(Year 997, 14th of Full Inji, 6:45PM)

When I found myself startled by the knock at my door, I had to think to myself, for a moment, about how weird that was. Sure, the first time I’d been sleeping, and this time I was reading, but it was still weird for it to happen twice in one day. “Yeah?”

This time, Dad opened the door and walked in, finding me reading on my bed. “Supper’s ready.” He paused for a moment, taking in the sight of me, and asked, “You been like this all afternoon?”

I shook my head, putting Starlight Witch in Midnight World back up on the stack. “No, I went out for a walk in the field after lunch.”

Dad nodded. “Good, good. I’m… glad you’re getting out more.”

He walked away, but he seemed to wait out in the hall for me. Having no reason to wait, I hopped up off the bed and followed along. As we walked out to the dining room, Dad asked, “Y’know, I called out for you a couple of times before I came to knock. Could you hear me in there?”

I had to pause for a moment. Strictly speaking, I had heard him, but…

I shook my head. “No, I was… too focused on my book, I guess.”

Dad nodded. “Hm. Well, maybe I’ll just knock first next time, that seemed to do the trick.”

I had to think about that. The truth, of course, was that I’d been using [Indulge] to focus on my reading. I’d activated the Skill hours earlier, when I got home after the accident in the field, trying to take my mind off what had happened. It had worked… but maybe a bit too well.

What I was realizing, as we walked, was that it was one thing to use [Indulge] to shrug off the things that would make me want to stop doing something… but if there was nothing to make me want to stop, I would fall into a sort of daze and just keep doing that thing.

The uncomfortable thing about that, though, was that it wasn’t anything new to me. I’d felt that before, many times, when I was reading. [Indulge], I decided, wasn’t pulling all of my attention into what I did… [Indulge] just made it easier for me to let everything else fade into the background.

Supper, as it turned out, was roast pork. This wasn’t a surprise, since we’d been eating cuts of the same pork all week – if anything, it was kind of a boring meal.

Which was unfortunate, because that just gave me time to stew in my own thoughts.

Every time I’d tried to solve my problem on my own and learn more about the power of Consumption, I’d just made things worse for myself, but the accident in the field… I’d killed something. That crossed a line.

No matter what happened as a result, I couldn’t keep making excuses to avoid a real solution. I needed help, and seeing Preacher Stefenson hadn’t turned out very well, so that left…

“Dad?”

Dad swallowed down a bit of his pork, probably the second- or third-to-last. “Yeah?”

I took a bite of bread and chewed, suddenly nervous. “I… I think I’m going to go see Miss Ambrose, if that’s alright?”

Dad raised an eyebrow and set his fork down. “Really…? Why’s that?”

“I, uh…” It wasn’t hard to come up with a lie. “I have some things I want to talk to her about… mainly, me skipping out on Lessons for the last little while. I… I’m not sure I’m gonna start going again, but I should at least apologize for missing so many, right?”

After a moment, Dad nodded. “Well, forgive your ol’ Dad for saying so… but that seems kinda grown-up of you, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’ll do you some good.”

I nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I really hope so.”

Dad picked his fork back up. “Well, finish your supper, and then you can get right to it. Do you remember where she lives?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Dad, I remember where Miss Ambrose lives. Two houses over from the schoolhouse, on the right side, because there were already houses on either side of it.”

Dad nodded. “Attaboy. And, also… be back home before the night gets deep, alright? I know you’ll have enough light to see by, but I still don’t want you wandering around at night. Got it?”

I nodded. “Yeah, got it.” In my opinion, I was definitely old enough to be out at night, but I wasn’t planning to be gone for long anyway, so there was no point in making a fuss.

It only took me a few more minutes to finish my supper, and then with a quick “Be back soon,” I was out the door and on my way.

The sun wouldn’t be fully blocked in the sky for a while yet, but the moons were eclipsing it enough that the colour of the sky was starting to turn – it would only be an hour or two, probably, before we were fully in the moons' shadow. Looking at it one way, that was good, since it meant I had time to hash things out with Miss Ambrose and learn about… my condition. My new Skills.

Looking at it another way, if our meeting took that long, that would either mean things were going very well, or very poorly.

It only took a few minutes to walk to the house I was sure belonged to Miss Ambrose, so I didn’t have much time to prepare what I would say. I just… took a deep breath, knocked on the door, and hoped for the best.

Not even a moment passed before I heard, “Coming!” from inside the house, in Miss Ambrose’s high voice. Only a moment after that, I heard the lock on the door click, and Miss Ambrose appeared in the doorway, standing tall at more than half-again my height, a simple brown dress flowing down past her knees, her shiny red hair done up in a bun.

It took her a half-moment to notice me, just below her eyeline. “Oh! Aedan… I’m surprised to see you. What are you doing here, and so late in the day?”

I didn’t want to say straight out what my problems were, given what they were, so I just said, “Oh, I just… wanted to talk to you about something, Miss Ambrose. Is that alright?”

Miss Ambrose nodded, and my eyes caught on the way her red hair shifted over her shoulder. “Yes, I suppose so. This wouldn’t happen to be about the Lessons you’ve been skipping, would it?”

I nearly threw my hands up in frustration. Of course that would be the first thing she thought about, but Lessons seemed so much less important than–

I took a deep breath. Focus. “Well, we can talk about that if you want, Miss Ambrose, but… that’s not really what’s on my mind. Can we go inside? It’s… a bit personal.”

After a moment, Miss Ambrose nodded, stepping aside and gesturing for me to come in. I’d seen the inside of her house once or twice before, maybe – the arrangement of bookshelves in one corner of her living area seemed kinda familiar. She walked over to a sitting chair that looked pretty well-used, so I walked over to sit in a matching chair that just about faced hers.

“Well, Aedan,” she began, “I appreciate that you feel you can come to me about your personal problems, but… I’m curious just what it is that you want my help with.”

Just like Miss Ambrose to figure out that I was going to ask for help before I’d even mentioned it. She was smart, after all – she wasn’t a teacher for nothing. That made me think I should probably get right to the point. “I… What do you know about the Six Paths, Miss Ambrose? I mean, more than what you’ve taught us in Lessons, just… all of it, I guess?”

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Her eyebrow rose again. “Well… I would say that I know a fair bit. I am not a scholar of the subject, but I’ve read more than the Scriptures, certainly. Why is this what you ask, Aedan?”

“Have you…” I wanted to ask her about Consumption, straight away, but that might not be the best way to approach her. “…Have you ever met a Path-Walker before? I mean, someone who’s gained Levels in a Path?”

Her other eyebrows rose. “Yes, Aedan, I would daresay I have, but please, what– Who is this about, young man?”

That was the other problem with beating around the bush – I should’ve expected that Miss Ambrose wouldn’t let me get away with that.

Straight to the point then. “Well, the truth is… it’s about me. I’m… a Pathwalker now, and I hope you can help me figure out what to do next.”

Miss Ambrose just stared at me for a moment, and it seemed like she was thinking. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. “My word, Aedan, that’s a rather serious fib to–”

That was where I cut her off, more frustrated than ever. “I’m not fibbing, Miss Ambrose, it really happened! Take a look at my Status, see for yourself! Just… don’t freak out, okay? Just… just hear me out, and please don’t freak out.”

Miss Ambrose paused. I could practically feel her mood shifting. “Aedan… let’s say I believe you, for a moment. Which path is it that you’re Walking?”

My eyebrows rose. “Before I tell you, I– I swear, Miss Ambrose, it’s not my fault.”

Her eyebrows shot back up. “I’d lecture you about swearing oaths lightly, but… What isn’t your fault, Aedan?”

“The level, I–” I felt my throat drying up. “I didn’t do anything to get the Level, I swear, it just – it was just there, last night. I don’t know when I got it or how it happened, I just… I’ve been trying not to make it worse.”

Miss Ambrose closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. “Well then, let’s… see what we have here, I suppose.”

She waved her hand, and I felt a little twinge as she took a look at my status. I didn’t fight it, since there was no point in hiding, not when I wanted Miss Ambrose to see my Status.

I watched her eyes go wide, and then narrow, and then widen again as she read through my description, over and over again. She must have taken a few minutes, while I sat in silence and waited.

Eventually, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Aedan… who else have you told about this?”

I shook my head. “Nobody, Miss Ambrose. I asked Preacher Stefenson some questions about the, uh… my Path… but I fibbed to him about why I was asking, and he told me–”

Miss Ambrose snorted. “I’ll bet he told you it’s impossible for Humans to Walk the Path of Consumption, because the Scriptures of Holy Order say so.” I saw one of her hands reaching up to rub her ear, tracing back and forth from the base to the point. I’d seen her do this before, but only when she seemed bothered.

She had every right to be bothered, I supposed, after what I’d just told her. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what he told me.”

Miss Ambrose leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, thinking. “Well, truth be told… up until now, I believed the same thing. I would know if you were some sort of changeling, however, or you were using shape-changing magic, so… there must simply be something unforeseen at play.”

She didn’t seem nearly as worried about that as I had been, honestly, just… frustrated and tired. “So…”

She raised a finger. “Aedan, please, I’m… trying to think.”

I gave her another moment, and she sighed. “Why are you Level Two in Consumption, young man?”

I hung my head. “I may have… played around with my Skills a bit, Miss Ambrose. To make sure I knew what they did, and I could avoid hurting people with ‘em.”

“Hmm… well, that’s as good a reason as any, I suppose. I’m sure I know what Skills you found, too – [Indulge] and [Absorb], correct?”

I looked up at her, confused. “I… yeah, that’s right. How do you know so much about the Path of Consumption, Miss Ambrose?”

Miss Ambrose let out something that wasn’t exactly a laugh… more of a tired huff. “Oh, I haven’t been a teacher forever, Aedan… but that’s not something to think about right now. Right now, we need to think about what to do about you.”

I couldn’t help but cringe at the thought. “Nothing bad, I hope…?”

Miss Ambrose shook her head. “Aedan, I… quite frankly, I’m not sure what to do about this. I have some ideas, but none of it can be done here and now. We would… need to go find an old acquaintance of mine, and find some people who study the Paths. Strange work, and not the sort of thing that can be done in a run-down little village like this. And beyond that, by all means… I should be reporting this to the Church.”

“Miss Ambrose, you can’t–”

I barely got those words out before she cut me off. “Aedan, you need to understand, there are laws about these things. The Sinful Paths… The Church takes these things very seriously, and the king takes the church very seriously. By all rights, I should tell Bishop Mordecai about this when he comes to town tomorrow and let him deal with the matter, but…”

She trailed off. We sat in silence for a bit, before I finally asked, “But…?”

Miss Ambrose reached up to rub her face. “Aedan, you… what have you done with your Skills? Really?”

“N-nothing, Miss Ambrose, just–”

Miss Ambrose was not in a mood for runaround. “Aedan, I can see your status. I can see that you’re storing flesh and blood with your Skills. What did you do?”

My head hung low, once again. “There was… a rabbit, Miss Ambrose. I was playing around with [Absorb], pulling in a pebble and spitting it back out, and I spat it out into the field really fast without meaning to, and…” I trailed off.

She simply shook her head. “Aedan…”

That was all she said.

Another silence fell on us, and we just sat there. I wasn’t sure what Miss Ambrose was thinking, so eventually I had to ask, “…Are you going to tell the Bishop about me?”

After a moment, Miss Ambrose shook her head. “No… No, I don’t think so.”

It felt weird to suddenly be so delighted, but I was, and I couldn’t hide it. “Really!?”

“Don’t– don’t sound so excited, Aedan. We’re very likely both going to be in a lot of trouble for this, it’s just… You present a lot of questions, and if I can help it, I’m not going to let the Church tell me what the answers are. I’m going to get some help and find them for myself. If you’re… willing to let me help, that is. It could involve a long journey, though… and it may be scary at times. You’ll need to leave the village, and you might need to leave without me. Do you understand?”

I nodded. I didn’t really understand, not all of it, but… I liked what she was saying, and I wanted to keep going. “So… what are we doing, then?”

Miss Ambrose straightened up in her chair. “Well… how about this. You have a birthday tomorrow, young man, and you ought to rest up for it. We’ll keep mum about this for now, both of us. If we can make it through tomorrow without Bishop Mordecai finding out about this, and hopefully we can, we’ll talk to your father about this tomorrow night, and then we’ll make a real plan. How does that sound?”

At first, I couldn’t see why she wanted to wait, but then I realized… If Miss Ambrose thought that helping me deal with my Path was going to be a big and complicated thing, she wanted me to have one more happy day – my birthday – before we got started on that. It was a bit dangerous, since Bishop Mordecai was in town, and telling Dad would be scary in its own way…

But now Miss Ambrose had agreed to help me, and that made me feel like everything would be alright.

In that case, all I needed to do was make it through one more day without anything else turning into a giant mess.

How hard could that be?