49) How’d you like them apples

Hiram cleared his throat and tapped the side of the sheet of cardboard I had hung up on a nail in my kitchen, setting the ‘To do’ to slowly rock back and forth.

“Hey look, a change of subject. Seems like like you’re planning a trip there Harry, want some company?”

I gave my former co-worker a narrow eyed look. “Actually I was planning a trip to get me some levels, and some rocks. All. On. My. Own. I’m not planning on sharing.”

Not with other people, or at least not people with with classes. The monster rocks I was going to split up with the furry folk, and give Acey some out of my share.

She wasn’t going into the Dungeons, so she wasn’t going to get her own cut.

The Grinning man began rubbing his hands together as Beryl sighed.

“See Berry.” I turned my head to look at Beryl and mouthed the word “Berry?” at her. She winced as Hiram jabbed his finger at her. “That’s what I’m talking about. Grinding. Kills some monsters, get more powerful. Live long and prosper by putting points in Health and selling off loot. Now that’s a retirement job.”

He grinned at me. “I want in Harry. My band of brothers, and sisters, want to wait to see if someone else will take down the other Dungeons around here and they’re only willing to get off their butts if it comes down to the line at day twenty five.”

Beryl started to say something, but Hiram talked over her. “And they only want that because Berry told them that she won’t go back into a Dungeon unless she gets a quest for it from her class.”

My Ex waited until he finished, then stared at him as if daring him to interrupt her again. The Saboteur simply grinned at her as he leaned up against the inside of the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed.

She looked from him to me. “I maintain that the Advancement points we can get by finishing a Quest more than makes up for what we could make with multiple trips into a Dungeon, and with much less risk. It simply makes the most sense… and you're going to completely ignore everything I have to say and are still planning on going in. Aren't you Harold?”

I glanced back from where I had been looking over at Acey and the three Coyotes in the living room as Beryl glared at me with her lips narrowed in frustration.

“Harold. Please don’t do this simply because I said you shouldn’t. I’m not telling you what to do, I’m… never mind, do what you want.” She threw her hands up as she stood and began to walk to the front door, her back stiff. “I’m going to wait in the car Hiram while the two of you figure out how to commit suicide.”

I managed to put my thoughts into words before she made it across the living room. “What happens to them if Reed gets me declared too old to take care of myself?”

She came to a slow stop, seeming to turn her head to look at Wylina and the pups almost against her will.

“They’re not pets Beryl. Not that being pets would protect them, lots of animals get put down by people’s family members when they get too old to take care of themselves, let alone a pet. But I don’t know if Reed would even need a license to shoot them. And Acey… she’s a tree.

I stood up and walked up behind my Ex. “I don’t know if feeding them more Stones can save them, but I don’t know what else I can do.”

Hiram cleared his throat. “One Stone turns an animal into a spirit beast bound to whoever pushed their Essence through it. Two more Stones powers them up a step, then another three gets them to what the people who can check on that are calling Tier Three. Then four more and so on. But the limit they can go to is a Tier equal to the Level of the person they’re bound to.”

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Me and Beryl both turned around to look at him.

The skinny old man shrugged. “I miss having a cat of my own around, so I did some research. I didn’t want to get another one after Colt passed on and have them outlive me all scared and confused in some pound until some stranger… You know.”

He mime injecting himself in the arm, then tilted his head to the side with his tongue stuck out.

With a bit of a shutter, he looked back at us and shrugged. “But now, I might have the time for another cat. All depending on how much I can level up and get points in Health. And with the prize money they're trying to push through Congress and selling off things from the Dungeons, I can set aside money to make sure any pet that outlives me will be taken care of. So I looked stuff up, feel free to confirm it with the System if you don’t mind using up your limit for the day.”

I frowned at him, then looked over at Beryl who seemed to be equally lost. Limit?

The skinny old man gave us a surprised look. “The limit? You get about two questions answered, then the System starts giving you half answers. You keep pushing and it starts going on about not wanting to hold you back and lead you by the nose? None of this is… Oh hell Harry, you haven’t been talking to it at all have you?”

He shook his head at me, looking more tired than upset, until he looked over at my equally clueless Ex. “Of course ‘he’ hasn't. It’s him. But I’m guessing Miss Know It All hasn’t bothered to ask the magic letters anything since she always has all the answers. God damn you two deserved each other.”

With a twist of his hands, a bottle of cheap beer appeared in his hand as he twisted the cap off. “And Yeah I know I’m driving Berry, but you two are driving me to drink and even then I’m going to pour it into two glasses so I can share one with Harry You know, a toast to our new partnership.”

As he began opening cupboards in the kitchen I turned back to look at Beryl. “I got the ‘Figure it out for yourself’ and “I’m not here to hold your hand’ line. Once.” I shot a sneer toward the sounds of cupboard doors thumping shut. He doesn’t know me.

She grinned with one side of her mouth, as if against her will. “I ask my questions each evening after thinking all day about what I want answers with as much time as I need to follow up on the answer without distractions. I thought it was giving me a hard time only because I was asking so many at once.” She narrowed her eyes at me and gave me a long stare. “Brad keep going on about the apple you gave him.”

She tilted her head back towards Acey. “Her work?”

The green girl looked up to meet my glance at her with a simple smile.

Nothing is free. “...How much does it cost you to make those apples?”

What I got back from her wasn't anything as simple as numbers, but rather the idea of each apple being made from something inside her that was diminished each time she made one that way, and then slowly filled back up from something all around her.

A familiar sense of warmth she pulled towards her.

Not Life Essence, at least not at first, but the other stuff. The Dangerous stuff Brackets had warned us about, the same stuff it made into Dungeons, that I, and every other living thing on my land could handle by turning it into Life Essence.

At least for the moment.

And the other old farts were turning it into the essence they used, so what about everyone else? Brackets had said animals would change over time, becoming dangerous. What about people…

I’m sure someone else has thought about that and can figure it out better than me. Acey is my problem, what can I do for her?

The Stone I had given her had made that well of magic stuff in her deeper, and let her fill it faster. So…

“Two apples? Each day maybe? She might be able to make more, but she might not be able to make any the next day? I don’t think she gets numbers, understands them, not as symbols…”

Or letters, or words. Damn, I hope the coyotes are getting something out of all my efforts to teach them how to read by putting videos on for them and then wandering off.

Beryl turned to face me again after looking over at Acey.

“Start selling the Apples, Harold. Give others a reason to value her, and to protect her. At the very least make sure Reed will want her intact. Our son is hateful, but not stupid. He won’t kill a Golden Goose.”

She reached into the pocket of her jacket to pull out her phone. “I’m going to talk to Brad now. You can go share a beer with your very first friend.”

I shot her a dark look as she gave me an evil grin at getting the last word before she headed out the front door and sat on the steps.

Friends, that’s what you call the children you played with out of boredom since they lived close to your home when you were a kid. Adults don’t have friends, just people they can stand to be around when they can’t avoid them.

Or they’re useful without having to pay them.

“Hey Harry, all I could find were coffee mugs. Hope you don’t mind.”

Well. I guess Hiram qualifies as one of those.