As usual, Alric sat waiting for her to wake up. Legs crossed, hands together in a meditative posture, thinking of something far away until that moment. Imira was fairly certain he actually took the pose moments before she woke up, just to… well not for any reason, just so she’d know he was there, and give her time to fully wake up before the morning lessons.

She would like to lay back down and fall asleep, but this was hardly the time for that. Trying to rid herself of morning grog, she sat up.

“Sleep well? Before breakfast we’ll be going over the seven vices, which in the past have been known as the seven deadly sins— the definition of ‘sin’ being so dynamic and subjective meant that when it came time to use these concepts to properly describe people, society wanted to divorce them from their connotations. In no meaningful order: greed, wrath, pride, lust, gluttony, envy, and sloth. It’s alright to have vices, but always be aware. These seven traits will lead you to ruin if left unchecked. This is also why it’s important to be self-aware, so you can temper your limitations.”

“Starting with Pride, it is a vice that represents inefficiency, self-deception, and callousness the most. To cut yourself off for the sake of pride means your pride is worth more than your goal. Now, you don’t always need to forsake your pride at every turn, some goals aren’t worth much, just think, if you are limiting yourself, ask why. Do not put your face higher than your desires.

:Do not think of yourself as more than you are.You are diligent now, but become prideful, and you will slack off. Perhaps if you retire from this life and settle somewhere small it won’t cause any problems. However there are many great and unforeseeable powers. Be cautious, don’t make a stir if you can’t handle it, don’t underestimate the enemy, and always strive to improve yourself.

“Because you are just another person. Reciprocity is in human nature, even Tiaism recognizes this. So you can’t simply discard others and behave coldly. Be proud, but treat others well.”

Alric continued on with this lesson a little more, as Imira tried drawing meaning out of it. He must have started with pride for a reason, but she had difficulty envisioning herself as prideful. Part of her wanted to ask questions, but regarding these more philosophical sorts of questions, Alric did his best not to give any answers.

Extraneous and lacking in guidance, her least favorite kind of lesson.

Looking around the room, their gear was still wantonly spread about. Allegedly there was a sort of order to it, Alric never seemed to rummage through the piles looking for anything, but more importantly—

“How long are we staying here?”

“En, you’ve got it. Another day or two. There’s a little recently established hunter’s guild; I want you to take a day trip with the juniors there and see if you can catch something.”

“In just a day?”

“Even without use of your eyes, there will be an abundance of fauna for you to track. Nor is anything there beyond your ability to handle, so I won’t be accompanying you— I’ll be nearby, just not enough to pull you directly out of danger.” Imira didn’t even have a chance for her nerves to consider the situation before Alric settled them. She wouldn’t have believed him if he said she was actually on her own.

Spear set to her right, Imira began packing the essentials for a short trip. That included a coat which had been resized and its insulating materials supplemented.

She definitely wouldn’t believe it if he claimed she was all on her own.

Understanding his motivations may not be possible, but what Alric did decide on it looked like he would involve himself intricately. But until what point would he stay involved?

“It’s just about time. Ria… I suppose there’s no need to tell you to stay put. I’ll be back in a flash.” Long arm striking like a snake, he tapped one of Ria’s nubby horns that were hiding under her cowl. While he usually gave a heads up, it wasn’t unprecedented. Ria shifted from her sedentary yet attentive position, to gently reclining back onto the bed.

Alric then withdrew an assortment of primitive looking charms with his hand on his chin.

“They’ll do, but don’t learn anything from them. Just some junk cobbled together. Let’s head out.”

Imira lifted up her bag and quickly followed out the door without looking back. Moving lightly with her spear in hand, Alric also walked elegantly with quiet footsteps, despite the warhammer strapped to his hip.

It was a weapon she hadn’t seen him use, although he seemed to favor it when not in town. Normally a person should favor a single type of weapon. The way he brought it out on the road meant this wasn’t a showpiece like that sword he never used. It didn’t quite fit him: spears were full tricks and using leverage, they didn’t make as much use of strength but like him they could be slippery; swordplay was filled with technique and split-second decision making; even passing lessons in archery and daggers seemed calculating and resolute.

He never displayed much when it came to using heavy weapons. Technical considerations of momentum, leverage, and rebound aside, Alric excluded his more ethereal discussion on the ‘essence’ of hammer combat.

So what was different about the hammer?

It probably wasn’t just that she couldn’t deal with it. Imira looked down at herself as they walked. Between Alric’s cooking and training, she’d definitely put on some muscle. Comparing herself to an adult half-giant was absurd, but even compared to other children running through the villages, she barely had an edge.

Around them, people kept their heads down going about their business. The crowds looked much less boastful, with fewer people talking loudly about their successes. After Alric pointed it out to her, posturing did feel extraordinarily common where they’d passed through to varying degrees. Even back in Salt Village there was plenty of boasting about the fish they’d caught, or how they contributed during the village’s rough times.

He assured her that it really wasn’t normal to be that boastful outside of Derriad… but given the size of the country, just how far away was that? Instead of coming from a distant land, it was like he just crawled out of the dark earth, a place with only passing similarities to where they wandered now.

Even though multi-storeyed buildings towered around her, it did not feel unfamiliar to Imira. There was a shadowy cast to the street they walked along, the cleanliness maintaining the bright atmosphere. While not vibrant, Terdri felt energetic.

They soon entered a small plaza where three boys and a young man awaited.

“Johan, Terin, Marken, and Jeph.” Alric pointed towards them left to right. “This is my sister-in-law, as well as my protégé, more or less.”

“Lucy. I specialize in the spear, but am also capable of identifying tracks.” Giving a tiny bow of the head as Alric did, she introduced herself.

Alric nodded his head to the side in an almost indistinguishable movement. Perhaps he wanted her to be less impersonal? Either way, Terin, the oldest boy, spoke out.

“Green Ascetic, with just us, I’m not sure if we could keep her safe. If you’re busy it would be better to find some more experienced hunter to take care of her.”

Imira frowned and looked over her shoulder. Alric kept a neutral face with the hint of a smile.

She tried adjusting her posture to stand up straight. She knew she was better than these children. Their inattentive stances, poorly maintained weapons, a lack of any sort of wariness. It had been easy to get Rion to listen to her, and talking to Alric was like breathing— although that was probably on his part— so why was she having trouble thinking of what to say?

It should be forceful, yet personable. It’s easy to say something like that, but what does that mean in practice? Is she supposed to beat them up to show them she’s worthy? When they had time, Alric loved provoking ‘sumo’ matches in villages. That was meant to fire up a crowd and make conversation easier, but the losers seemed to get much closer with him afterwards, not to mention the spectators.

“Sorry… but I definitely have the skills to contribute.” Imira meekly stated. At least her voice remained firm. Under spontaneous singing lessons, being able to project her voice clearly became an ingrained habit, no matter how awkward she felt.

“You’re younger than Jeph, what skill can you have?”

“If Green Ascetic wants her to come with us, then we’ll listen to him! She has a spear, I bet you know how to use it right? Green Ascetic taught you?” Jeph spoke up as soon as he was drawn into the conversation. A scrawny 12 year old looking boy, having him defend her was nice but uncomfortable— he really was still older than her though.

“Of course he’s taught me how to use it. Of course I… no, I should say I have killed several goblins but have never gone hunting before.”

“Wow, really? I’ve never actually seen one before.”

“So it’s more about practicing your tracking abilities.” Johan nodded, looking towards Alric for confirmation, however he simply gestured back towards Imira. “Ahem, it’s our first time hunting together, although we’ve seen each other around before. We should start by figuring out our specialties—”

Actually they needed to figure out their goals first, then what methods could be used to accomplish it. Being fixated on your strengths distracted from what actually needed to be done.

“— I’m the only one of us who’s hunted regularly, and the only one with a proper bow. Making the first shot will be up to me. Lucy, with a spear, can you help box in the prey? How good are you at concealing your presence?”

“Fine, although in regards to the prey…”

“A deer or thenk is most likely. Green Ascetic said that it just needed to be a short trip—“

“But he didn’t specify more than that?” Imira felt her heart racing just by interrupting him. Johan’s brow furrowed slightly, but she managed to continue before he started speaking again.

“It’s not just one test, everything is…”

“Huh? Whatdaya mean by that?” Jeph gradually closed the distance as they talked, and the alteration of positions naturally had the other three follow suit. Everyone was getting closer together— making it easier to observe possible tics, but Imira wished she could take more than just a half step back unnoticed.

Marken seemed much the same, keeping a few more feet of distance, but caught up in the social circle just the same. He kept his sharp blue eyes on the speaker, but was quick to avert them if someone looked his way.

If only she had the ability to simply strike off alone and explore freely, she wouldn’t need to deal with all this bothersome interaction.

She absolutely wasn’t responding quickly enough, and the silence was turning strange as they waited for her to answer. Imira needed to simply blurt something out to continue the ‘flow of communication’.

“Um, well he doesn’t like doing one thing, everything has at least three meanings to it? It’s not just a measure of how well you can hunt, but also making a plan.”

“Isn’t that what Johan was doing?” Terin narrowed his eyes in displeasure.

“He didn’t, well, he skipped the first step of identifying the goal.” Imira felt like shrinking back. They were obviously not understanding her intent, and further clarification and confrontation was just adding more strain.

Johan himself didn’t seem to be dismissing her offhandedly, but neither was he convinced. There were a few moments more of silence, but Imira couldn’t think of anything to fill the gap.

“It can’t be anything other than a hunting trip. Smaller game might be easier to catch in a shorter time period, but if we aren’t going to be gone long, we won’t come back with impressive results that way. The silos are full, so hides are more important than meat.”

“Um, yes, that’s true.”

“See, you just watch and listen to Johan. We’re the ones who have hunted in the forest before.”

“Terin, we can’t speak for what Green Ascetic wants. Hunters have to be observant.” Johan chastised, before poorly concealing his surprise. At some point while they were engaged in conversation Alric disappeared without a trace.

After following Johan’s gaze, Imira wondered how close Alric stayed. Close enough to read their lips? Or just in range of his senses as he got ready to follow them? Because either way the course of the discussion had already been decided. She bowed again, with more deference this time.

“I’ll follow your lead then. May we have a good hunt.”