can do.” Aster said with a level tone. “But I think we should table this discussion for a while. Soleil and Maeve did only arrive here a while ago. They are probably still tired from their journey.”

“Sure.” Metis said, entirely unconvinced.

Fia narrowed her eyes at Aster. “You’re talking about party leadership and stuff like that, aren’t you?”

The antlered woman folded her arms. “I understand you’re eager to get out there. Something tells me Soleil is well positioned to act as a party leader. I want to give her the opportunity, but I’m not ready to ask that of her yet.”

Soleil slumped in her seat. Great, more expectations.

Fia looked disappointed.

“It’s alright.” Aster whispered. “We all have preparations to make. Swing by my wife’s store when you’re ready to talk provisions. Look for a place called the Wisteria’s Bounty. For now, assume we are going to undertake both quests. It never hurts to be too prepared.”

With as much work there as there was around the village to get done, Soleil imagined it was unlikely anyone would complete the other request while they were busy. But what if Caesar got impatient and led his Knights out anyway?

“Hey.” Maeve said. “You look like you are worrying too much about something.”

Aster took that opportunity to escort herself, Fia, and Metis out through the curtained door, leaving Soleil alone with Maeve.

How quickly and permanently could Malady taint the water supply?

“A lot of somethings.” Soleil mumbled.

Maeve kept her distance. “Do you want to talk about it? Be left alone for a while? Or need encouragement?”

Three options. Soleil could handle three options. “I need to keep myself busy. Can we fill out the forms for our rooms and start moving our things in? I just need some time to think. I’ll want to talk soon. I promise.”

And maybe collapse, Soleil thought.

“I can find Lillian and ask her to postpone some things.” Maeve offered.

“If she can send the forms to us in our room or however things here work, that will be fine.”

“Okay. Whatever works for you.” Maeve said.

In this particular moment, Maeve’s choice of words meant the world to Soleil. “Thanks. I think I needed to hear that.”