Ashley hunched forward and sobbed softly, hugging her bushy tawny, black-spotted tail for dear life.
The roots below her parents boiled out of the loamy soil, breaking free of the ground before wrapping over their bodies and dragging them below as the roots expanded.
In time the loam settled into a large mound at the command of Chess's music and the forest echoed with the last grumbling, popping, and groaning sounds.
Chess paused for a long moment of silence once it was complete. She thought about her grandmother and what she might've thought about the situation she found herself in.
Then Chess played a few more songs for the simple enjoyment of it and for the dryad and to give Ashley time. To give vent to her own emotions a little. Funerals are a good chance to cry. Whether for the loss or for other reasons.
The silence clung to the forest for long moments, more pronounced for the music that had filled it when she finished and let the guitar drop on its strap.
Chess wiped at the tears lining her face with the end of her scarf. She felt better for the release they had given. I’m starting to see why women cry so often.
Ashley broke the silence, by singing a lilting off-pitch song of her own.
Chess listened as she sang a long mournful song of loss and grief and once Chess found the rhythm she took up her guitar again and played along as best she could.
The music helped encourage the girl's stilted voice to gain confidence and she gave the remaining song a haunting tone before finishing with a choked sob.
Silence reigned again.
Then, Ashley let out a gasp, and Chess turned at the sound, finding the girl staring at something only she could see in the air before her.
Ashley broke into a tentative smile and approached the Dryad's tree, careful to skirt the new graves then bent to pick up an object at its base. She stood staring at it in her hands, disbelief plastered on her face.
“What is it?” Chess asked.
Ashley held it up for Chess to see and the window popped up.
Name: Amber Core
Rank: 3
Rarity: Rare
Properties: A complete and concentrated Soft Amber Core
“Nice. Wait, what does it mean Core? I thought there were only Pyth and Gems.” Chess furrowed her brow.
“Gems?” Ashley asked confused. “How can you know about Gems and not Cores? Oh yeah, right..." Ashley sighed. "You seem so confident, I forgot you know less than a baby.”
“Please can you just answer the question? I’m still trying to get my head around all this.” Knowing so little is dangerous. Don't be an idiot, Chesty, learn what you can as fast as you can.
“Some dangerous beasts will build up a core from the powder in their bodies. Usually, Pyth powder is harvested from creatures by the priests and sisters. Or people with a harvest Pyth. I heard anyone can get powder from the dead just by touching them, but you get less than half. Mom told me not to accept the powder when my kitty died. We took him to the sisters and were able to get a few parts of a Cleaning Pyth powder and some reinforced Claw Pyth.” She raised her eyes to study Chess. “You probably already know that though; from those, those men.”
Chess nodded confirmation. “Ok, but that doesn’t explain that core.” She pointed at the one in Ashley’s hand.
“Well, Cores are cores. Really old and strong animals have them sometimes. So, it’s probably something like that for Yhy...Yhyslimron.” She shrugged.
“How do Gem’s fit into all of this, are they stronger than cores?” Chess asked.
“Yeah, only Kings and really rich people have them. Well, and some Delvers if they find them,” Ashley explained.
Kings... at least it's not god-kings or the supreme dictator.
“So, how do you know about Gems, when you know so little about cores?” Ashley asked, kicking at the ground her mismatched ears twitching. The black ear opposite the tawny and white one made the girl adorable.
“One of the things Freya gave me as part of my heritage was a Gem,” Chess explained.
“Wow, what is it? What does it do? Is it your plant one?” Ashley asked in excited awe.
“It’s called a Wooden Gem and yes, it gave me that ability. Come to think of it, I have yet to try its basic ability,” she trailed off as she explained.
What did it do again? She pulled up the window to check.
“It’s supposed to let me manipulate dead-wood.”
Ashley frowned. “Manipulation skills are rare. Ma said they usually depend on Charisma which is only increased with level points and items.” She looked at Chess again and tilted her head. “But you probably don’t have a problem with that, being as pretty and refined as you are. I’d bet yours is really high.”
Chess snorted and shook her head. Refined my ass. However, it’s a medieval society so education might be rare.
“You may be wrong about that. Eating well and physical health have a lot to do with natural Charisma. That’s not mentioning being confident and well-spoken. Plenty of ugly people have a personality that draws people in,” Chess reasoned.
“You think learning to speak better can raise Charisma? That’s silly.” Ashley dismissed her idea with a swish of her tail.
They drifted into silence again.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Ashley stood staring at the ground where her parents had disappeared like it held all the answers while clutching the core tightly in her fist. The tears started to slowly trickle down her face again and the girl's sadness prompted Chess to tears again too. Wow, all I have to do is think about her loss and I cry. These hormones are strong, Chess observed.
“Can I ask what that glow was when you touched your parents' heads?” Chess asked, hesitant to disturb Ashley's contemplation but wanting a distraction.
Ashley nodded once. “It was my heritage. I won't know for sure what they are until I awaken but...since they died and do have brothers or sisters, it will be their strongest bonds. I got one when Grandma died too,” she explained.
Makes sense. Although, wouldn’t you know what your parents' strongest Pyth’s were? Chess thought, confused. Do people not talk about these things? Then again maybe they don’t. People are crazy when it comes to power, of any sort.
She investigated the sky, trying to find the sun through the dense foliage. We should go soon.
“Ready to go, soon?” Chess asked the morose girl. “We can come back tomorrow if you want but we should get back to go through the things we hid and pack the wagon.”
“Alright,” Ashley said, moving mechanically to the wagon and hopping up then placing her new core in her lap. She looked back to the tree, and Chess heard her give the Dryad a quiet thanks.
The trip back to the bandits clearing was as quiet as the trip to the Dryad's tree. Ashley drove her eyes firmly on the road ahead with a frown plastered on her tear-stained face.
Riding this time, Chess pulled up the window she had been neglecting.
A week in review.
Experience.
For playing music to comfort another.
Experience earned: 25
For performing to the satisfaction of 2 others.
Experience earned: 50
For killing 4 Weak Bandits levels 6-8.
Experience earned: 750
For crafting a custom magical weapon.
Experience earned: 500
For creating 3 items common quality
Experience earned: 45
Skill gains: Singing +1, Survival +1
Huh, well, I don’t know how good any of this is. Ashley doesn’t have her awakening yet, so she probably doesn’t know either. Wait, can she even read? If not, how do the windows work? Is it rude to ask? Her family seemed poor. Wait, weren’t animals worth a lot in medieval societies? She said both her parents had Pyth does that mean they were better off, or were the bandits really poor? What were they doing traveling through this deserted forest? She looked over at the quiet feline girl and sighed. What do I do about her? Just take her with me? Does she have any other family?
Chess decided to keep quiet until they got back to the camp despite the mounting questions.
Once back and settled, Chess got a small fire going with some effort and a little help from Ashley, then attempted to make a stew out of jerky and veggies from the wagon. Ashley shook her head at her efforts and took over after a minute. Campfire cooking is hard. Wow, talk about making a guy feel useless. Ha, take her with me indeed. Like she needs me to take care of her. More like I need someone to take care of me, she mocked her earlier thoughts.
Some survivor, you make Chesty, she snorted at herself, watching the flames dance while waiting for the food to cook.
Chess hummed and lay back against a tree, her head turned to the girl beside her. The meal had been silent and now Ashley cuddled up with her tail again staring into the flames.
When it was evident Ashley didn’t want to talk, Chess’ gaze drifted to the open wagon. I should do something to enclose it, Chess thought, studying the run-down flatbed wagon. It had short foot high sides on the box itself with the bench back coming a little higher at the front. I should try the Wooden Gem’s ability on it. See if I can fix it up a little. Hmm, or maybe not. Maybe fix it up and make the inside nice so we can sleep in it but leave the outside shabby; it might discourage trouble. If I weave a canopy from vines would that add to the effect? She tapped her chin as she thought. I could even add secret compartments if the gem ability works the way I hope it does. Speaking of.
She sighed and spoke under her breath. “How do I use the wooden gem?” To her surprise, she didn’t get any sort of headache just the new knowledge this time. Huh, maybe it’s because I haven’t done one in a couple of days? She looked at Ashley. I wonder if she knows.
They spent a few hours sorting and packing the items after Chess used some gentle encouragement to get Ashley moving.
They packed a rucksack each with anything important and essential to survival: In case they needed to flee and leave the wagon behind. Their coin and true valuables were put in Chess' vault, aside from Ashley's new core which she continued to play with.
We’ll need more water soon, we only have a few days' worth here, she thought, studying the supplies. Lots of clothes, seeds, food, and farming hand tools. The family only had a little coin. I need to remember to ask her about their values.
“What were you doing?” Chess asked curiously.
“Huh? Rerolling my sleeping roll?” Ashley said pointing at the roll clearly confused by the question.
“No, I mean your family. Where were you going with all this?” She clarified indicating the family's stuff.
“Oh... we were heading to Portheel to catch a ship for Suiase. Da... said the lords were just giving land to families willing to tame and settle the wilds they’re taking from the Hobs. He’d just got done his guard service and wanted us to ‘start fresh,” she explained with a frown.
“I don’t know what I'm going to do now. Mom told me to run to the Sisters of Luminous, but I never liked the Sisters in Reaverpass. The way they look through you makes the hair on my tail stand on-end and Billy said they deal with corpses.” She curled into herself despondently and hugged her tail close.
"No other family that will take you in?" Chess asked.
"No one I know how to find. Da has a merchant brother but he travels. So, no." Ashley explained with a helpless shrug.
“Well, you can stick with me for now if you want, kid. Freya knows I need the help. I’m borderline useless at living like this if my cooking and fire-starting skills weren’t a giveaway, besides most of this stuff is yours,” Chess said, patting Ashley's head awkwardly and indicating the gear they were stowing.
The last thing an orphan needs is to fall into the hands of some creepy nuns. A shiver dimpled her arms with the thought. There is that involuntary mention of Freya again. What did she do in my head? She frowned.
After finishing with the packing, they sat by their small fire and ate another meal of the thick simmering stew.
Chess studied a small block of firewood she’d grabbed from the pile, going over the new spell information in her head, then activated the ability after she felt she understood, quickly figuring out that if she removed a piece of wood there was no way to reattach it. However, she could move wood from other areas to fill it in. It did amazing things to the grain of the wood when she pulled them from other areas. All the adjustment required was focusing intently on the area she wanted to move and will it to flow.
Large area movements and cuts were much easier to do. The small ones made her eyes ache and caused tension to build in her shoulders and arms. Welp, it’s a literal board stretcher, the thought surprised a giggle out of her.
The guys back home would love this shit, she thought, studying the small carving of a bear she had created. She’d pulled the grains around so that its fur looked almost lifelike. The eyes were a deep beady black with tight circling grains. It wasn’t good by any means but it at least looked like a bear. The proportions were correct.
A new window popped into her vision and she pulled it up.
New skill learned: Sculpting +2
Sculpting, huh? She put it on the ground in front of her and leaned back with her arms spread behind her.
“So, any idea what an Amber core does?” Chess asked, watching the girl roll the core from hand to hand.
Ashley shook her head, her small bob of tawny and black spotted hair bouncing off the side of her head. She kept her tear-reddened eyes on the core and her tail wrapped onto her lap. “Never heard of it before. The world says it’s rare though,” she said with a shrug.
“Alright, kid. I’m going to get some sleep. You do you. Get me if you hear anything,” Chess said slapping the ground and getting up then heading for her hammock.
“Goodnight,” Ashley said, playing with her core and staring into the dying coals.