– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 214, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 95 –

“This is… kinda boooring,” complained Calam.

“Harvesting the midnight primrose or scanning the local wildlife for signs of mana corruption?” questioned Terry.

“YES!”

Siling chuckled. “I do not mind a few relaxing missions for a change, especially if they pay well.”

Today, the group had arrived in Corsteau and registered for taking part in the perpetual mark and recapture mission. They paired it up with two open gathering missions for aspected herbs.

“Relaxing is one thing, but today I feel more like a farmer than a Guardian.”

“Nevertheless, the work is important,” retorted Terry. “Remember what instructor Khaled said?”

“Yeah yeah, it needs to be done.” Calam paused. “But why by us?”

Terry assumed that Calam was only half serious. Whining seemed to make Calam feel better. Therefore, Terry refrained from pushing back too hard.

“Wait until we are back in Cannington. The mana corrupted hunt may appeal more to you.”

“Woohoo,” exclaimed Siling. “Bloody frogmouth hooray!” She pumped her fists into the air.

While Terry was aiming to improve Calam’s mood, he would take what he could get. Luckily, Siling’s anticipatory excitement was contagious and Calam’s complaints ebbed away.

“Found a numbered hare,” announced Siling. “That way. Looks tasty according to Birdbrain, in case you were interested.”

“Don’t believe we are allowed to eat the subjects,” remarked Terry. “For now.”

***

“We didn’t really think this one through, did we?”

Terry was examining the challenge in front of them.

Naturally, they had gathered some information on the bloody frogmouths from the local Guardians. It came as no surprise that the creatures resided in trees. However, as Terry saw it, their sources failed to put the appropriate emphasis on the subject. These gigantic wooden pillars resembled trees in the same way a terror grizzly resembled a kitten.

Initially, the group had believed themselves lucky. They had purchased some after mission reports and their timing was perfect for going after the bloody frogmouths. The corrupted birds had recently started to enter their cold season phase. This meant that the bloody frogmouths spent much of the time in torpor. Terry had thought previously that this should make the hunt easier.

“Sniffles could creep up there,” offered Siling.

“And do what?”

“Maybe its stench attack can make the things fall unconscious?” proposed Calam.

“Not likely,” said Siling. “The bloody frogmouth has a similar stink move. Weaponized diarrhea, essentially.”

“Seriously? Another stinker?”

“A pattern has emerged. You got a preference for stinky creatures?” teased Terry.

“Why else would I join up with you two?” retorted Siling.

Terry blinked in silence. “…walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

“Mhmh, yes you did.” Calam patted Terry on the shoulder. Then, Calam looked reproachfully at Siling. “The part I don’t understand is why I had to be involved as collateral damage.”

“Ah well,” started Terry. ”Sniffles could get up there, true. However, even if they don’t notice its approach, I figure it could manage to stun at most one before the others become wary. The delay between its stun attacks is too long, isn’t it? Air coating may give it good maneuverability, but once the things take off into the sky, it won’t be of much use.”

“Should we get a bow?” suggested Calam.

“For what? Are you able to use one properly?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither. Never had much interest in archery.” Terry looked at Siling, who also shook her head.

“How did you hunt the falcons for Birdbrain?”

“Baited noose traps, mostly bal-chatri.”

“Do you still have some?”

“Not with me, no. Even if I had, I don’t think that would work here. Definitely not more than once. The bloody frogmouths are more intelligent than common falcons. Supposedly, they are even able to remember faces.”

“So either we take enough of them down fast or we won’t get a good chance to immediately strengthen the new soul?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“No reason to mope, is there?” Calam attempted to comfort Siling. “Even if we only manage to take down one, you would still get access to life sense, right? In the worst case, we can come back later.”

“Nevertheless, I say we give it our best shot first.” Terry grinned.

“Got a plan?”

“Not yet, but I do have an idea. What is the current range of your Kinetic Pull?”

After Terry outlined what he had in mind, the group hatched a plan together. Their plan required them to purchase some items first. Therefore, they went back to Cannington.

There was no guarantee that they could directly purchase the items they required. In case they would need to wait for a custom order, Terry sent a message to his family through the Guardians. He did not want to worry them if he were to return later than anticipated.

***

“Pa Bjorln will get a kick out of this when I tell him the story,” murmured Terry.

“Still not quite sure why we needed more rope. Didn’t you have plenty in your dimensional bag?” asked Calam.

“Not the right kind.”

“There are kinds?” blurted Siling.

“Yes. Don’t try to use the same rope for climbing as you would for pulling up a bucket in a well. If you would accept more gathering missions, they would explain that to you as soon as you go into the mountains. Pa Bjorln likes to collect some ingredients himself and took me climbing a few times.”

Terry retrieved some of the prepared rope and separated it into three piles.

“Climbing in the mountains often has the rope going over a ledge. If you climb up from under the ledge, this means pressure on the rope where it meets the ledge. Additionally, your movements will cause the rope to move around sideways. Movement plus pressure means cutting. Proper climbing rope has to be specifically prepared to be resistant against cuts.”

Terry paused before shrugging. “Honestly, I have no idea if the same applies to climbing trees, but better to be prepared than not. Although, I believe we can avoid the ledge problem.”

Next, he pointed at the second pile. “Safety rope needs to be elastic, especially with longer drops. If you do fall, then the elasticity makes sure that your fall gets slowed down gradually instead of simply bringing you to an abrupt stop. If you were to tie a non-elastic rope around your foot and fall, then all it would achieve is you losing your foot before you splat on the ground.”

“The other rope is thicker and more comfortable for climbing. It has not been specially prepared. If I manage to find a good branch, we can directly climb up without running into the ledge problem. Just in case, I will use the cut-resistant rope when securing the climbing rope to some other branches.

”The interwoven rings are for securing yourself with the carabine of your safety rope. When we go up together, we will have a safety rope between us and always one of us secured to a ring. It may take longer, but it will be safer.”

Terry turned to face Calam and Siling again. “Everyone clear on the primary objective?”

“Not splat on the ground?” offered Siling.

“Yes. Aside from that?”

“Get as many of them into the air as possible before making our move,” replied Calam. “Ideally, they should be clustered close to each other.”

“According to my mana sense, I believe this tree should work best,” stated Terry. ”Of course, I can’t be certain that the mana signatures are actually bloody frogmouths before getting up there. Fingers crossed that the creatures don’t hop around too much until we are ready.”

Terry sharply exhaled a breath of air. “Alright, the first stage is mine. If you see someone falling from the sky, that is probably me.”

“Not funny,” grumbled Siling.

“If you do fall, then we will catch you,” said Calam. “Or at least throw a Kinetic Push in your face.”

Terry laughed with a snort. “Whatever slows me down. Hope that won’t be necessary.”

Terry looked up. The tree measured around three hundred feet. The first branches only appeared after a hundred or so. The challenge was to get to these branches.

“Be careful to not get hit by the falling metal plates,” reminded Terry.

Terry took out his training rings and prepared a spell. Next, he used a short burst to jump as high as he could. Up in the air, Terry ignited the spell structure and was now hanging on the ring transfixed in the air.

With his free hand, Terry summoned a metal plate from his storage bracelet. It was tertium again, but a much smaller version than the slab used for the earthen press plan.

Terry pulled himself up on the ring and placed the metal plate under his feet. Afterwards, he activated Immovable Object on the metal plate. He prepared another spell while continuing to inject mana into the transfixed plate.

After the next spell structure had been shaped and primed, Terry used a short burst to jump and the whole process started anew.

In theory, Terry would have been able to climb up to the branches using his normal training routine with the gymnastic rings. Nevertheless, the jumping cut down the number of required Immovable Object activations and therefore allowed Terry to save some mana.

Eventually, Terry reached the lower branches. He used some rope to secure himself and then took a moment to gather breath and recover. He was pleased to find that the majority of the mana signatures he saw from below were indeed bloody frogmouths.

Terry searched for a good branch and then prepared their primary climbing rope. After everything had been secured to his satisfaction, Terry climbed down.

***

“This is humiliating,” whined Siling from Terry’s back. “More so than I anticipated.”

“Would you rather climb up yourself?”

Siling was tied and secured to Terry’s back – both backs facing each other. She was more than a head shorter than Terry and her legs were now dangling in the air.

“Nooo,” grumbled Siling and pouted.

“Pfft…” Calam tried to suppress his laughter. Admittedly, he did not try very hard. It was an entertaining sight.

Siling glared in response.

“Couldn’t you give me a piggyback ride? That would be way less deelvenizing. I feel like luggage.”

Siling raised her head and it bumped into the back of Terry’s. “You can’t tell, but I’m batting my eyelashes at you very persuasively.”

Calam exhaled an amused snort. “Mhmh, yes. Very. Pfft.”

“I don’t need your arms in my face or legs in my way when climbing. This way, you can keep an eye on our surroundings, too. If necessary, you will be able to cast spells. Would you rather have a piggyback ride or increase our chances to not splat on the ground?”

Siling grimaced and apparently had to fight an intense inner battle before she could bring herself to answer.

“…hah, fine. Better to be deelvenized than to be delifed completely.”

Terry took a deep breath. “Alright, onwards then, luggage. Tell me if you notice anything important, my backpack.”

“Hmph.” The backpack pouted.

***

The group had arrived safely in the branches.

“I learned something today,” said Calam while peering down. “I don’t like heights.”

“I thought you were looking forward to the jumping spells?” retorted Terry. He was currently working to elevate Siling from her status as luggage.

“Sure. They come with companion spells for changing direction in the air and slowing down a fall. Also I don’t see much need for jumping this high.”

“Alright, welcome back to the world of people standing on their own two feet.”

“Much obliged. I figure this direction for our net trap?”

“Mhmh, I thought the same. Sniffles can go rampage around other locations as long as it stays out of the way.”

Siling nodded. “Good that most of the foliage has already fallen.”

They made their way through the branches and fastened a big net between them.

After everything had been prepared, they moved so that the net was positioned between them and the target area.

“The show is yours,” said Terry. ”Siling?”

“Ice Spike is primed and aimed. Sniffles has a target in sight and is ready to pounce. Calam, whenever you are ready.”

A few seconds later. “Ready.”

Siling ignited her spell structure and hit the first bloody frogmouth. At the same time, the air coated cloud badger soul spirit pounced on one creature and released a shock to stun it. The bloody frogmouth fell towards the ground and the cloud badger darted to its next target.

Calam released a prepared Kinetic Push that was intentionally weak – just enough to jolt the mana corrupted from their torpor. They were lifting off from the branches in order to take flight and Calam released his second prepared spell – an empowered Kinetic Pull.

The airborne mana corrupted were pulled towards the net and unable to put up much resistance.

Immediately after the initial attack, Siling prepared a Share Mana spell so that Calam could continue and further empower his spell without having to worry about mana.

Siling estimated that she would need around thirty souls in order to fully strengthen her new soul spirit.

Terry counted the bloody frogmouths pulled into the net and as soon as they hit their number, he pulled on a rope in order to close the net. Following that, Calam and Siling stopped their spellwork.

“Yippie!” exclaimed Siling. “If we were on solid ground, I might jump for joy.”

“That worked better than I thought,” remarked Terry.

“Eww, what happened there?” asked Calam.

“That would be the aforementioned diarrhea attack,” replied Siling.

“Glad that we did not put the net too close to us?” asked Terry.

“Wastes yes! Disgusting. Those poor normal birds trapped in the middle.”

“Come to think of it, we should probably have checked below first. Or maybe put up a warning sign. I hope no one was walking down there.”

Calam looked at Siling. “I hope you have a water spell for washing that off, otherwise—”

“Basic spell Water Sprout.”

“Thank mana.”

“Since we caught them alive, you can choose if you want to do your thing up here or down below.”

“Solid ground, please.”

They disassembled their net setup and made their way down from the tree.

“Hahh. Beloved ground,” exclaimed Siling. “I missed you.”

“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Calam.

“Technically, one of you is not quite on the ground yet.” Terry started to disentangle himself from Siling.

Afterwards, Terry grabbed the climbing rope again. “Alright, I will go back up to retrieve the remaining rope. Watch out for falling Terrys.”

“Still not funny.”

Siling and Calam went to collect the frogmouths that were killed by the cloud badger soul spirit and Siling’s spells.

***

Terry was sitting on one of the branches. He had already returned the rope into his storage items and was now preparing himself for the way down.

Terry had used the safety rope to create himself a simple body harness. The ends of the elastic rope were leaving the harness at his shoulders and they were tied to some of his metal gymnastic rings. This left around seven feet of rope between the rings and the harness.

Terry took one ring in each hand and prepared Immovable Object spells. When everything was ready, he took a deep breath and jumped from the branch.

He allowed himself to fall. Then, he activated the Immovable Object spell on one of the rings and released it. The ring was transfixed in the air. The safety rope tightened and brought Terry to a stop.

Next, Terry activated the spell for the other ring. He kept the spell active until he had the first ring back in hand as well as another spell structure ready and primed. Afterwards, Terry let go of the ring that was still transfixed in the air.

“WATCH OUT!” screamed Siling.

Terry looked down and saw that his companions were not alone anymore. Right next to them a big white creature had surfaced from the earth.

Immediately after it made its entrance, the icicle echidna hurled some ice spikes at Calam. Seeing the sharp icicles flying at himself, Calam froze up.

An air coated Sniffles saved Calam from harm by jumping in front of him and taking the hit. Fortunately, its felted pelt and thick skin provided good defensive capabilities. Thanks to this, the badger soul only received some minor injuries and could immediately go on the attack.

The icicle echidna displayed an inexplicable hatred for the cloud badger. The feeling seemed to intensify whenever Sniffles started up its lightning charge. This was fortunate because it was very advantageous for drawing the creature’s attention.

Siling activated her own air coating and started to cast Entangling Roots on the mana-corrupted creature.

“Calam? Calam!”

For some reason, Siling’s voice sounded very far away in Calam’s ears. When Calam did not react, Siling pulled him away in order to get some distance between themselves and the icicle echidna.

“I-I’m okay,” mumbled Calam.

Terry decided to speed up his descent. He summoned a tertium plate and activated Immovable Object. He prepared another spell and then used the plate in order to propel himself into the direction of the icicle echidna.

While falling, Terry tried to estimate the remaining distance to the ground. He went into full burst to stimulate his defense and regeneration. If his sense of distance was off, it might save his bones.

Now.

Terry activated the Immovable Object spell on one of the rings. Terry kept his current course and the transfixed ring was left behind. Next, Terry summoned a shield from his storage bracelet and prepared another spell.

The safety rope tightened and slowed Terry’s fall. Terry had to bend his knees somewhat to avoid hitting the ground too early, but overall his sense of distance was accurate enough.

Terry arrived just in time to use his shield and block another barrage of ice spikes. One of the icicles even managed to penetrate the shield to a small degree before Terry was able to activate Immovable Object. Aside from protecting the shield, the spell’s activation also gave Terry a hold so that he would not be pulled back by the elastic rope towards the transfixed ring.

Calam jolted out of his daze and threw a Kinetic Push at the corrupted creature. Thereby, he stopped its latest series of icicle projectiles.

Siling moved Sniffles further to the back.

After the gymnastic ring had dropped from the sky, Terry dispelled the spell on his shield. Afterwards, he threw the shield to Calam. He summoned another shield and threw it to Siling. At this point, Terry thanked his past self for stocking up on non-magical equipment when he had experimented with Immovable Object.

Terry summoned his barrier spear and disentangled himself from his safety rope harness.

Terry looked around to get a grasp on the situation. The icicle echidna was about as big as Siling’s bear soul. The icicles on its back would make it hard to inflict damage on its body. Terry’s short spears would be too short. The only way to use them on the body would be to throw them.

That left the head.

Maybe not… Terry formulated a plan.

“Calam, get a Kinetic Push ready,” shouted Terry. “Siling, prepare to call back the Entangling Roots. Same idea as with the frogmouths, but with a push. Prepare to push the thing towards me.”

Terry ran around the icicle echidna so that the creature was now placed between himself and Calam.

Siling moved towards Calam and prepared a Share Mana spell.

Terry summoned throwing needles from his storage bracelet and cast Immovable Object. He cast the spell repeatedly and when he had four throwing needles transfixed in the air, Terry signaled his companions.

Siling dispelled the entangling roots.

Calam smashed an empowered Kinetic Push into the creature and kept the pressure on.

Siling started to share her mana with Calam.

Before the creature made contact, Terry fed the transfixed needles another round of mana. He did not know how long they required the needles to stay in their position.

The icicle echidna was thrown on the needles. Calam’s spell kept pushing it further and further until the needles sank deep into its flesh.

Eventually, the mana corrupted stopped its death throes and became still. The icicle echidna was dead.

“Hope that covers your thirst for excitement.” Terry laughed shakily.

“Heh.” Calam managed to press out a dry chortle.

Siling stomped over to Calam. “What gives? You froze up. You nearly got yourself killed!”

“I-it wasn’t that bad. The cloud badger armor would have blocked the icicles.”

“Unless, you know, THEY HIT YOUR WASTED HEAD!”

Siling was furious. Terry had never seen her that angry before.

“Th-that would not have happened. I-I… I was already preparing a Kinetic Push. That’s right. If Sniffles had not gotten in the way, I could have blocked the ice spikes by myself.”

Siling remained doubtful. She had not noticed any movement of mana with her mana sense, but Siling could not be a hundred percent certain. Maybe she had simply missed it?

“Come on. Don’t you want to get going with your new soul capture?” asked Calam and went to the net with the captured bloody frogmouths.

Siling shot Terry a glance and Terry saw the mixture of anger, concern, and doubt in her eyes. Then, Siling shook her head and followed Calam.

“Here,” Siling handed Terry back his shield. “I should really buy a shield for myself. I thought it would make more sense to save up until I can afford a fancier one, but well… I’ve changed my mind.”

“Wise are the folk who learn from experience or something.” Terry chuckled. “You can use that one for now if you want. It is only average quality, though. So I would advise against picking unnecessary fights with spiky mana corrupted.”

“Thank you. Still, first thing in Arcana I will buy a shield with at least an intermediate level barrier imprint. The monster core embeddings can wait a bit longer.”

“Look for a high quality shield then. I could quote you the lecture that Ma Isille has given me, but suffice it to say it’s wasted long. Bottom line is, one should never have too much of a gap between the quality of the material forging and the level of the spell imprint. Saves money in the long run.”

“Appreciate the short summary.” Siling grinned.

The two arrived at their net trap. The group killed the first bloody frogmouth and Siling captured its soul. The soul spirit now took the spot that was previously occupied by her falcon soul. As soon as Siling felt the connection and the ability to activate life sense, her mood improved considerably.

They continued to finish off the captured bloody frogmouths one by one so that Siling could continue to strengthen her new soul spirit. When Siling finished the last of the caught corrupted creatures, she could already perceive diminishing returns of the soul strengthening. This was a sign that her estimation had been accurate and the soul had reached its inherent limit.

After everything was done, Siling recalled Sniffles and summoned her new soul spirit. A bloody frogmouth appeared. As always, it was white with purple markings.

“It does not look happy”, remarked Calam.

“That is just its face. Going by our spirit link, it is actually ecstatic. Apparently, our net also caught a lot of—” Siling used air-quotes. “‘Tasty’ insects, spiders, and slugs. It is requesting permission to gorge itself.”

Siling shivered in disgust. “I always found it peculiar that the spirits retain their previous tastes even though they don’t derive any nourishment from the food anymore. Anyway, I am not sure if I should call it Grumpy or Tasteless.”

“Grumpy,” said Calam.

“Tasteless,” said Terry.

“Wastes, thanks for the help. That clears it up.” Siling spoke with mock-sarcasm but immediately had to chuckle. She was very pleased with the day’s results.

They sorted out the remaining occupants of the net and released all the non-magic animals. Afterwards, they collected the remains of the icicle echidna and made their way back to Cannington.

They went to the local Guardians branch in order to retrieve the corrupted culling rewards as well as to sell the remains of the mana-corrupted creatures. In addition, Terry submitted an after mission report. The Guardians appreciated the effort.

After going over the report, the Guardian receptionist speculated that the icicle echidna had targeted their group, because a lot of the other creatures caught up in the net were part of its diet. In particular, there were some dark blue beetles. Apparently, those beetles were mixed aspect creatures and considered a delicacy by the icicle echidnas.

Furthermore, they explained that the icicle echidna was particularly focused on the cloud badger soul spirit because of the electrosensors in its beak. That little tidbit was part of the standard information material on icicle echidnas.

Terry and the others decided to rest for the day in Cannington and to start their return trip to Arcana the next morning.

***

“No.” Bjorln was the first to respond and his voice was firm. The tone lacked his usual warmth and softness.

Isille and Bjorln looked about as happy as Terry imagined they would be, which is to say: Not. At. All.

“I thought we already talked about dungeon work,” growled Isille. “We said that this is a topic for later.”

“It is ‘later’ now,” retorted Florine.

“You know what I mean.”

“You also said,” began Jorgen, “That we were allowed to choose one of the advanced introduction classes ourselves. Introduction to dungeon work is our choice.”

Terry was impressed and above all surprised by Jorgen’s calmness. Usually, it would not take long for him to lose his head in a serious disagreement with their parents.

“…”

A variety of emotions ran over Isille’s face while the seconds passed in silence. Her teeth clenched and relaxed. Her eyes closed for a while and then opened again. A look at the table in front of them, at her husband, at their children.

Isille was maintaining eye contact with Bjorln when Florine could not stand the silence anymore.

“The Guardians have rated it as an advanced class. We are just following the Guardians’ rating.“

Bjorln closed his eyes and took a deep breath. An unspoken conversation seemed to have passed between him and Isille.

“It is true,” started Isille. “We did say that. It is your choice and you have the right to make it. We won’t forbid it. We won’t prevent it. Nevertheless, we ask that you reconsider.”

“Please,” added Bjorln in a hoarse voice.

“Please,” echoed Isille.

Terry felt as if he had a lump in his throat. Even Jorgen’s calm was shaken.

“We can’t,” replied Florine. “I mean, we won’t.”

Her answer helped Jorgen rediscover his resolve. “We made our choice. Our minds are made up.”

Bjorln clenched his fists, stood up, and left for the living room without a word.

“Pa!” exclaimed Jorgen and stood up as if to follow. Florine was not far behind.

“No! You stay here.” Isille stopped them. “Give him some space. You do not realize what…” She took a deep breath.

“Let me talk to him.” Isille looked inside the living room.

Bjorln was sitting silently in his favorite armchair. The armchair was old and way too big for him. From the dining area, Isille could only see the back of the chair. Bjorln’s hand was visible on the armrest.

However, Isille did not have to see her husband’s face to know the look in his eyes as he stared into the fireplace.

“Leave the living room to us for the day,” ordered Isille. “You go and prepare. You have made a choice and don’t you dare to half-ass it.”

After Terry, Jorgen, and Florine had left, Isille walked into the living room. She kneeled next to the armchair and took Bjorln’s hand in her own. She watched him and waited.

Bjorln kept staring at the fire in the fireplace with a distant look in his eyes.

Eventually, Bjorln glanced at Isille and raised one corner of his mouth. Then, he looked back at the fire. Bjorln shook his head slowly.

“Jorg reminds me so much of him whenever he is like that.” His voice was trembling.

Isille gently caressed Bjorln’s hands.

“Then, in my mind, I see Olgorn’s face. The singed beard. The half-missing eyebrows. That cheeky grin… I can even smell the scent of burned hair.”

“I…” Bjorln’s voice cracked and he teared up. “I just don’t want them to end up like him.”

Isille stood up. “I’ll be here.”

She crawled up on the armchair and snuggled up to Bjorln from his lap like a cat.

“I’ll always be here.”

For a while, they hugged each other in silence while watching the fire.

“Nama, my life,” whispered Bjorln.

Isille kissed him again. “You know, my pa always said to prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. We have done our best to prepare them for whatever road they may take.”

Bjorln patted Isille’s shoulder and hugged her a bit tighter in response. He remained silent.

“Still…” Isille watched the fire. “For as long as they are within our reach, we may as well make sure the road does not get too hazardous. We are Guardians, too. We could volunteer to accompany the class.”

Bjorln considered the idea and his expression brightened. “Maybe we could ask Whaka Samuel to take over the class? Practically no one in Arcana has more experience in dungeon work.”

“He would certainly be qualified, but… are you sure that he would… want to?”

“There is no way Samuel wants to do it, but I think he will do it. Knowing Samuel, he may even insist of his own accord if he learns that Terry and the chipmunks want to enter a dungeon. Only… I would feel guilty about him having to do it.”

Isille squeezed his hand. “We are all adults and can make our own decisions. No need to feel guilty.”

“Mhmh.” Bjorln rubbed the tip of his nose against Isille’s and gave her a soft kiss.

Bjorln raised his eyebrows. “Or maybe Whaka Samuel knows some nefarious-but-useful spell from the lower system for getting rid of crackbrained obsessions?”

“Like what?”

“Don’t know. Make them believe they are small again? You know, when they were still cute and not trying to get themselves killed…”

“At least not quite as often,” added Isille.

They smiled at each other. Isille was relieved to find her husband in a joking mood again.

“Perhaps we should have encouraged the bakery option a bit more?”

“Hah, the benefits of hindsight.” Bjorln clicked his tongue.

***