I open the door for Penelope, walking in afterwards. The branch leader is a portly man, complete with impressive jowls. I haven't seen a lot of jowls before, but I immediately decide I don't like them. He's got thin, graying hair, and is sweating enough to stain his shirt, yet he gives me a big smile when I walk in, opening his arms in a welcome.

"Ah, you must be Vita, then! Hello, hello!"

"Hello sir," I say politely, nodding to him.

This guy is ugly as sin, but his soul feels quite nice! I'm not gonna be rude.

"Before we start, could I get you to drink this?" he asks, handing me a small vial of clear liquid.

"It's not alcohol, right?" I ask, swishing my bucket back and forth to signal Penta to get in a rat. "That stuff hits me hard. Rowan says I’m not supposed to have any."

He chuckles, and I feel Penta quickly swim down my arm and plop into the bucket.

"No, nothing like that," the branch leader assures me. "It's a much more potent poison."

I blink.

"Come again?"

"It's poison," he confirms. "Not enough to kill you, knock you out, or do any lasting damage. You'll just feel very uncomfortable for a while. Some people have a few aches and pains. But what it will do is kill any Nawra in your body. It's standard procedure for situations like this. So, I have to ask again... drink."

Ah. Well. That explains why I haven't felt any Nawra before, I suppose. With Penta safely out of my body, I bring the poison to my lips and drink. It's odorless, flavorless. Just a nothingness running down my throat. Shit, I wonder if they spike drinks with this. There's not a lot here. At first I don't feel anything, but pretty soon my whole body starts to hurt like a day after sparring with Remus.

"Ow," I tell the branch leader, handing him the vial back. He laughs.

"Sorry! Sorry, I know. It's not pleasant at all. We just had to check. So, Penelope tells me you have a talent that lets you detect Nawra inside a person?"

"Uh, yes sir. I do," I admit.

"And you also have a talent that can kill Nawra inside a person's body."

"I'm, uh, a walking Nawrabane, sir," I admit, trying not to wince.

"Yes, a very impressive set of talents. It sounds like it's some sort of natural biomancy, but I've never heard of anything like it."

"Please don't ship me off to get researched," I plead. I’ll activate puppy dog eyes for this if I have to.

He raises an eyebrow.

"Well, I'll not make you, but there's good money in it if you have a new talent!"

Hmm... Money, or not being found out as a necromancer and murdered by Templars. That’s tough!

"I'll think about it," I say dryly. "So, about Remus... it's worth noting my kill thing doesn't work on all Nawra. I tried to murder his slime, but he didn't even notice."

The branch leader's eyebrows raise.

"You tried to kill the slime in Remus?"

"Of course I tried to kill the slime in Remus!" I answer. "He's planning on infecting the population of Litia Village. Can we save him somehow without killing him? Maybe trick him into drinking that?"

"Well, I'd certainly like that, but I doubt it will be that simple to get the drop on a man like him. We have to assume that thing is just as powerful and clever as its host."

A random idea forms in my mind. It’s probably worth bringing up, at least.

"Well, he thinks Penelope and I still have Nawra in us," I say. "Can we like, sneak in and spike a drink with it?"

He strokes his salt-and-pepper beard.

"If the two of you would be willing to try... well, we would be loath to lose a man like Remus. He is an asset to the guild and to the city."

Penelope stares at me in half terror, half fury. What? ...Oh. I guess I sort of just volunteered her to walk into a village full of Nawra, didn't I? I guess she, uh, probably wouldn't like that. I mouth 'sorry' at her. It doesn't seem to help.

"Obviously, we're not going to entrust a mission like this solely to a pair of new guild recruits. We can't set out tonight, of course, but I think with this information I can convince the church to lend you a Templar escort without much trouble."

...Aaaand I just fucked myself too.

"Uh, gosh, I mean... I don't know if that's—"

"It's no trouble, I assure you!" the man says happily. "This is exactly the sort of thing the Templars are for. Our branch of the guild has a very positive working relationship with them, and I think they'll be more than willing to try a plan to save Remus. As soon as we're safe from the threat of Hiverock, I'll get everything ready for you. Can the both of you make sure to stay in the guild tonight? Thank you!"

He ushers us to the exit, politely gets us into the hallway, and shuts his door. Penelope and I take a few stunned moments to process the amount of shit I just got us into.

"Vita..." Penelope hisses softly. "You absolute, imbecilic, insane—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I fucked up," I say, cutting her off. "I really fucked up. It seemed like a good suggestion at the time! Ugh. Can you just get this poison out of me? Then we'll... go talk."

She takes a deep breath.

"...Fine. Let's go to the mess hall. I'll have to burn through your metabolism."

Hey, fine by me. The two of us head downstairs and I start stuffing my face, Penelope casting on me as she eats a little herself. Eventually, she nods to me and I stick my hand in the rat bucket. Penta flashes up my arm immediately, settling into my neck and shuddering a little. Slimes vibrating inside my spine is not something I think I’m ever going to get used to.

"That was deeply unpleasant," my voice comments on its own. "We need a better strategy than that."

Hey, sorry, I think. I'm trying. Did you lose any memories?

"A few, I think, but nothing important," she murmurs quietly. "I'm more concerned about my new memories of being a suffocating rat in a sea of her brethren's corpses!"

Oh. I... might not have thought about that.

"Empathy!"

"Are you done?" Penelope snaps. "I'm still owed my explanation."

"Right. Uh, are you okay with heading back to my place?”

She scowls.

“The branch leader asked us to stay here.”

“He meant for tonight. Like, for Hiverock. Come on, we’ll be back way before then.”

“There is no need to pull me through the slums again unless you’re planning on having me mugged,” she complains. “My secrets were spilled outside a fucking outhouse.”

“Sorry,” Penta says, and then I speak after her. “It’s just not something I can talk about here. Plus… y’know, I was sort of hoping you’d treat the kids? Is that… I mean, I know that’s something Penta promised, but...”

Penelope scowls.

“Fine,” she relents.

I grin and we get ready to go, making sure she dresses in her armor this time. I collect my money from the receptionist and we hoof it back to my place to the sound of yet more hemming and hawing about us having to run. I’m once again greeted by a grinning Lyn.

“Vita! Hey, kiddo, back already? Who’s this?”

“Hi Lyn!” I say happily, running in for a hug. “This is Penelope! Like, the actual Penelope. She knows about… stuff. And I need to tell her more stuff. If that’s okay?”

“Oh, is this the girl that healed the kiddos?”

I smile. Technically no, but…

“We’re gonna get healing this time, too!”

Lyn’s eyes go wide. She bows her head at Penelope, much to the girl’s embarrassment.

“Well, thank you very much, Miss Penelope. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

“Ah, no. That’s… quite all right, Miss… Lyn,” Penelope said, putting one hand over her collarbone. “I assure you, if I did not owe Vita my life, I would not be here. There is no debt for you to pay.”

“Liar,” Penta whispers softly. I grin.

“So, I know this isn’t an outsider thing, but…”

“The biomancer that heals the kids is an honorary family member,” Lyn says, waving you off. "Rowan’s still down there, tell him I said it’s okay. You sure, though? If by ‘more stuff’ you mean… well, you know. She looks a little rich for it.”

Penelope blinks, her face blank. Hah, she’s never heard that slung back the other direction, has she?

“I promised her, that’s all,” I say. "If it doesn’t work out… sucks to be me, I guess.”

“Fair enough,” Lyn agrees. “You sure you can’t stay home for Hiverock? I’m gonna be scared as fuck for you.”

“Sorry,” I say honestly. “I want to. I shouldn’t, though. Buncha things happened, and I’m needed at the guild. I might be sent out soon, too.”

“Aw, shit. Good luck, Vita.”

“You too, Lyn.”

I show Penelope our secret basement and hop down. Rowan raises an eyebrow at us when Penelope climbs down the ladder, but I shut him up pretty fast by tossing him a hefty bag of coins.

“Biomancer says the kids need meat and veggies sometimes or they’ll get sick,” I tell him. “If you don’t figure out how to please the mob and feed everyone, I’ll smack you.”

“This… should be more than enough. Who’s this? The biomancer?” Rowan asks, tilting his head at Penelope.

“That would be me,” she answers dryly. “Could we have fewer family reunions and more explanations, please?”

“Yeah, okay,” I agree. “We silent, Rowan?”

“As always,” he answers.

I take a deep breath. This is it then, huh? Blasphemy time. Am I really going to do this? This conversation could decide my future. If it goes poorly, I could be driven out of the city or worse. But if it goes well…

“I’m a natural mage,” I tell Penelope.

“You don’t say,” she answers blandly.

“The kind of magic I’m able to naturally cast is necromancy.”

That breaks her demeanor a bit. She narrows her eyes, hands flicking into spell patterns. I glance at Rowan, relieved to see him looking more thoughtful than worried about whatever she’s casting. She finishes her spell in short order.

“Prove it,” Penelope says.

I shrug, pulling a rat corpse out of my bucket and lobbing it at her. I had been expecting a shriek or something but she actually catches it.

“That’s dead, right?” I say.

“Very,” she confirms, giving it back.

Holding it in my hands, I push Vitamin’s soul into it. She twitches a bit, then looks around.

“Hey, Vitamin! Are you doing okay?” I ask happily.

The little rat nods. I smile at her.

“Yay! I just wanted to give you a hug, okay?” I do so, squeezing her lightly against my chest. “That was all! Love you!”

I pull the soul back up, then look at Penelope. She scowls.

“...I see,” she murmurs quietly. “So your scouting ability?”

“Soul-sensing,” I tell her. “Yours is all bubbly on the bottom and spiky on the top, by the way. And it makes pretty noises.”

She struggles to answer for a short while before deciding to just move on.

“...Your death-touch.”

“Yoink! I pull souls right outta people. And things that aren't people, I guess.”

I try to smile, not letting the terror show on my face. Penelope just gives me a flat look, letting the silence creep my panic higher and higher.

“Show me again,” she says.

I gulp and nod, pulling more rat corpses out of the bucket. Tiny fragments of soul break away at my will, and whatever writhing thing lives inside me twists gleefully as I pull off parts of the shell. I put each shard in a rat corpse, whispering at them to stay put as soon as I create them. The simple zombies obey, and when I have them all made and lined up, I begin to demonstrate.

“Roll over.”

They do.

“Dance.”

They perform a twitchy movement, stumbling around in their best facsimile of style. A grin creeps up my face as I watch them obey me. Ah, if only it were legal...

“Okay, stop,” Penelope says. “I believe you. It always felt odd to hear there are no natural animancers, but here you are.”

“Here I am,” I agree. “You’re taking this weirdly well.”

“I don’t care particularly much about the nature of your power,” she answers. “If anything, it’s nice to know I have some verifiable blackmail on you.”

“Um,” I say.

“It’s just in case,” she assures me, smiling a little. “I’m sure I’ll never have to use it. Anyway, that’s very interesting. The mana patterns are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. So this is animancy. You wouldn’t happen to be a cognimancer as well, would you?”

She asked the question very casually, but failed to hide a bit of an edge to her words.

“Not that I know of, no,” I say honestly. “I can see souls in living things, but I’ve never been able to do anything to them other than yank ‘em out.”

“That makes sense,” she murmurs. “No need to set up all this if you could just alter my mind. Well. That explains why you’re not a fan of Templars. They’d ship you right off, wouldn’t they? I wonder if you being able to use your natural magic while possessed by a Nawra is due to the fact that it’s animancy, or the way you’re casting the animancy. What happens to a soul when you yank it out?”

"I can store them inside me!" I answer happily. "They can be used to make undead, or I can just eat them!"

She furrows her brows.

"Eat them?"

"Yeah!" I say, excited to finally be able to talk about it. "They're super delicious! Also, they make me stronger. Whenever anything dies, their soul just kinda sits around. Then either this giant ethereal abomination I'm pretty sure is the Mistwatcher grabs them and pulls them through the ground, or I grab them first! Honestly, a big part of the reason I wanted to be a hunter was so I could have access to monster souls. Rat souls only go so far, you know? I've gotten way, way stronger munching on the stuff we killed on that last mission."

"So would it be accurate to say that you are currently in the business of stealing souls from god?" Penelope asks, her mouth twitching upwards a bit.

I swallow.

"Uh. I mean, finders keepers?"

She snorts, which quickly evolves into a full-blown laugh.

"A metal thief and a soul thief. Aren't you just a blasphemous lineage?"

I tense.

"Don't you tell anyone that Lyn lives here," I warn dangerously. She glances at me and flinches a little, then turns up her nose.

"Calm down," she snaps. "I promise that if this relationship comes to threats, they will be against you directly. But if I find my necklace is missing, the gloves come off."

I chuckle, letting the tension release.

"Okay, I'll be sure to tell Lyn to keep her hand out of your boobs. Anyway, yeah. That's what I can do. What, uh… what do you think?"

Penelope is silent for an uncomfortably long time before speaking again.

"I am not really sure yet. Animancy had crossed my mind for possibilities, but since you seemed to be a natural mage I had dismissed it. I think if you had been a learned animancer I would have tried to play along before turning you into the authorities at the earliest opportunity. Nothing personal, but… well, there tends to only be one kind of person who goes out of their way to seek that sort of power. As a natural, though, you’re actually quite intriguing."

I take a deep breath, then let it out.

"I really expected you to freak the fuck out over this," I tell her.

"Mmm," Penelope murmurs. "Well, consider not thinking so little of me. Can you make Revenants or Wights?"

"Revenants, yeah. Never tried to make a Wight, but the Revenants are creepy. They know everything they knew in life, but they're loyal to me."

She narrows her eyes.

"Did you make that slime a Revenant, then...?"

"Nah, Penta’s just a product of good, old-fashioned extortion and threats."

My hand moves up of its own accord and flicks me in the nose.

"Ow! I was kidding!"

"But you're saying, basically, that you can rip people's souls out and turn them into loyal servants that know everything the host knows?" Penelope clarifies.

"Uh. Yeah, I guess?"

She frowns, tapping a finger against her arm. This time, her poker face is perfect, but her soul trembles.

"Interesting," is all she says.

I order my mini rat army over to me and yank my soul bits out, putting them back where they belong.

"Yeah," I agree. "It's... interesting. It's what I am. I'm trying to grow strong enough to defend myself when the wrong person eventually finds out, and support my family in the meantime."

"Well, good for you," Penelope says. "I think you’ve told me everything then? Can we go now?"

"Don't forget the kiddos!" I insist. "They need their auntie Penelope!"

"Firstly, not their auntie, secondly, don't you think it would be easier to feed your family if your parents hadn't made so many of them?"

"Nobody here is related," I tell her. "Lyn's just helping everybody out because she's the nicest person on the island."

"Uh-huh. The nicest criminal, perhaps. Just make sure she doesn't keep all the damn metal she’s stealing in the same place," Penelope grumbles, heading up the ladder. "She's far from the most dangerous metal thief around."

"Uh, I'll keep that in mind, I guess."

"How did you find out Remus was in Litia Village, by the way?"

"Oh, um, Vitamin told me. She's a Revenant of the slime that possessed me. I couldn't put her in her own body, so I put her in a rat."

"Hmm... well, there's probably nothing keeping a Nawra’s body together without its soul. They're shockingly simple creatures in structure, like nothing I've seen before."

We exit the secret area below, the kids immediately crowding around for treatment. Penelope makes them all lie down and gets to work, one after the other. I sit and watch, feeling the song of her soul hum a low, sad tune.

"Um... thanks for not treating me like a monster," I say after a bit.

She doesn't even glance at me, engrossed in her work.

"Why would I treat you like a monster?" she asks. "You're clearly human."

I swallow dry, not arguing with her... though I feel like I should. It takes another couple hours for her to finish treating all the kids, and she's visibly exhausted by the end of it. She still makes me lie down so I can get the treatment as well.

"Thank you so much," I tell her. "If you want any help with your research, you can just ask. Maybe we can find out that brain connection more easily."

She snorts.

"Watcher's eyes, you're still on about that. Fine. I can see how you might be useful, now."

I smile. I'll take that. We make our way back to the guild, watching the sky as Hiverock floats ever closer. It wouldn't be long now. If they’re going to come, they'll come in force.

For the first time in a while, though, I’m feeling kind of optimistic about it all.