Suze looked down at me. She was pissed off, sweaty, and covered in blood. "You're still bleeding. Why aren't you healing yourself?"

"I can't. There's a cooldown that's 4 hours outside of combat." I felt the throb of pain and I gasped out, "I need you to help me bind my shoulder to stop the bleeding."

"I can do that dear." Geraldine was there holding all her cat carriers in her arms. She touched Suze on the shoulder and Suze put the carriers on her back. The entire time, Suze watched the water while smashing the cudgel into her palm as a rhythmic warning.

"Oof. You smell of piss, dear."

"I don't know if it's me." I said, trying to say something lighthearted and then as she gently prod my shoulder I uncontrollably screamed from the sharp pain.

"Let's wrap it quickly. I don't have anything antiseptic to clean it. Who knows what's on that spear" She then, with an askance view at Alice the Beaver, added quietly, "or that Timber fellow's mouth." She spoke normal volume when she asked, "Do you have your tetanus shots up to date?"

I shook my head. "No." I hadn't even thought about getting tetanus or anything like that. What if the wound went septic? What if it became gangrenous?

"Well. Think antiseptic thoughts." A bottle of water appeared in her hand and she twisted off the cap to pour the clean water over my wound. I was about to protest since it was drinking water, but as the blood cleared I could see that the wound was still open and bleeding. She poured out most of the bottle on the wound except for about a sliver at the bottom. She gave the bottle to me. "Drink the remainder." I did as I was told then I looted the empty bottle. The clean water was so satisfying.

Geraldine then pulled something out of her inventory that looked like tea towels. She applied gentle pressure on the wound and then wound the tea towels around my shoulder over and over and then tucked the remaining end in. "I'm no nurse, but I know that tv shows have you apply pressure so hold onto that wound." Wow, did it hurt when anything touched the wound. I held onto it, adding some pressure.

Alice the giant beaver still yelled down at the water, "I told you that these humans were no danger, but no you didn't listen to me! I'm only your wife."

"They threatened you!" Timber yelled from the sanctity of the water below.

"With what? Her little human hand to her forehead? You're lucky that other one didn't kill you. You would have deserved it. Now stay in there and soak your hot head." She slapped her tail on the dam as if to punctuate her point. Then she ambled over to us.

"I'm so sorry about my husband." She had a big furry face with giant teeth, sharp teeth that probably could chomp me like Timber had done, but her large eyes were imploring. "He's been listening to that Titania propaganda from the frogs ever since the Funnelers killed his cousin Buzzsaw."

I gritted my teeth. Wow, wounds are painful. Though, I was somehow able to ask her, "How long ago was that?"

The big brown beaver looked at me with obvious sadness in her eyes. "A day ago. He was a dumbass Buzz, but he didn't deserve how he went."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said.

Geraldine tutted. "These girls are protecting me, but so far haven't killed a thing."

That wasn't exactly true, but I don't remember if we told her about the spiders. It wasn't an appropriate time to correct her though. Not in front of what must be a game mob. I groaned as the pain lanced through me.

Alice's sweet giant beaver face turned into concern. "Are you going to be okay? You look not great."

I felt fuzzy in the head. The pain was all I could think about. Except one little thing nagged at me. I love exploits. I was not above using them before they were inevitably patched out of a game.

The 4-hour cooldown for my heal was out of combat. It was new and punitive.

I needed to test something.

"Can I ask you for something bizarre?"

Alice balked, "Is it sexual?"

Suze laughed out loud. She muttered, "Tier 0 - ASMR Content Creator," under her breath.

"No. It's... can you hit me?"

"Oh, so it is sexual." Alice shook her head. "I'm not into humans and I'm very loyal to my moron of a husband."

"No no. I need to be in combat. I want to test out a heal spell. You don't have to hit me hard. Just... I don't know if intent to attack will start it?" I groaned again as a pain throbbed through me. "I need to heal. Please. Hit my wound?"

Alice quirked her head in confusion then she tentatively reached out and with a claw she pressed on my wound covering.

COMBAT INITIATED

I cast the spell.

Level up! Minor Healing Touch. Somatic and verbal components required. Distance of Touch. Duration instantaneous. Repairs 1 hit point at this level of the spell. Cooldown 20 seconds in combat. 3 hours out of combat.

I cheered and Suze cheered as well. "You healed in my combat log!"

"Yeah. It's only got the ridiculous cooldown out of combat. So, uhm. Alice can you please do that again?"

It was like I had requested her to do something perverse. I had to explain myself. "It's not a sexual thing. I can actual cast my healing spell on myself in combat. It's only 1 point of health per 20 seconds though and I think I have lost 4 points of health."

You have cast Minor Healing Touch. You heal 1 hit point.

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I began slowly counting to 20 with my fingers for when I could do the next heal.

"You humans speak in such strange tongues."

"You're telling me." Geraldine agreed with Alice the Beaver. "They talk and I have no idea what they're even saying. I never thought that I'd have to relearn it all in my 70s."

"It's Funneler language." Alice added with a touch of concern. "Are you not able to understand them either?"

Before they could commiserate more, I noticed a slowing in the red blinking of my minimap. "Uhh. I hate to be a bother, but could you please just push my wound again? It's still bleeding out and it looks like we might go out of combat."

I hadn't lost any more hit points, but the wound hadn't closed. I don't really know what that meant, but I definitely wanted to heal at least until the skin closed over. The possibility of gangrene and sepsis would have to wait until I learned a spell that could fix that.

"Oh!" Alice pressed the wound again. It still hurt, though less than before.

You have cast Minor Healing Touch. You heal 1 hit point.

This time, the wound closed up. I could feel a shiver of rightness and wholeness race through my body. "Thanks." I started counting on my fingers again.

Suze stood guard while the other two ladies -- one human and one giant beaver, cooed over Geraldine's cats from their carriers attached to Suze's back.

The minimap still blinked red long enough to get another heal off. This time any pain just dissolved and I felt as good as I typically do. I pulled off the bloody tea towel and the skin was marked by two thin scars about where the beaver teeth had broken through during the attack. It had left a mark. I ran my fingers over the raised thin bumps. They felt really real.

COMBAT ENDED.

Though my body was okay, the fact the attack left two little obvious scars, bothered me. I looked at the place on my arm where the spear had sliced, but there was no sign it had done so. The difference between the attacks were that one was a crit and the other wasn't. The crit attack left a scar.

I joined Suze and looked out to where she was watching Timber sit in the shallows of a whirlpool in the river. He had his arms crossed and glared at us sullenly. "Suze. I know for sure this isn't a game. We're here. Somehow. Like going through the wardrobe in Narnia or dropping into the rabbit hole by Alice in Wonderland. This is real." I showed her the scar on my arm.

She didn't look surprised, just thoughtful. "During that combat I leveled up some skill or ability which said it improved my strength. Check out these guns." Suze said. She pulled up the sleeves of her shirt and then she flexed. The muscles in her arms bulged. "It's like I've been working out for months. I don't have pains for the improvement either."

"Girls!" Geraldine called, pulling our attention. "Alice tells me that there is a town just a half day's walk in that direction." Geraldine motioned to a dirt road that was about wide enough for a single car to drive. "She says there's an inn where we can wash and a market for human clothes."

Our parting from the dam was sweeter than our arrival. Alice filled us up with some food supplies from her lodge. She said she would have offered to take us to town, but she'd just slow us up because walking on land was difficult for her. At some point, she ordered Timber to apologise to us, which he did sullenly. The tree did not disappear from his name.

She waved at us when we left down the road and wished us well.

"I like her. I hope we don't have to kill her later."

"Suze." I said, but really felt the same way so couldn't come up with anything else to tell her off with.

We traveled along a worn path with wagon ruts and footsteps pounded into it.

One thing I will never underestimate again is what a half's day walk means. It was certainly not a half day's walk for a giant beaver unless she could walk way faster than I could. It was certainly not a half day's walk for someone wearing fuzzy slippers and who had nearly died not that long ago.

I had to take breaks way more often than Geraldine. I covered for it by saying I needed to water the cats. But really I was exhausted. I needed better shoes or to somehow get the same fitness buff skill that Suze had picked up. She seemed absolutely able to walk for hours as if it was barely an inconvenience.

At least Geraldine was winded a little but after the fifth time that she lingered extra long during our breaks, I began to wonder if she was just doing it for my benefit.

The third such break, Geraldine stood up far too early and dusted herself off. Just raring to go.

I lay on the ground, sprawled out against the soft cool grass. The sun rose in the sky and it was beginning to get warm. Too warm. The grass was such a welcome refreshment. I could almost forget that I stunk still from earlier in the day.

Suze poked at me with her toe. "Kaylee. Let's go."

"We could stop longer," Geraldine offered.

"You two. I'm fine. I can do this. Just a short rest and we can go." I sighed, but rolled over toward the cat cages nearby. They sat shaded under a tree's shadow. I unzipped the mesh opening of a cage and gave Lady Eleanor Pawsevelt a bit of a scratch on her head. She closed her eyes in contentment, then all a sudden her ears perked up and she turned her head. Right after, I heard a strange sound not far off. I "Wait shh. Do you hear that?" I zipped up the cage. All the cats had perked ears that swiveled. They heard something too.

Instantly, all tiredness disappeared. I stood and pulled the Mirror of the Moon, in its mirror form, into my hand. To my left, Suze raised the cudgel ready to battle. Geraldine ducked down toward her cats.

The noise came from off in the brush. It was sounds of some kind of chase. Underbrush cracked and wooshed as forms ran in it, heading in our direction. I heard a thunk. A curse. Then another thunk and a bloodcurdling scream. For a moment, there was silence, then two different people shouted, laughed, and ambled about in the forest without seeming to try to be silent about it. They congratulated one another. They were coming closer. I could barely make out their shadows coalescing into forms in the forest beyond.

Suze crouched, ready to spring the moment they broke into the edge of the clearing.

I may not have had a combat spell, but I had my mirror and that light spell.

Two people broke through the bushes and then froze when they saw us. Before I could fling my balls of light at them, one of the two men's face broke into a bright smile.

"Peres! Dude! It's Peres!"

The voice was unmistakeable and familiar. We weren't exactly close, but I'd heard him time and again in the PvP raids we ran against the other faction.

"Halliday?"

"It is Peres! Holy shit dude. Is that Tutujoy?"

"Tudojoia." Suze said unimpressed. She had never really liked the A Team much even though they'd wanted her to join their Arena teams and treated her pretty well.

"Wow. You're dang hot Tutu." The other man said and from the deep Texan drawl in the words I recognised exactly who it was.

Suze growled, but I put a hand on her arm. I said as politely as I could muster, "Uhh. Gogo hello to you too."

I felt so relieved and excited that yes some of our guildmates were stuck here that I didn't really acknowledge what the two of them looked like for real and that Gogo said something pervy right out of the gate. If these two were here as well, then maybe just maybe the others were.

I knew that Suze only put up with Gogo purely because nobody would make her PvP Lead and he was that.

"Who's the old lady? She a spawn?" Gogo asked. He lifted up a giant axe in a threatening manner. Suze's arm clenched underneath my hand and I jumped forward.

"No! No. That's our neighbour Geraldine. She was Funneled with us." This whole interaction felt gross and tense. I needed to break up whatever was happening and calm it down. If my calming presence skill thing could be an AOE, then that would be amazing. I didn't think it could be, but I needed to channel a bit of that chill into my voice and change the tone.

"You have no idea how happy we are that there are others here. Do you know where the rest of the guild is?"

"Yeah." Gogo said cheerfully as if he hadn't leveled a slight threat at our companion. "This way."

I looked at Suze who looked ready to murder them and then at Geraldine who looked scared and out-of-her-depth for the first time.

"They're okay. I promise. It's all talk."

Though I said it, I had this foreboding feeling that I would be very, very wrong.

Gogo and Halliday began walking down the road we were just on and headed in the direction we had been going. Halliday chortled and said, "Oh, man. Valzh is going to shit himself." Gogo laughed.

Matt was here. That feeling of foreboding increased tenfold.