We slept at Anna-Marie's manor in Spiral Grove. We actually met her mother, a full naiad who resembled her daughter strongly with the sole exception of being a deeper blue.

Where Anna-Marie had a sort of blue tinge that reminded me a bit of blue lips from cold or lack of air, her mother was more of a cerulean blue, and all the more beautiful for it. Her features were aristocratic and incredibly delicate, like she'd been hand sculpted by a master glass blower, but a single touch would shatter her.

Of course, that was ridiculous. She was a peak F-ranker, and a dangerous and powerful Ascendant. Anna-Marie had waxed on for ages over dinner about her mother's accomplishments in battle, and it was easy to see how proud the princess was of her mother.

"So." Said Salara, Anna-Marie's mother. "Tell me about yourselves. My daughter so rarely brings home friends for dinner." Her wide smile managed to occlude the razor sharp teeth her daughter inherited, seeming warm and supportive rather than intimidating or challenging.

She had the same shining blue eyes as Anna-Marie, those metallic blue orbs with no iris or pupil. Oddly, her orbs seemed somehow more ethereal, less solidly colored. It was fascinating, and I had to tear my eyes away from them so I didn't get lost in their depths.

I left Celine to answer, and our diplomat fielded the question with aplomb. "We've been so grateful for her assistance since we arrived. Your lovely kingdom is so novel for us, it was lucky we met such a generous and knowledgeable guide." I blinked at that. I couldn't imagine a less revealing answer. She'd essentially just said literally nothing at all except things Salara already knew.

The naiad's blue lips quirked up in something more akin to a smirk than a smile. "You are just the cutest thing. But unlike my tree dwelling cousins I'm not one for politicking. I tend to say what I mean, and if people have a problem with it we...address the situation in an up front and direct manner." She winked at Celine. "See, I can be diplomatic too."

Anna-Marie groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Mother. Can't you ever play nice?" Even when she was embarrassed though, I could hear the note of pride in her voice. No wonder she detached herself from the locals so much. She was trying to emulate her mother, but the duties of her royal blood pushed her to at least consider the country itself important. "Please forgive her." She said apologetically. "My mother is known to be...forward. It's one of the reasons my father was drawn to her."

She snorted. "I assure you Crighton was drawn to much less nebulous aspects of my person." Another wink. "But my forthright nature has kept him at least occasionally entertained as well. My personal power doesn't hurt. I'm an accomplished warrior in my own right, and the two of us are a dangerous pair when operating in tandem."

I was surprised she didn't have any extra Impact herself, but it seemed rude to bring it up. Plus it wasn't my business who Anna-Marie gave her drops to, since I'd already been paid. Her statement made me curious though. "Are you? Anna-Marie mentioned her inborn gifts don't lie in that direction."

Salara nodded solemnly. "Quite right. My girl has an aptitude for the subtler arts of the waves. Healing is her strong suit, along with some fairly impressive alteration abilities. Naiad's are expert shapeshifters, not just of ourselves, but of others as well. Anna-Marie inherited that talent, and can make anyone look like almost anything."

That was...interesting. The princess shrugged. "It's not a useless talent, per se, but it's hardly necessary in my daily life. I can't even shift myself, only other people. My abilities with healing are more of a side effect. If I weren't royal I could make quite a bit of money offering fleshshaping services, but such mundane activities are below my station, so I can't even put my abilities to THAT much use."

Her mother nodded. "She isn't wrong. It's frowned upon. I think it's a wonderful talent, and I'm proud to see her inherit it. Born a hybrid, she has access to a diminished version of all the naiad standard abilities, but her first Skill was what determined her specific talents. It's sort of like our version of an ability."

That was fascinating. All the racial traits I'd seen involved the transformation process via alchemy. I'd never dealt with anyone born with one aside from I guess Celine. "So...are you worried about her going out with us?" I asked impulsively. I was curious to see what a real mother would think about something like this.

"Oh a bit." She said lazily, waving the question away. "Not too much though. Children need adventure to grow. Anna-Marie has been held back far too long by Crighton's silly rules. Take her out and get her into some trouble for me. She's plenty strong, she just needs a chance to figure that out for herself."

The princess blushed, and I smiled approvingly. That sounded like something I wish my mother thought about me. Salara was a lovely person so far. Callie clearly thought so too, because my girlfriend was quickly pulled into conversation about customized combat styles and how they fit into advancing Skills like her Balam Mastery.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Turning to Nat, I saw my cousin looking curiously at the blue skinned older woman. Her expression was almost sad, and I recognized it easily. It was the same one I wore sometimes when I saw families together. I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly to reassure her. She chuckled a bit and nodded at me.

We finished up dinner and retired to our rooms to sleep, and the next morning I went to find Jessie before I did anything. Yesterday had been a long day and I'd used up my wishes trading, but today I had more, and I planned to stock back up on healing charges with the new power upgrade while I had the chance.

To make sure I didn't have some dud charges lying around, I used my last heal burst on Abel, who wasn't as worried about getting to sleep as the rest of us and decided to take a pass on rest tonight. Which officially meant no more heal bursts in reserve, and I could replace my whole stock from Jessie in one shot.

Naturally I could only hold ten of them, but I was able to backlog plenty as advance payment. Those kinds of things work better when I need them most, so setting up a bunch of advance charges would let me drop a lot of points on her. In fact, I decided to try pushing my four point cap to five, given all the upgrades to my stats since I last tried.

My blonde friend, Callie, Celine, Benny and I were all in mine and Callie's room before bed. Jessie was fretting at not being able to go up and check in on Randall, but we'd decided bringing him down here wasn't worth the time, and had sent word to have him taken over the mountain through their animal paths so we could take him with us on our long trip, which mollified her a bit.

"I just worry about him." She was saying with a pout. "I don't like leaving him alone for so long. What if he gets sad or lonely? I should be there with him."

"Can't you feel that stuff? With your bond?" Asked Callie. "Like I don't know how your bond works versus ours, but I can always feel when Shane is upset. At least when we're close enough. Is your bond not active at this distance? Because I could understand why it might suck."

Jessie waved her hand in a fluttering gesture that could mean literally anything. "Sort of. It's complicated. I can feel him but not well. Our bond is pretty strong, and different than yours at least partly because of the stat impact. Like I've gotten twenty five points of Might from Randall since my rank up." She glanced at me. "I'd like all Vitality from you by the way. Though I guess that needs formalizing. I wish for thirty points of Vitality in exchange for thirty heal bursts."

Wish detected. Grant wish?

I confirmed, and was greeted with the requirements as usual, which she did meet. Five points per wish was valid after all. It also confirmed that her heal bursts were far more valuable with all that Vitality behind them. I accepted and held out a hand as the electricity built. Jessie snagged it and the power leapt from me to her, funneling the points into my friend.

Because of the incredibly small percentage of both total stats and Vitality those thirty points represented, adjustment was instantaneous and pretty much unnoticeable. Jessie sat through all six wishes before walking over and slumping onto the bed. Apparently the wishes still took it out of you even if the stats weren't enough to shake a person. "You good?" I asked cautiously. I'd made assumptions. I probably should have spaced them out.

She groaned. "Yeah, just a little fried. Still, worked like a charm. Just eight points of Vitality shy of eight hundred. It's a far cry from my one hundred seventy five Might. I'm definitely a specialist. Still, it works for me." She whistled. "Lily, sweetheart, carry mommy to her room, I'm too lazy to walk." The large wolf chuffed, once again seeming smarter than she had before or than a wolf should. She walked over to the bed and Jessie slumped over the huge beast's back.

"I'm going to go get changed before breakfast, see you guys down there." She burrowed into the wolf's fur like she was a big snuggly stuffed dog, and I had to chuckle.

Callie looked amused and long suffering. "That girl." She groaned. " We'd be lost without her for sure." I laughed at how accurate that was. Not just because of her amazing power, but also because Jessie kept us all sane. She was the heart of our group, the one who kept us happy and focused on the positive.

Looking at Celine and Benny, I decided to double check. "You both ready for this trip? We'll be gone for a long while. That summerspark crystal will help keep us warm, and we have defenses, but still, this is a bit more than a camping trip. We'll be out in the wilderness alone for weeks, possibly months."

Benny shrugged. "I'm already on a strange new world. Why not take the whole novelty angle to extremes. Who needs a city. We'll have a house to sleep in anyway, so it's all the same in the end." He looked at his girlfriend. "How about you, Cel, you feeling good about this?"

She gave him a soft smile, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm here when so many weren't able to come. I feel blessed to be brought along and every day here is a gift."

Callie rolled her eyes. "Booo!" Jeered my girlfriend. "Political answer. We're friends, you don't need to be so formal. Complain a bit, say you're pissed the sheets won't be soft enough. You're making the rest of us look bad." She had a big smile on her face, and Celine looked amused and touched in equal measure. I thought it was really sweet how she was trying to make Celine feel like part of the gang.

"Alright." I said with a laugh. "Let's go down and get some breakfast before we leave." I gestured to my girlfriend. "You don't want to see this one when she's hungry." I climbed out of the chair I was reclining in and headed for the door, eager to get some food and be on our way. The truth was, I was nervous about the trip, and the sooner it started the less time I'd have to worry. I found that was always the best attitude to take on adventures.