I woke up in the dark. That wasn’t too strange, nor was Callie curled into my side, but the fact that I could hear multiple other people in the room threw me for a second. It was only after I let my brain rev up a little and was able to process that I remembered where I was.

Based on my last memory before sleep, I was guessing it was night now, and that they’d put all the lights out to give everyone a chance to sleep. I kind of wanted to leap out of bed and look around, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake Callie, not given the absurd levels of strain she’d been through.

To my shock though, my soul wasn’t in pain like I’d expected. I mean, it didn’t feel GOOD, but my head wasn’t pounding like a bass drum.

When she felt me shift, I heard Callie’s voice in my head though, proving she was as awake as I was. “Don’t make noise. We barely managed to convince Jessie to take a nap. After you fell asleep she ‘rested’ for an hour and then got up and went back to work. Camden managed to hire another healer though, and once relief showed up we dragged her back in here to sleep.”

“How long was I out?” I sent to her nonverbally. “Because that sounds like…a lot. And my soul is really recovered. Did I sleep for twenty hours or something?”

I sensed a pang of amusement through the bond. “Nothing so dramatic. Can’t you feel the soothing energy?” When she pointed that out, I realized I DID feel soothing energy, specifically the same kind I usually felt when Benny was restoring my soul with his spiritual calming. But that was touch based, and Benny wasn’t touching me.

“Did reaching Sapphire give Benny the ability to use abilities at range?” I asked in amazement. “Because that’ll be SO useful.”

I felt her shift slightly, and her Stealth Skill fell over us, letting me get up without waking anyone. With her Perception, it wasn’t hard for her to navigate a dark room, and with our bond leading me out was trivial. Once we left the room, she grinned at me. “Sorry, this is easier.” The rest of the tent was clear, showing me that while I might not have slept for twenty hours, I’d taken a pretty decent nap.

“Ok, so…how long WAS I out?” I asked, looking around. “One healer was enough to do all this? I remember like thirty people in here.”

She shrugged. “You were out for ten hours. Jessie had already worked on most of them. With your sister and Bethy helping they were all mostly just suffering from flesh wounds. The healer treated them and sent them on their way, while Vitality might not instantly fix every injury, once they were stable they were free to go.” Her face fell. “Lots of them had friends to bury.”

I flinched, then sighed. “Yeah, that makes sense. We lose anyone that we knew?” It was a cold thing to ask, but I was most worried about friends and then acquaintances. I was sad for our lost cohorts from other centuries, but it wasn’t the same.”

“Niles.” She said sadly. “He was the one training me in formations while you were working with Demia. He was a nice guy.”

I winced. “Damn.” I glanced around. “Do you think we should let Camden know about resurrection being possible? Down the line I mean. He lost so many people, wouldn’t it be great if he could bring them all back?”

“I love that your head went there, hon.” She said sadly. “But no. Resurrection for a personal friend or loved one of a close team member is one thing, but if it was feasible on a large scale it would be much better known. Assuming you get to that point, chances are Camden wouldn’t be able to afford a single resurrection in his entire life, never mind hundreds. It’s kinder not to mention it. That’s not even false hope, it’s basically just mocking him.”

Despite the harsh words, her tone was soft, and I nodded slowly. “Yeah…yeah I guess it is.” Finally processing something I hadn’t noticed earlier, I blinked at her in shock. “Wait…that feeling earlier. Are you at Sapphire?”

She beamed at me, throwing her arms open as if to show herself off. “Took you long enough! Yes, Benny’s boost to recovery helped push me up the last few percent. And yeah,to answer your earlier question he was able to push the radius up after his soul sublimated.”

I wasn’t surprised in retrospect. Benny’s abilities were localized to start, and with a stronger soul he learned to spread them over his whole body. The next logical step would be to push them out in a radius, though I wasn’t sure how that would work with some of his other tricks. Either way, it had certainly been a lifesaver here.

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“Did we hear about what happened with the Highgrave estate?” I asked, walking over to slump onto an empty cot. The others must all be napping in the back, but Callie had us covered in terms of noise so I didn’t bother to whisper.

Joining me, Callie leaned against my side. I didn’t mind. I could feel she was as shaken as I was, and feeling her weight against me helped soothe my nerves. I put an arm around her, pulling her closer, and she sighed contentedly before answering. “Yeah, we won. Pretty decisively. Some of those siege artifacts Camden wished for were WEIRDLY specific. Anna must have gotten him details on the security at both manors because they went down fast.”

I sighed in relief. “Oh, good. Listen, about the buildup, I know you wanted to get started right away but-”

She put a finger on my lips. “We have a month, and a day or two off won’t hurt anyone. I’m not pushing you to jump into anything after this mess. We could all use a day off. I know Spencer is a pressing threat, but all of us burning out is worse.”

“Which is what I wanted to talk about.” I said somberly. “I want to try to help Bethy. Like…today. I didn’t realize how bad it could get until we saw her helping out. Seeing her break down like that with Gabe was…rough. She isn’t the kind of person you expect to lose it, and seeing her of all people so torn up was awful.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that wasn’t easy. Are you sure you can help her right now though? I mean I agree we should try, but making changes at that level…are you strong enough?”

“I’m honestly not sure.” I said with a shrug. “The Vampire is a terrifying guy, and his bloodline is demi-god level based on what Bethy said. Not to mention her mom, who is supposed to be strong in her own right. I imagine the mixing of those two natures resulted in some pretty volatile reactions. Granted, my power lets me apply triple the Impact to a problem, but I’m not sure if that’s enough.”

Callie sighed. “But we have to try.” She finished. “Plus it’s not an all or nothing issue. Even if she can’t wish to be magically fixed there are probably items or enchantments that can suppress her bloodlust and help keep her balanced. We knew when we agreed to help her it probably wouldn’t be easy.”

“I know.” I said guiltily. “I just feel bad it took so long. She seems so happy and carefree most of the time so in my head I didn’t mind putting it off, but if she’s been dealing with that kind of thing…why didn’t she tell us?” It was just another thing I was oblivious to happening to my team under my nose. In my defense Bethy wasn’t the most transparent people at the best of times, but still, I should have picked up on something.

“Because I didn’t want you to know.” Said the surprisingly serious voice of Bethy from the direction of our sleeping friends. She’d appeared out of nowhere, and I saw she’d changed out of her flying cat scrubs and into one of her more usual fancy ball gowns, though how she managed to move so silently in that I had no idea.

I just about jumped out of my skin, staring at her in shock. “Gods Bethy, warn a guy. We didn’t see you there? How did you hear through Callie’s Stealth Skill anyway.” I glanced at my girlfriend. “You are keeping us muted to the others right?”

Bethy just smiled. “You forget my illusions are pretty Perception heavy, and I have my own means of piercing Stealth. Sorry to interrupt cuddle time, but I heard my name mentioned and I wanted to come weigh in.” She strolled up to me and then reached down and flicked me in the forehead.

It thunked into my mask hard enough to snap my head back, and I yelped, hand going to my neck, which felt a bit tweaked now. “Hey, what the hell?”

“You will NOT feel guilty because the miracle cure you offered to give me that will solve all the problems in my life is TAKING a while.” She said in possibly the steeliest tone I’d ever heard from her. “I won’t allow it. We’re E-rankers. We have plenty of time. You’ve been doing your best, and if you think I’m going to let you beat yourself up over making me wait a few months for you to magically solve the biggest problem I have in my whole life, you’re even dumber than you are tall, and you are FAR too close to the ceiling.”

“She’s right.” Said Callie matter of factly. “Anything over six feet is just excessive. You can jump over buildings, what does a few extra inches of leg even matter.” At my glare she just smirked. “Oh, and also yes, feeling guilty is dumb.”

I threw my hands up. “What the hell? I can’t even feel bad in the privacy of my own head?”

“You don’t have any privacy in your head.” Said Callie mercilessly. “It’s not even the bond. I just know you that well.I know everything you think the second you think it. Like right now, you’re thinking about how lucky you are to have me in your life, aren’t you?” Her tone was haughty and I could feel her slyness through the bond.

“Yes dear.” I said blandly, playing along with her teasing. My eyes went back to Bethy. “But fine. I won’t feel guilty IF you agree to make your wishes TODAY so we can try to help you.” She opened her mouth and I held up a warning hand. “I can and WILL go into a protracted monologue about my culpability in your suffering and how I’ve failed as a leader if you say no.”

Callie nodded somberly. “Don’t push him.” She said. “He’ll do it. He LOVES to hear himself talk.”

“Ye- hey!” I said in mock outrage. She just winked at me and I let out a quiet chuckle. Bethy thought it was funny too, because she giggled a bit at the exchange.

Finally, the tiny vampire agreed “Alright. Fine. I’ll make my wishes today. I’m not sure what to pay with. Maybe stat points? I do have some other options. I’ll think about it.” She narrowed her eyes, looking me over. “I don’t suppose I could pay you in a makeover?”

“You leave my new gear alone!” I snapped, scandalized. “I look fantastic.” I whirled on Callie. “Tell her!”

Callie winced playfully. “Well, the crown is a bit much. But the cape is very dashing. Purple is definitely your color.” I gripped my chest, playing up my devastation, and Bethy giggled again. It was nice to see her back to her old self. Hopefully the help we’d be giving her would let her stay like this more of the time.