Jorin and his Father arrived back to their home as scheduled.

"Hey Mom! We're home!" Jorin yelled so that his mother could hear him from the garden. She was most likely tending to the potatoes out back. A friendly face suddenly burst up from the front window.

"Ahhh! Marek! You scared the shit out of me." Jorin exclaimed, then quickly regretted his outburst.

"Jorin, who taught you to speak like that around your Mother, you know I can hear you, right? Marek helped me finish up in the garden early." Jorin's Mother Vera stated.

"Apologies, Mother. I just got-"

"Remember Jorin, no excuses, just apologies. Frankly I don't exactly care if you say those kind of things out of earshot, but while you're with your Mother, you will be respectful. " she said as the background noise of chopping potatoes made it sound more serious than it was.

"Yes, Mother" Jorin's shoulder slumped, staring at Marek. His cheeks were bulging just a little, and the corners of his mouth were upturned a teeny tiny bit. Of course he was taking this infraction as entertainment. I'll get him back one of these days Jorin thought.

Marek took a deep breath and spit out words at a blistering rate, talking AT Jorin more than talking TO him. Jorin was used to this, it's just how Marek is when he's excited. "Hey Jorin! Guess what? I got my Innate last week! Looks like I'm going to be helping around here with the moss preparation, and maybe even growing. I'm Verdant! It modifies my Arcane and Strength when working with or around anything natural, plus I can use my Will to effect the greenery directly! You get your Innate yet? It has to be coming soon."

"No, Rek, I don't have my Innate yet. That's really cool though, I don't even know my attributes yet since I don't have access to them without my Innate. You going to start coming by more to help with the moss preparation you say? Looks like working will level you up. That's pretty lucky, some people don't get an Innate so directly correlated with their job. Can't wait for you to show me." said Jorin, trying not to let his disappointment show through. His best buddy got his Innate Trait before he did...Well, you win some, you lose some. Jorin briefly wondered. should I tell him about that meeting today? No, he'd probably think I was crazy. I trust him, but he's likely to tell his parents, who would tell my parents.

"Quit calling me that!" He threw a little bit of long dried moss at Jorin from the window, who shifted his body to dodge it successfully, but nearly fell from the process. This bucket got heavy Jorin thought. "It sounds like you're saying I'm a wreck. It's Marek. But yes, I practically won the lottery. I'm proud to say that I must be made for this, it's going to help out everybody, even you guys! "

"Okay okay, calm down a little. I'm going to come inside with the fresh harvest and you can show me how it works. " Jorin walked inside, his father already next to his mother, seeming to be talking away about how today was. I don't know how he does it. Everyday is nearly the same, but he manages to always make it sound nice to Mom. Jorin thought. Jorin placed one of the moss buckets on the ground next to the living room table, then grabbed a preparation mat to not stain the table along with a bowl of water. Placing some moss on the mat, Jorin looked to Marek. "So what can you do with it? Show me!"

"I'm only level 2 still, so don't get me ahead of yourself, or yourself ahead of yourself...I don't know how to say it alright, confusing statement. Don't overestimate me, there, that's it." Marek picked up the piece of moss in his hands, then projected mana into the piece, willing it to clean itself. Slowly, the moss looked to get greener and greener until around 30 seconds passed by. The moss was mostly clean, a bright green, but still needed a short dunk in water to fully clean it. "It's not perfect, and it takes a little while, but it cleaned it! Mostly!"

"That's so cool...." Jorin said as something else shoved itself into his mind "But what happens to the dirt! Does it just go away!?" Jorin's curiosity was officially piqued, he'd never seen an ability that directly removes stuff, none of his family had something like that.

Marek looked down apprehensively, then back up the Jorin "Well, you got me. It's not that rare of a Trait, I'm not even sure if traits have a rarity or if any can do that" Jorin held his hand just above the bowl of water on the processing mat. Slowly, the dirt from the moss came out of his hand like a small diameter spout of mud. Marek's eyes went a little wide, his jaw clenching slightly as all the mud was out.

Jorin looked at Marek with confusion. "Why were you seemingly afraid to show me that, and why do you look so uncomfortable?" Jorin got a bit more excited as he spoke slightly faster as he went on "That the coolest part of the trait I've seen! Can you shoot it out faster? How much can you store? Can it come out of any body part, like your feet? You could jump higher! Run faster!"

"Woah Jorin, I get it. I don't have the answer for any of those yet besides how much I can store. Roughly around 5 handfuls of moss, or probably 10 more like the one you gave me. I don't know what it was at level 1, because I leveled up after 2 handfuls. As to why the face...well it just doesn't feel right. You'd think it would feel at least neutral since you're removing dirt from your body...Well, I guess it's not the body, I don't know where it is stored. Anyways, I can feel it against my skin, like a slick, low grit sanding mud." Marek practically shuddered at that thought as Jorin looked at his friend thoughtfully, feeling a bit sad that he got so excited over the part Marek doesn't like.

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Jorin, Marek, and his family all gathered around the table, each with their own mats. The three buckets of moss sat in the middle of the table ready to be taken from. They each took a clump of moss and cleaned it until all the dirt was gone then placed it aside. After one full bucket was cleared they washed the bucket then started filling up the bucket with the clean moss. They did this for all three buckets of moss then they were ready for the final step. The different species of Moss were then sorted out the milk moss in one place while the others in their own. The family kept the milk moss while sorting out the others for sale, some would be dried and others would be sold fresh to the next trader that came into the village.

"Hey Marek, what did you do with all of the dirt you cleaned off the moss?" Jorin said.

"Well, I put it all in another bowl to dump outside since it was getting the water really dirty really quick. Why?" Marek replied.

Jorin grinned ear to ear just thinking about what they were going to do. "Well...I had this idea that I think would be cool. I'm also guessing you leveled at least once, if not twice from all that. Lets go outside." Jorin stood up and grabbed the bowl of mud-like dirt from under Marek's chair.

"I did level! I'm level 4 now." Marek exclaimed

"You two stay safe outside, don't do anything dangerous" Jorin's Mom told them.

"Anything too dangerous" Jorin's Father corrected.

Vera gave Garrick a sharp glance as both Jorin and Marek exited the house with the bucket of mud. Jorin and Marek went to the backyard of the house, less of a backyard, and more of the woods, to start their experiment. Marek felt unsure of what Jorin was planning on doing with the mud but he trusted that it would be something interesting.

"Alright, Merrick, can you absorb the mud directly from the bowl?" Jorin said with a villainous grin.

"I guess I can try." Marek's face scrunched up as he held his right hand against the mud in the bowl, the palm of his hand glowing green. I never noticed the glow, must have blended with the moss Jorin thought. Part of the mud began seeping into Marek's hand until around 1/4 of the mud was gone from the bowl. "Looks like I can. You're not going to have me do anything gross with this, right?"

"You might find it gross, but I find it cool! This could be a completely different Trait than you even realize. Point your hand at the logs on the side of the house. Can you try to push the mud out of your hand as fast as you can?" Jorin stared at Marek with that same grin, but with a look in his eyes that he probably wouldn't take no for an answer unless Marek wanted to get hounded until the end of time about this.

"Okay, I'll try it out, but you owe me for this." Marek held his hand up at face height, then pointed it at the log siding. Veins popped in Marek's forehead, eyes determined, but nothing seemed to be working. It was as Marek decided to stop trying so hard that mud violently shot out of his hand like an overcharged sneeze. Marek lost his balance as the spray ejected from his hand, making a somewhat wet but loud THUD against the wood as he landed flat on his butt. Dazed and confused, Marek couldn't help but stare at the wall. There was no damage, but he still remembers the sound it made. Mud covered the wall in splotches, thicker in some spots than others, it slowly making it's way down the wall.

"MAREK THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" Jorin was shaking and jumping up and down, occasionally stopping to point at the wall dramatically. "Can you do it agai-". Jorin felt shaking from the ground, rhythmic rumbles from the side of house. Both Jorin and Marek stilled themselves, not making a movement as the shaking got closer.

A man shrouded in a foggy, steel colored material burst from around the corner, slowing down as he saw Marek and Jorin. As the man finally stopped, his feet skidding across the dirt, digging into it as he sunk deeper until half his boot was in the ground. Jorin looked at the man's previous foot tracks, the stone path crushed, holes easily multiple inches deep, even on the stone path. Whoever this man was, he was heavy. Strong.

Jorin glanced at Marek to find his entire being encompassed by fear of whoever this man was. Jorin realized this wasn't a fight he could win. He'd never fought anybody in his life if you don't count playing rough with Marek. Jorin grabbed Marek's arm as the shrouded man started reaching for something behind the back of his neck. Jorin pulled Marek up from the dirt. "Run with me!" Jorin shouted as he bolted, heading to the front of his house, maybe even the Moss Ruins if he had to. Halfway to the side of the house, Jorin heard something familiar.

"JORIN! It's me, your father! You don't have to run."

Jorin glanced behind him to see the shrouded man's head was no longer covered. It was his father. Jorin fell onto the ground as he tried to stop, covering himself in dirt. Jorin got up slowly, keeping eye contact with his father.

Marek was still standing where Jorin helped him up at, frozen.

"What happened here? The house rumbled like mad, I feared for the worse." Garrick still had the shroud on below the neck, he looked like golem made of steel wire from neck to feet. Marek was no longer frozen, but stood silently, not taking his eyes off Jorin's father. Marek started to speak "Sir we were just-"

"Father, it was my fault. I had an idea for Marek's Innate Trait, ejecting it from his hand. I had him point it at the wall of the house. I didn't think it would be so loud. I didn't know. I'm sorry." Jorin didn't know why, but as he calmed down, he felt like crying. As if he was defeated. His excitement crushed within mere moments of arrival.

"Marek, go home. You're welcome back tomorrow." Garrick shifted his view back to Jorin.

"Yes, Mr. Greystone Sir." Marek said as he began slowly and mechanically moving himself towards the northern trail he arrived from.

"Jorin, go inside. I'm taking Mr. Dreever back to his family. We will talk about this in the morning." Garrick started marching behind Marek, his footsteps no longer making the ground vibrate.

Jorin made his way to the front door, shoulders slumping as he slowly opened the door. His mother was the first thing to greet him, rushing to pull him into a hug. The embrace hurt, Vera was practically crushing him. And then it was over. Vera wiped her eyes.

"I don't need to know what happened right now, I'm just glad you're okay. Me and your father will talk with you in the morning. I love you, Jorin." She sat down on the nearest chair, her entire body looked as if it lightened. Unlike his father, a metaphorical weight was just lifted off her entire body.

"I love you too, Mother. I'm sorry for scaring you." Jorin opened the door to his room, then closed it behind him. Setting his pack down by his bed, he then undressed starting with his mud and dirt covered wool drab outerwear. Finally, he got into bed.

He wasn't going to see his parents until morning, but he still had a few hours until sundown. No way he could go to sleep after that anyways.

Jorin reached down beside his bed, then pulled the the book out at the very bottom.

Those That Bear It by Thyra. I feel like I'm bearing whatever it is, right now.