“Hey Daph, who’s this?” Mark asked as the two of them arrived.

“Hello Mark, my name is Tommis, but you may call me Tom,” the guy said in a slightly British accent. He looked to be around Andy’s age.

“Sup Tom, what can I do for you guys”

Daphne chose this moment to speak.

“Tom is our group's healer and he insisted I come here for treatment. He-”

“Yeah there is something wrong and I can't seem to heal it,” Tom said.

“Okay, well first what happened? I’m assuming it has to do with your eye?” Mark asked

They both nodded.

“A Ghast got me in the eye with its tail thingy,” she said.

Mark took a sharp breath in through his teeth.

“Alright, I’ma take a look, sit for me” Mark directed her to the cot.

Removing her bandage he saw the wound was pretty nasty. Dark purple veins filled with poison sat below the skin. Necrosis had taken hold near the edges. The damaged eye was useless and probably causing her great pain.

Mark clenched his jaw when he saw all this damage.

Anger churned in his chest. What kind of shit job was this?

Mark reined the emotion in, knowing the Corruption was edging him on.

Once he was calm he cast [Prana pulse] and it all made sense.

Firstly, the poison from the Ghast was preventing healing in the area. Luckily it seemed to be a localized one, simply damaging the nearby tissues. This had caused it to weep, but clearly, Aura had helped in this situation.

Sadly the second problem was her Aura. She had too much. Or at least more than Tom could deal with. If he had to compare she was sitting at about half as much as Jonathan.

Mark then explained what was going on to both of them.

“I can fix it and I can show you how to clear conditions Tom, but you guys are going to have to wait a moment. I’m all out of Prana and this is gonna take a fair amount” Mark said.

“Okay well, I’m going to go and look around, call me when you are ready,” Tom said heading toward the grumpy Doc.

Then it was only the two of them. Neither spoke for a while but Mark decided it was necessary to break the silence.

“Daph, I’m sorry for what I said back in the mall, I should have thought of a kinder way to say it.” he started.

“No. I’ve thought about it and you were right. I’m still mad at you for tricking me, but you were right. I wouldn't have been able to let you walk away, because that’s who I am now. Who I’ve become for these people.

Our group intends to stick together, even if we are safe now. Ethel has decided to stay with us and act as an intermediary to the military. She spoke in depth with Jonathan last night. She made it official already we are our own entity right now. There are rules to follow, but we are separate from the military. We're called The Knights. Right now we are going to remain neutral”

Mark was impressed by her conviction and the speed at which she had found her feet here. Although she apparently had an entire group working to gather intel so there was that. He wasn't sure how they would be received, but only time would tell.

“So, simple question, are we okay?” he asked.

She let out a slow gentle breath.

“Yeah we’re good Mark, things are just different now”

Relief washed over Mark.

“Look, I get that you have people to protect now. And it might be smart that you are choosing to remain neutral, But I want you to know I’m here if you need help” Mark said.

“So you are not going to pick a side?” She asked, pausing a while before continuing.

“You could join me ”

Mark grimaced.

It would be much easier to just pick a side and be done with it. Hell, a couple of hours ago he’d have chosen a friend over the rest in a heartbeat.

But she was right that things were different now. It wasn't about choosing a side for Mark anymore.

It was about going wherever he could to make the greatest difference.

If he was honest he’d love for her to join him. The two of them made an incredible team. However her conviction to protect her people was strong and if he knew anything of her, it was that she wouldn't abandon them if she could help it. Nor would he ask her to.

So he promised her the only thing he could be sure of right now.

“My plan going forward is to help wherever I can, But Daph, all you need do is call and I’ll be there.”

She frowned.

“So what you are going to be like some kind of mercenary?” she asked.

“For now, yeah. If anything comes up I'll keep you in the loop”

She seemed to take it in stride.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“What are we going to do about Grace and Donny?” she asked.

Now it was Mark's turn to frown.

“We keep our eyes open. If either of us finds them we wait for the other.”

She sighed slowly like she had expected this.

“Alright, Mark. For now, we’ll leave it at that, but I never heard a no to my offer. This is important though, ask for help if you need it, don't try and take the world on your shoulders alone.” she said holding out her hand

Mark grinned, taking her hand. She suddenly pulled him forward into a crushing hug.

After that, the two of them chatted about lighter things. Like their journeys here. Mark gave her as much detail as he could remember about what was out there and the state of the safe zone. Soon enough he told her he needed to meditate. Apparently, she had figured [Meditation] out too.

He sunk into the skill for a short while. When he woke up he called Tom over.

Gently resting his hand on the side of Daphne's cheek he cast [Cleansing surge], after that he flushed the area with Prana to get rid of any leftover Corruption. Slowly he repaired the nerve damage and cleared the wound of necrosis. All the while he talked Tom through the process.

When they were finished Tompulled out his phone and started searching for the post.

Once Daphne was sorted she got up to leave.

“It’s great that you are safe, Mark. Really. Our tent is number 30 if you ever want to talk about my offer or simply just to talk.”

Mark thanked her and watched them leave.

He spent a while longer [meditating] and then decided it was time for food.

“Friedrich, I’m going to take lunch, you want me to bring you back something?” he asked.

To which he got a shooing motion for his troubles.

Making his way out of the mostly empty tent he walked out into the afternoon sun. People moved busily between the tents as Mark made his way to the Mess hall.

It was busy with the clatter of cutlery and moving bodies.

Mark went to the window to grab his food and froze. He recognized the woman in front of him. Joslin stood there with the very same apron he had seen once before and hair net. She seemed at a loss for words too as her spoon was currently frozen midway with a healthy-looking spoon of potato salad.

“Mark?!” she said.

“Hello Joslin,” Mark said smiling.

She suddenly screamed to the back of the kitchen.

“Enny, I’m taking five to cover the front.”

She then proceeded to dish up his meal and join him on the other side, sitting opposite him.

“Mark, well aren't I happy to see you're still with us. Did everything calm down now? Last we saw of you, you were climbing down our fire escape” she said in a motherly-like tone.

Mark smiled assuring her that everything was good and asking if everyone was fine.

“Yes, we managed to get here in one piece. Everyone was split up, so it's just me, George, and the kids now” she said

“And how is it here?” he asked. She had been here for a couple of days now so she probably had a lay of the land by now.

She grimaced.

“I’ll be honest it isn't ideal, but we are safe and the kids are happy so it's good. George is working in munitions. She said with a stiff voice.

“But, something is worrying you,” Mark said as he noticed her usually strong personality was restrained.

She hesitated for a moment and said.

“Well, there have been rumors that the top brass are planning a forced draft. If that happens I fear for George, he’s a likely candidate”

Mark nodded.

He would have to ask Sam what was going on when she arrived.

“Okay well right now it’s just a rumor, right? No need to panic over a rumor.” Mark said.

She didn't look convinced, but it hurt Mark to see this confident woman reduced to worry.

"Alright, give me a couple of hours. I’ll look into it for you. I'm not promising anything though"

He didn't know if the rumor was true or why, but he would help if he could.

After that she seemed more settled and soon enough Joslin had to get back to the kitchen, she even paid for his meal saying it was a thanks for helping them out.

Mark was enjoying the remainder of his meal when the chaos of the mess hall became much more chaotic. The volume rose to a slightly uncomfortable level.

It was sudden and caused Mark to look up from his food to see Sam almost at his table. She sat down opposite him. Excited eyes all over were looking on at them.

“Hey Mark, we got stuff to chat about on top of I need your report”

One of Mark’s eyebrows rose.

“Then is this really the place to chat?” he asked

She grinned with excitement. Raising her hand she casually spun her finger.

The air around them picked up for a moment and a paper-thin bubble appeared around them. The noise of the loud canteen died to nothing.

“There now no sound can get out,” she said.

“You just wanted to use that spell, didn't you?” Mark asked.

“Definitely,” she said, swiping a chip off his plate.

“We gotta be quick, we have an emergency meeting soon,” she said.

Mark frowned.

“I still have a shift at the medical tent,” he said.

“You can get back to that after, the head honchos are putting a battle plan together and Liam Grantwood has insisted you be there. We just think it's a ploy to get to you” she said.

“A battle plan for what?” Mark asked.

“The long and short of it is we found a dungeon and it's close by and we need to decide what to do about it” she whispered even though the bubble was in place.

“Is that what the draft is about?”

“Ah, they will probably explain that in the meeting, it’s not our idea. But before that the report. Do you have any suggestions on where to place healers now that you have been on the wall?”

Mark decided to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

“Aaa. Yeah I have a suggestion, but first, why aren't more people using [Meditation]?” he asked

“Oh well when I figured it out I taught it to Jonathan and made a report on its usefulness, but it was shot down. They said too few could use it and that they didn't have time to [Meditate] during battle”

Mark understood.

“Okay, then my suggestion would be to add turrets to the wall. Large empty rooms where people can recover their Mana and move back out. On top of that healers would be safe in these rooms and could provide healing to people right away.”

Sam nodded happily and took a tablet out of her inventory and started inputting things.

“Right what else?” she asked.

They went through a couple of procedures that Mark thought were necessary and spells that healers would need.

Something occurred to him when they were finishing the report up.

“Hey unrelated question, what do you think one would need to fly?” he asked

She stopped writing, happily entertaining the sudden idea.

“Well I would imagine air magic or maybe there is fight magic itself. why?” she shot back.

“I’m trying to solve the caster’s mobility problem and that seemed like the easiest leap. I have a post online where people put their spells and unfortunately, nothing that can help mobility has come up”

“You have socials where people post their spells willingly?” She said with interest.

“We tried that, even paying people, but so few came forward” She took out her phone asking him for his handle.

Then she saw the time and jumped up, dispelling the bubble. The Sound of the room came back in full force

“We gotta go or we’ll be late”

The two of them left the mess hall and moved toward the soldier's quarters, Arriving at a large command tent.