The day was trending into early afternoon as we headed back to Breezewood, and the wind and sun and the smell of flowers and fields made it all very… idyllic, honestly.

Almost like I really am on vacation. And I’m here now, so…

…so we should enjoy what we can! My otherself ended for me, with an almost sickening sweetness and optimism.

And really… what good does it do to sulk or mope? We need to keep moving forward. It’s the only way out I can see. And… and if I have to admit to being a girl while I do that, then ok. This world did seem… almost bearable since I’d had the good cry and then screaming fit into my pillow.

My staff wasn’t much good as a walking staff, but it didn’t seem to be a problem to hold it behind my back or just let it swing at my side.

I’m a bit envious of Soriya’s trick of storing Diaboli in her book though, that was… hm.

“Soriya?”

“Mm?” She turned to look at me, walking backwards.

“How do you put Diaboli in the book? Is that just what your class can do?”

“Oh! Well, it’s what one of my classes can do! It’s a cool {Ritual} I cooked up with my newest class, {Entropist}.” She frowned. “Really, I don’t know why the world calls it that. It’s more like Space/Time mage. Just like {Elementalist} is about elements and {Spiritist} is about Body/Mind magic. And I suppose really, it’s all just spiritual magic anyway, since we’re just tapping into the flow of the world soul itself…”

You’d better stop her. My otherself whispered in my mind Otherwise she’ll be going for hours. Soriya loves magic.

I coughed loudly, interrupting her flow. “So, cool! You store Diaboli with a Space/Time skill?”

Otherme scowled in our mind. Rude. Not like that, just find something to be excited about and you can distract her without interrupting!

Look me, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re not… all you. So we’re just going to have to cope with being a little rude sometimes!

Otherme retreated in a huff of mental sulk.

“What? Oh, uh! Yeah, that’s right! I cooked up a {Ritual} with {Entropist} to create a space pocket to store Diaboli in. Like hammerspace, you know? Diabolispace! Only I just shoot people that perv on me!” She laughed.

I could help but smile, even while it sounded horrible, she didn’t seem to have an actual vicious bone in her body. And otherme trusted her. And her enthusiasm was infectious.

“{Rituals} are neat!” she continued. “They’re like cheat codes for magic! See, spells are like cooking! You can follow existing recipes, or you can make up new stuff! {Rituals} are where you make up stuff not in the cookbook! It’s super slow, it took me two days to finish Diabolispace, but that’s how I got a holster tome!”

“So… you made your poison power with… {Elementalist} skills?” I asked. It really was oddly interesting, and… well I was living in this world now, maybe I should actually learn how the game mechanics worked before I had to flee for my life. That thought made me a little sick to my stomach. I do not want to flee for my life from an evil empire. Soriya was going into full lecture mode, irrelevant of my thoughts.

She really does make a very sexy teacher. I thought idly. Hello, earth to… Lily. She’s not interested, remember?

“Uh… actually no.” She said. “That’s… well it’s interesting. In theory, I made it with your mother’s help. It’s a physical object that contains a spelllike effect. What a {Tinker} would do, in other words. But I don’t have {Tinker} and Miss Holly doesn’t do poison. So, we worked together to make it. Only… we kind of didn’t.

I raised my eyebrows. “Alright, you’ve got my interest. Go on?”

Soriya sighed and twirled a bit on the road. I got the feeling she was filled with restless energy and let it out in odd bursts.

“So! You just got here, right? The day of the festival was when you woke up?”

“Mmhm?”

“Right. Well, I’ve been here about a week now. And my otherself filled me in about my backstory. Sad lonely orphan, raised by a loving town, talented in magic, lives in the witch’s treehouse at the edge of town… I mean, seriously you’ve heard this backstory before, right? We’re both living tropes.”

I nodded again. “You’re a lot more energetic than most black mages, but I guess… well it seems obvious you really like being Soriya.”

She ducked her head and blushed, then nodded. “Yeah. Actually. I really do. And it’s so neat to have a white mage friend who’s the heroine to the story and…” she stopped in the road and pressed her lips together. “Sorry.”

I gathered my courage and stepped up to her, and gave her a hug. A proper friends hug. It was easier than I was expecting, but otherme helped a lot.

“It’s ok. We are friends. And just because I want to get out of here, doesn’t mean I won’t help people along the way. If I really can’t avoid it, I’ll even save the world to go home. So it’s ok.”

Mmhm. Sad eyes and a hint of darkness in them when she lets that genki girl façade lapse? Wow, she really couldn’t be more trope if she tried.

Eventually she let go, and wiped at her eyes. “Thanks.” She said softly, then continued in a stronger voice. “Anyway. Other me told me all about Miss Holly and my best friend, the girl who I just knew had to be a white mage, even if she’d never cast a spell yet. So I wanted to meet you! I set off that afternoon heading to your house. Only, no matter what I did, stuff kept happening! Somebody would need my help, or a stray kitten would get lost, or Everett would show me his gun collection… I just could not make headway towards your place! First time, right? Ok, so that was just a thing, it was a busy day. Nope. Happened again next day. And the day after. Anytime I determined I was going to go meet/visit my best friend, oop! Something comes up! Last Godsday, there was a sudden rainstorm that flooded the bridge!”

I remember that rainstorm. It kept me home all day, brewing with Mother. Otherme chimed in.

“So… yeah. I never met you before today, and I’ve known you all my life. But I couldn’t meet with you. I think because you weren’t here yet. Like the world was still forming? Or maybe it was waiting for you, though it sure looked solid and real. So I had your mother’s help to make pixie powder, and-”

She stopped, and we stared at each other at the same time, eyes wide. I slapped my forehead at the same time Soriya rolled her eyes. We chorused in unison. “Poison powder for the pixies!”

“Oh my gawd, how did we miss that?!” Soriya shouted. “I feel so stupid now!”

“Don’t get too mad, it never even occurred to me either!” I felt a strange grin stretching my face in unexpected directions. “But this is good. This is how we get the pixies!”

You’re scaring me!

The pixies are going down, do you understand!? They hurt us, and they hurt Soriya!

Yes, but-

I stopped listening, manic grin stretched across my lips. “The pixies are going down!” I snarled. I grabbed Soriya’s hand and started running towards town. We had some pixies to murder.

The town was just as picturesque as I had left it. Peaceful peasant village, town square with market stalls filling it, bustling activity everywhere. Several people called out greetings to us as we flew past, but I was in too much of a rush. Otherme jabbed at my mind fiercely, I was being terribly rude, and I could not bring myself to care less. Finally, Soriya’s yanked her hand free of mine, and stumbled to a halt, panting and wheezing for breath.

“Lilyanna, slow down! I can’t keep up!”

“But we-“

“Stop!” she shouted at me. I blinked, and took a step back, startled.

“You are acting super weird all of a sudden! I’m glad we figured out how to clear the tutorial battle, and also to help out Old Man Wither, but this is weird! What has gotten into you?!”

I blinked a few times, shaking my head. I wasn’t acting weird I was just-

Yes, we were! We were just pushing past everyone without a single greeting, our best friend is begging us to slow down and all you can think about is getting even with pixies!

I paused. Now that I thought about it… that was odd, wasn’t it? Almost like…

I staggered and sat down on a nearby fountain’s edge. “Oh my gosh. I think… it’s something like a {Revenge} status effect on me. I… I really am having a hard time thinking of anything but murdering them now that I know how. Of making them pay. They hurt you, Soriya! And-” I pressed my lips together. “And they made a fool of me, and showed me how weak I am.” I clenched my hands in my skirts. “I want to go home! I need to protect people! It’s the only thing a white mage is ever good at! I need to get stronger!”

Soriya sat down next to me, and put her arm around my shoulder in a hug. “Ok. We can do that.” She said. “But we don’t have to carry the idiot ball to do that, right? We’re not the hot-headed boy hero. We can plan ahead.”

I nodded. It had seemed so obvious a few seconds ago. I was still going to murder those pixies for what they did, what they made me feel… but Soriya was right. I did not need to be stupid about it.

I felt otherme’s sigh of relief clearly.

I squeezed Soriya’s hand. “Thanks, Soriya. I think I’ve got it now.”

Soriya nodded, still heaving breaths. “Good. That’s good. So let’s just.” A few more breaths. “Let’s just rest here… a bit… then get you your first armor and accessory, ok?”

I twitched my lips and felt a smile creep over them. “So… we’re two girls going on a shopping trip?”

I was rewarded with a genuine laugh from Soriya.

It was easier after that. A wrist bangle for both of us that Soriya informed me was “Very cute!” Soriya also assured me they were enchanted to increase our resistance to physical damage. We checked the market stalls and shops for weapons too. There were some really exotic and cool looking staves there, but nothing in my price range, and all the cheap staves looked just like the knotty curl tip one that I had bent into existence. Even the enhancement crystals were out of my price range! The frozen elemental power crystals were affordable though, so we stocked up on those. I thought about selling some of Mother’s potions, but then I realized I’d just have to buy them back again, and I knew I was no good at haggling for price.

…and then… the Sage’s Robes. I stared at the market shop in front of me, paralyzed with dread.

Soriya hissed in my ear “Come on, it’s not that bad!”

“Says you!” I hissed back. “This is… it’s going to be all… clingy! And stuff!”

And this is me admitting… I’m the white mage of the party!

I squeezed my staff so hard my knuckles turned white.

“You’re gorgeous! What are you worried about!?”

I gave her a glare that I hoped would melt her into a puddle on the ground. She remained stubbornly unmelted.

“You can always multiclass later when we level up.” She snapped in exasperation. “And then you can get into some nice thick plate mail or something! But right now, pixie revenge! Remember?”

I hissed back “You know that’s bad optimization, if we’re going to get home, I can’t afford to be dabbling!” But she was right. If I wanted pixie revenge today, I was going to have to equip the right gear. I pressed my lips together and marched forward.

The shopkeeper, a middle-aged man wearing smartly tailored clothing and spectacles, with a measuring tape around his neck, brightened visibly on spotting us. “Oh, hello there, girls! Soriya, are the robes fitting you well? Lilyanna, have you come to try one some new clothes?”

Of course the shopkeeper knows me. Everyone knows me.

What’s strange about that? Benard has the best clothes in town, everyone knows it!

I sighed and gave in. “Hello Mr. Benard. Yes, Soriya convinced me to try out your Sages Robes.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise, and he leaned back, putting his hands on his hips. “Well now! Soriya, I hope you’re not being a terrible influence on Miss Lilyanna, taking her off on adventures!?”

Soriya raised her hands in protest. “Oh no no no! Nothing like that!”

I looked at her with a sense of mingled admiration and irritation. How does she lie so easily? I wish I could pull something like that off.

“We’re here because Old Man Wither has another pixie infestation! We promised to help him clear it, and Ms. Holly insisted that Lily should have proper protection!”

Benard’s concerns were immediately eased, and he nodded. “Ah, so that’s it! Hm.” He tapped his nose and winked at us. “I think that’s a spot of adventure, regardless of what you say, but my robes should do very well for pixie hunting, yes.” He stepped forward holding out measuring tape. I felt my knees tremble, and my hands clutched my staff even harder. Everyone is huge compared to me, and am I really going through with this?! “Just spread your arms here, Lilyanna. Good like that. Thank you.” And with a businesslike quick series of measurements he took my measurements, and was gone in a whirl of fabric and clothing. I frowned, struck by a thought.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Me, do we know what class Mr. Benard is?

Why… no. It’s kind of rude to ask, don’t you think? Probably {Tinkerer} like Mother, with maybe some {Merchant} or {Loremaster}. That’s what most people wind up with. I had thought I’d become a {Gourmet}, I do like to cook! But then all this happened and-

My train of thought was interrupted by Benard’s return. He held a drape of shimmery grey green fabric over his arm.

“Here you are!” He announced proudly. “One Sages Robe, sized for you.”

I squinted at it in confusion. Why’s it that color? Shouldn’t it be white or red or… oh right. Soriya said hers changed when she put it on.

“Mr. Benard, do clothes always change when you put them on?”

“Mm? No, of course not! The other dresses I made for you didn’t change when you wore them, did they?” He smiled as though I’d asked something silly.

I smiled awkwardly. Soriya jumped in. “I know this! The protective runes that are woven through the robe naturally interact with the energy of our souls, shaping themselves to our needs. That’s why they’re more expensive than ordinary clothes. We won’t know what yours will look like until you wear them!”

“Red and white.” I mumbled under my breath.

“Sorry, what was that?” Benard asked.

“Nothing.” I took the fabric from his arms, and stumbled towards the changing room like a prisoner going to her execution.

Behind me I heard Benard ask Soriya “Is Lilyanna alright? She looks quite green!”

“She’s fine, she’s fine! She’s just too softhearted, she feels bad for the pixies-“ Her smooth stream of lies was cut off as I closed the door behind me.

The pink haired village girl stared back at me from the mirror. I found that I was actually scowling. “The nerve of her!” I muttered as I sat down to pull off my boots. “I’m the one who dragged her into this! I’m the one with the revenge status effect, not her!”

I wiggled out of my dress and dropped it on the bench with a huff. My reflection stared back at me, a strikingly pretty living jrpg girl in her underwear.

I almost wish Soriya was wrong about me being pretty. Would that make it easier? Would I want to be ugly? Or even plain? I had to admit to honest vanity…. no, I would not want to be plain. I would do it in a heartbeat if it meant I could be an NPC in the background of course, or better yet if I was still me-

We can’t be anyone else, silly. Of course we’re us!

That thought made my lips twist in frustration. We’re not who we used to be. I thought.

Whoever is? Unless you’re dead, you’re changing all the time anyway. That’s what Mother always says.

Huh. That was… a surprisingly insightful comment.

I shook out the strange shimmery grey green fabric. On examination it proved to be something like a cloak or poncho. A hole in the center for your neck, and draping folds all around. Up close I could actually see very finely woven runes picked out all along the edges and woven into lines of spellwork across the front and back. I sighed, and shook my head.

“Here goes nothing.”

I threw it over me, wiggling my head through the hole in the middle. For a second I dared to hope that it was all a big mistake or misunderstanding. The fabric simply hung there, draped across my body like a tent. But then the fabric began to shimmer and sparkle, glowing motes floating up from it, and the fabric began to cling and reshape itself around me.

“Well, here we go, me.”

Oh yes, I’m so excited!

The poncho fabric of the robe shrank to fit me, clinging every bit as tightly as I’d feared it would, outlining my figure very clearly. I could feel it shrinking to fit my arms, floating and flowing, separating into a half cape with hood and clinging form fitted dress under it. The fabric clung to my neck and chest while shrinking away from my back, leaving my upper back and shoulders bare under the half cape. The fabric melted away from my upper arm, forming into detached sleeves.

Well at least the cape keeps my shoulders warm. I don’t feel quite so exposed this way.

The color changed from a sickly gray green into a shimmery pure white, fading to pink and then bright red at the hem of my skirts, the same pink and red border along the edges of the hood and cape.

A wide brown leather belt appeared around my waist, clinging as tightly to my waist as the fabric did to my breasts and hips.

I guess the belt is for… inventory items, I suppose? Potions and spellbooks? Or just a purse? Looks like a corset though? It’s a girdle, actually. Floated up through my mind. A corset would be much taller and more supportive, and also worn under our clothes.

Well that was disturbing. That wasn’t even otherme, that was just… suddenly knowledge that I had.

The robes finally stopped squirming and settled on me. The fabric did feel very nice on my skin at least. I turned this way and that to see myself in the mirror. Yep. Pure white with red and pink accents. That was the expected color and cut. It wasn’t quite like anything I’d ever seen in any game before. Almost like it was inspired by the concept rather than a direct copy of anything. I hadn’t been expecting the cape, but it wasn’t unwelcome, it kept my bare shoulders and back covered, and I kind of liked how it made a dramatic swish when I turned. I slapped my cheeks. “Come on, what are you thinking. This is bad! You can’t just follow the plot-“ I stopped. The pixies. Old man Wither. “I hate this!” I growled. “I hate that I have to advance the plot to avoid the plot!”

Well, it’s not all bad. I didn’t have to play the fishing minigame. And this is just the tutorial battle. And also to clear this... whatever it is on me. If it even is a status effect. I am really mad that… they showed me how useless I am. I sat down, pushing my feet back into my boots, then grabbed my staff, twisting at it till my knuckled turned white. “Right.” I stood up and pushed open the door. I could see from Mr. Benard’s expression that yes, the pretty 17-year-old girl was in fact very pretty. Soriya squealed and clapped her hands. “Oh my gosh, it’s perfect! We love it!”

Mr. Benard turned to Soriya and smiled quizzically. “Oh indeed? Perhaps we should ask Lilyanna if she likes it first?” He turned back to me. “Do you like it, Ms. Lilyanna? I will say that it suits you very nicely indeed if I do say so myself. I’ve never seen the robes turn that color before.”

I twisted back and forth, letting the cape flare a bit. I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “No. But it’s comfortable and I trust your tailoring skills, so I’ll take it. How much?”

“200 zeni.”

My eyes opened wide. “Two hundred?!”

Benard nodded sagely. “I’m aware that it’s expensive, but it really is worth every zeni, even if I do say so myself. Protective, easy to clean, sturdy enough to last a lifetime.”

“You… you do have enough, right?” Soriya said hesitantly.

I do have enough. I knew I did; mother had given me my allowance before I came today, and I’d been saving for the festival for weeks.

Of course I have. It’s the starter level. I gritted my teeth. “Yes, of course.” I turned around and picked up my old dress laying in the dressing room bench, fishing my coin purse out. Indeed, the robes seemed to be aware of my intent, and a small leather pouch appeared at my hip, suspended from the girdle to hold it. I marched over to the counter and started counting out zeni.

Mr. Benard frowned. “Lilyanna, is everything alright? You seem quite out of sorts? If… if the robes aren’t to your liking-“

“The robes are fine.” I muttered, continuing to count.

“Well…” he fidgeted with his measuring tape, looking from me to Soriya. “If you’re sure?”

I nodded, sliding the zeni over to him. “I’m sure.”

He took the coins uncertainly, clearly unsure what to say. Otherme nudged me fiercely in the brain. Say something! He’s a good person, you’re being rude!

I swallowed, and turned to him, giving him a bow, my hands folded in front of me. “I am grateful to be in your care. The robes are truly superb. I’ve recently received some troubling news, and so I apologize for my manners.”

If anything he only looked more concerned. “Oh dear! Is there something I can do? If you’re in some kind of trouble…”

I let out a short laugh which was unpleasantly bitter. How can I explain it? How can I explain any of it?

Soriya came to my rescue, bless her. “Lilyanna had an offer from the guild proctor. He said she could come study at the imperial capital. It’s a wonderful offer, but you know how Lily loves Breezewood.”

Hm. She didn’t even lie that time.

Mr. Benard’s eyes cleared up at once. “Ahh. That is a difficult decision!” he patted my shoulder awkwardly. “I cannot make your worries go away Ms. Lilyanna, but I can assure you that wherever you go, all of Breezewood will support you. And my robes will help, be they for an adventure or a life in the capital.”

I nodded, and otherme’s impulses added for me “Thank you. That means so much to me, Mr. Benard.”

We left the shop and headed towards the lakeside docks. Soriya was uncharacteristically quiet as we walked. She suddenly burst out “If you don’t want to go on an adventure, we don’t have to! We don’t even have to fight the pixies!”

“No! What are you saying!? No! I… I need to end the pixies! I need to be stronger! I need to be useful for something!”

Soriya stopped and turned to face me. “Lilyanna. You are my friend. Is that not useful enough?”

Impulsively, instinctively, I tried to say no, and otherme grabbed my tongue.

Don’t you say it! She shouted mentally. Don’t you dare say it! You know you’re lying if you say it too! Look in her eyes, and tell me you want to hurt her like that!

I looked into Soriya’s eyes and recognized what I saw there. Guilt. She felt guilty for dragging me into this. As if I wasn’t the one who had pulled her along on this kill quest!

Otherme pushed me into action. “Of course it’s enough.” I said meekly.

Soriya pursed her lips. “Is that you, or other you?”

I swallowed. “It’s both of us. Oh, Soriya, I don’t know what to do!” I wailed. “I don’t want to play whatever game is puppeteering me into this! But I also can’t… I can’t sit and do nothing! I want both of them and I can’t have either!”

Soriya nodded. “I do know. I’ve been there countless times.” Her voice was quiet and serious, her violet eyes were dark with shadows. “I won’t pretend this isn’t hard. But you have one thing I never did. A friend. So.” She held out her hand to me. “So… we can do this together.”

I looked at her hand. A fragment of memory, a song and advice. I took her hand. “Ok. You’re right. If we do it together, it’ll be better. We’ll do the next right thing.”

I had hoped to get a smile from her, even a sad one, for the geek reference. But her face was deadly serious as she squeezed my hand. “Then let’s go do the next right thing. Pixies?”

I took a deep breath and let it out. Tightened my grip on my staff. Nodded. “Pixies.”

At the lake quay, we found a large crowd gathered out on the pier and crowded around the jetty. Cheers and shouts of excitement came from the crowd. I sighed, then giggled.

“I guess the fishing contest is in full swing.” I said to Soriya.

“Oh. Oh! Yeah! Heh. Fishing minigame, am I right?” I was glad to see her dark mood seemed to have passed.

We shared a smile and passed through the back of the crowd. I caught a glimpse of a familiar outfit in the crowd as we passed.

“Huh. Looks like the guild proctor is at the fishing contest. I didn’t think imperial spies needed to keep tabs on fishing contests?”

A loud cheer erupted from the dock. It sounded like someone had broken some kind of record. Well good for them. I’ll have to ask who it was tomorrow.

Soriya glanced towards the crowd, and frowned. “Yeah. Honestly, I’m really glad you’re an isekai. I was really really not looking forward to convincing a pure hearted heroine that the empire was evil! Honestly, I’m not even sure I could manage it!”

I still don’t understand why you think he’s evil! It’s probably all just a coincidence!

Soriya’s lips twitched into a smile. “She’s telling you it’s a mistake, isn’t she? I can tell from your expression. That and your eyeroll could have looped a planet.”

I sighed and nodded. “Yeah. It’s… she’s me but also very not. It’s hard to describe.”

“No, I understand. That’s how other Soriya is with me too.”

“Oh.”

We arrived at Soriya’s booth. To my complete astonishment, and otherme’s triumphant vindication, Soriya had done very good business while she was gone.

“How is this even possible?!” I protested as she raked the coins into the small chest.

Soriya grinned at me. “You mean why wasn’t I robbed blind?” She shrugged. “Do you want a full {Loremaster} treatise on morphogenic field displacement, the genius loci of the world soul and areola effects? Or do you want the easy explanation?” I felt my eyes widen in shock, my head spinning a bit from her terms. Her smile was a bit cocky and condescending as she said “That’s what I thought. Easy it is. Because this is the starter village and we’re the heroines.”

“You can’t be serious!” I protested.

She pulled out several small purple bags with a small skull and crossbones stenciled on them, and pushed them into my hands. Neat handwritten labels on each bag read ‘Witch’s Finest: Pixie Poison Powder. (Keep away from pets and small children. Do not eat!)’ in the by now familiar fantasy alphabet of this world. I couldn’t help noting she’d drawn a smiling chibi witch’s head on each label.

“I’m very serious!” She replied. She picked up the little chest with her earnings in it, hung up a ‘Closed, back tomorrow!’ sign on her booth and turned back to me. I noted that her sign had the smiling chibi witch’s head too. “Come on, I’ll try and explain on the way.”

To her credit, she really did explain. It made my head spin a bit, but what I was able to piece together was something like: The world soul had expectations for Breezewood. Expectations which included a good place to grow up, filled with good honest people. Since the world soul felt this way, and since Breezewood didn’t have a strong countervailing force pushing it in any other direction, Breezewood became what the world soul wanted. Soriya finished “Well it’s more like ‘dreaming’ than ‘wanting’ really, it’s not an aware thing. Not as we understand awareness anyway. So that’s my hypothesis. And if I can prove it, then I could probably get a scholarship at the imperial academy! Not that I’d want too, actually, they’re clearly the villains. Probably use it to develop some superweapon or something.”

“If we could only figure out why they wanted my necklace!” I burst out.

“Mm, yeah, that’s right. Something something princess of a lost kingdom? Last of her kind?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, probably something of the kind. It doesn’t do us any good though, we don’t know what it does or how to use it, and if we were to try to find out, then we really are walking right into the main storyline.”

Oh my goodness, are you serious?! Us?! A princess?!

I rolled my eyes even harder, and shared memories of a dozen doomed healer mages.

“Yeah. Next right thing, right? Pixies.”

“Yeah. Pixies.”

We reached Old man Wither’s farm and his fair booth shortly. His eyes widened as he saw us, and he stood up behind the counter and hurried over to us.

“What on earth are you girls doing back here?! Are you even fit to be up and around after that hit?!”

I twitched a smile. “I’m fine, thank you for your concern. Mother’s potions are very good.”

He took his pipe out of his mouth and pursed his lips. “That’s a relief, after I dragged you both out of the vineyard you looked so bad I feared for the worst! I did warn you about the pixies!” He shook his finger in our faces sternly. “Don’t go messing around with them, they’re too dangerous!”

Soriya cleared her throat. “Actually, that’s why we’re here. We realized that we hadn’t been taking your advice seriously, and we feel awful bad about leaving our promise undone. Don’t we Lilyanna?”

I nodded earnestly.

“So we’ve come back to-”

“Oh no!” He held up his hands to ward us off. “Oh no no! I’m not letting you two back there again!” He shook his finger in my face again. “Your mother would skin me alive if she learned I’d done that!” he turned to Soriya, his wild white hair swirling. “And you! Don’t you know how important you are to the town!? Only witch for miles around! No, absolutely not!” He crossed his arms and stared at us stubbornly.

I felt something ‘nudge’ inside me, and I stepped forward, not really sure what otherme was going to have us do. It wasn’t obvious, but I could feel myself do something. I felt the same slight effort that I’d felt on casting Barrier, my posture altered slightly and my voice came out… differently. There was a subtle melody woven into my words, a lulling softness I’d never heard.

We are {Persuading} him. My otherself explained.

“Please Mr. Wither, we know we scared you, we’re so very sorry about that! But we’ve learned our lesson, truly we have! We’ve brought along poison powder, we have elemental crystals, both Soriya and I have bought magical protections and equipment from the fair. We feel just terrible about how we left this undone, and after we promised you too! And you must know how it is, once you’ve promised someone, your word is on the line! We can’t let these pixies beat us, and if we don’t drive them off, the fruit harvest will be ruined! Everyone is so looking forward to your fruit cobbler!”

Soriya was looking at me as if I’d sprouted two extra arms and an additional head, but I couldn’t afford the distraction. I had to keep up the weight of the {Persuasion}.

I could see him wavering. He shuffled his feet. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, missy!” he shook his finger. “I can feel a {Persuasion}, same as anyone else!”

I felt a stab of worry, at the exact same time my otherself announced triumphantly Got him.

“And have I said anything untrue, Mr. Wither?” She had me say, innocently. “You know {Persuasion} only helps me put my arguments in good order, not force you to do anything.”

He scowled at me, rubbing his chin whiskers fiercely.

“And you’re going to have to hire someone to get rid of the pixies anyway.”

“Alright, alright, blast you, Lilyanna! Not fair of you speaking so sweetly, and having good points to back you up!” He muttered and grumbled, but turned and walked over to the gate to the vineyard, opening it for us. “If you don’t come out in 20 minutes, I’m going in after you. And I won’t be doing this again!”

I bowed to him, that same harmony of both selves agreeing on the right action, and Soriya and I hurried down the path to the vineyard.

“I can’t believe that worked! You sneak! Since when can a white mage actually con somebody like that?!”

“I didn’t con him!” I answered primly. “I simply showed him that our reason for being here was good, sound, logical, and we were taking the threat seriously this time. Just… with a little help from my Skills.”

Soriya looked at me with genuine surprise. “Well damn, girl. I’ve never seen a white mage bend somebody around their finger like that!”

I looked over at her and smiled. “Sure you have. When we use it at full power, the person doesn’t even know they’re being {Persuaded}. They think it was their own idea to do what we wanted them to do.”

Soriya goggled at me. “So you’re like… an evil Yamato Nadeshiko!?”

I stopped and glared at her, a mixture of insulted and horrified. “Rude! I am not evil! I would never! I even let him feel he was in control, because he felt the {Persuade}! And besides, I don’t have nearly the skill of Belldandy yet!”

Soriya stared at me, her eyes filled with genuine awe, then said “Yet? Holy shit, girl. I’m glad you’re on my side!”

I felt oddly better about myself after that, and found myself smiling all the way to the grove.

The first pixie challenge was almost exactly the same. There was no solo this time, the three pixies zipped out of the greenery, giggling and chittering. It was clear they recognized us, as they promptly started making obscene and mocking gestures as soon as they saw us.

I gritted my teeth, holding my staff out front of me, squeezing it so hard my knuckles went white again.

“Right. Round two, you Meadowlarks!” I snarled.