(Zack)

We say our goodbyes to Peter, his aunt, and the Dark Knights, then make our way back to our homes. The party is of Nathan, Gold, Aurum, and me, and I was the only one who actually spoke. We reach my house, and not even five steps inside, Gold tackles his brother to the ground.

Nathan and I move to the table and watch as they wrestle, claw (with their fingers, not their claws), and bite at each other, running around the yard. It's easy to tell that Aurum still isn't too sure, but he has to play with Gold, mostly because his brother isn't letting up.

I wish my brother was still here. We didn't even know we were brothers until after he was gone. If Bryce were still here, what kind of mischief would we be getting up to right now? How much differently would that meeting at the plaza have gone?

A lot, probably. And all kinds of mischief, too. The two of us together would tear the forest's monsters apart, forge a path of blood through Talorn. With him being my brother and how fast he obtained Dark Squire, there isn't a doubt in my mind that he'd probably be close to Dark One by now.

We wouldn't forge a path of blood. No, we'd carve it. There would be so much more I could do, if my brother were still here.

Could he see the future as well? Did he have the gift of sight, too?

Why did he have to die so early? He hadn't been here all that long!

A hand on my back pulls me out of my thoughts, and I look at Nathan, who's looking at me with concern. Immediately, I realize both of the Beastborn are standing on the other side of the table, doing the same.

And that there are tears in my eyes.

"Sorry," I smile at them, then look at Gold. "It's… I was thinking about Bryce again."

He immediately feels guilty, averting his gaze as Aurum gives him a curious look.

"You two are absolutely covered in dirt," I say, and Aurum shoots me a fearful look. "I keep forgetting that we clear the snow out of here as soon as it falls, if we can. Why don't you two go take a bath?"

Nathan disappears. Not visibly, but physically. I'm pretty sure he ran to the bath. Judging by Gold's and Aurum's shocked expressions, they're both surprised and confused.

"I think Nathan thinks that whoever's the last one in has to make lunch," I tell them.

Gold and Aurum look at each other, then at me, then Gold takes off, dragging Aurum with him. His brother's going to loosen up and lighten up, I'm sure of it. I'm not able to just grant him Access like I did with Gold, so it's going to take a bit more, but he'll see that his brother, his new master, and I are a lot nicer.

Deciding to get some Experience for my Chef Subclass, I head into the kitchen, pulling food out of my Inventory. Should I do a turkey or a ham?

Might as well go with one of the hams I earned from killing the Santa Boss. I add some herbs to it before I stick it in the oven, then prepare some rolls to go with it. As I wait for it to get closer to finish, I listen to Gold and Aurum horsing around in the bath, and Nathan's occasional laughs.

Do people whose aging slows down or halts ever mature? I know that part of the childish nature kids have comes from the development of their brains. Has Nathan's brain stopped its maturity as well, due to his lack of aging? He seems like a mix of an adult and a kid to me.

If I stop aging when I'm around sixteen, like the visions suggest, and my little healer when he's ten… so soon after arrival… will we never fully mature, mentally? Or will we continue to mature mentally, but have that handicap that makes us a little childish at the same time?

The meat starts to finish as I think about that, and I pull my thoughts away, putting the rolls into the oven and preparing both the vegetable salad and the fruit salad.

As everything finishes, I plate them at the table, and by the time I'm done, there are two wet boy Beastborn and a wet, old healer sitting at the table, dressed. Probably because it's still freezing out here, and I can already see their hair starting to crystallize because they didn't dry it well enough.

Aurum's tugging at the hem of the tunic he's wearing. It's one of Gold's blue and white ones.

Gold's and Aurum's cheeks are crimson from all the exertion and fun they had, and based on what I heard, they were wrestling in the bath over the dog toy.

At nearly the same time as I sit down, both of them start talking to me through the usual way that Gold talks, telling me about their playtime in the bath and how they had to keep dunking Nathan because he wouldn't play with them.

From what I can tell, it was mostly Gold dunking him, with Aurum being nervous and scared of being beaten.

"Alright, guys," I say. "Dig in."

I serve myself some food as Nathan and Gold do the same, and Aurum stares at his brother in shock. Gold seems oblivious to this at first, but then his ears twitch, and he looks at his brother, tilting his head to the side.

Aurum's eyes widen, and I know that Gold just told him that he does it all the time. Eats with me, I mean.

Then, Gold returns to serving himself. It takes Aurum a few minutes, but he starts pulling food off the plates and out of the bowls, hesitantly and only small pieces at a time.

Nathan lets out a frustrated groan, then grabs two rolls and dumps them on Aurum's plate. Then a huge chunk of ham and a lot of each salad. Then, he firmly points at the food with his own fork before resuming eating.

I snort at the Beastborn's face, and Gold cracks up laughing.

Shaking my head, I get back to eating. As I do, I read the notification I received the moment I'd finished setting everything on the table.

For creating a worthy feast and sharing it with others, you've earned enough Experience for Chef to increase in Level!

This isn't a 'worthy feast'. Trust me, I could make a lot more. Plus, we haven't even busted out the wine. That's a good idea, since it'll help Aurum to loosen up a little bit.

Nathan's eyes widen when I pull out a bottle, and Aurum gives it a curious look.

"You are not getting drunk," I tell Gold, who gives me a sheepish smile. At least he's done being apologetic over the drunken kiss. "You can each have one glass. Nathan and I will share the rest."

As lunch progresses, I determine that Aurum has a little bit less of a tolerance than his brother, as he seems tipsy just from that one glass. It's kind of cute, if I'm being honest.

After lunch, Gold insists on cleaning everything up, pulling Aurum with him, and Aurum looks a lot more comfortable once they get working, though I do notice him rolling his sleeves up as he does, while Gold leaves them down, as usual.

One is worried about getting his clothes dirty, while the other doesn't care. We can always get the stains out, as long as we get washing soon after.

Nathan stares at me, and I roll my eyes, then pull out another deck of cards, playing another game of Go Fish. After two more pass, Kylie shows up, asking if she can join us for a bit.

"No training?" I ask.

"Not right now," she shrugs. "We do get breaks, you know."

"How long is this one?"

"All day," she answers. "Samantha's getting a refresher course from Jesse."

"Do you know where?" I start to stand, and Nathan pulls me back onto the bench. "Hey!"

"It's very deadly," he tells me quietly. "No going."

"But-"

"One nick, no proper healer, you die in minutes."

"Alllrighty, then."

Nathan nods, then whistles, and Gold looks at him, then nudged Aurum. The other Beastborn looks at Gold, then at Nathan, then nervously walks over to the healer, who turns and leaves.

"What was that about?" Kylie asks, and I remember that she's here.

"Oh," I say. "Consider yourself lucky, Kylie. Nathan doesn't often show himself to others, and it's even rarer that he talks. At least, exempting his team. But Gold and I are exceptions, and I think Aurum is now as well. I think he was people'd out for today, especially after the scene at the plaza."

"Yeah, that," she frowns. "What in the hell happened there?"

"Angry Dark Knights," I tell her. "Wanna play? Gold's done cleaning up, so we can do three-person."

She looks at the cards warily, but agrees to. She plays with us for around an hour before she says she should get back to base.

"Want to get some dinner with me later?" She asks.

"Gold and I are going to Peter's for dinner," I tell her.

"Peter?"

"The Paladin in the fancy armor who was standing by me."

"Oh," she says. "Okay. What about tomorrow?"

"Can't, sorry," I say. "Tomorrow, I'm doing more prepwork, since I'm heading back to Talorn the day after."

Gold snorts, and I look at him.

"What?" I ask, and immediately receive a few impressions. "What? I'm spending most of the day making sure I have enough resources for another week-long trip, especially since this is going to be a training-oriented trip. The plan is to master Warrior. I only need a little bit more Experience, then I can advance the Quest, I think, then another 9 Levels, another Quest advancement, and nine more Levels. So if I push hard, I should be able to. I told you this."

He huffs and rolls his eyes, and Kylie gives him an uncomfortable look. Right, she's not used to Beastborn being anything more than slaves who can't express themselves.

"Gold, what are you trying to say?" I ask. "Just say it."

He huffs again, then sends me more impressions and images. It's all jumbled up.

"Gold, I know you like me," I say. "You don't need to tell me that, remember?"

"Rahrargh!" Gold groans, and I snort.

"What?" I ask. "It's true! Remember? You got chased up a tree by a monster because you kissed me? Why are you telling me you like me again? I thought you'd accepted-"

Another flash of images go through my mind.

"What does Kylie have to do with this?" I ask, and Gold buries his face into his hands.

I look at Kylie, whose face is crimson.

"You're looking hot," I put a hand against her cheek, and she flinches away. She is hot. "Are you doing okay? Maybe you should get going and bundle up a bit more. If you're not prepared for the cold, you can get sick. I don't know why I didn't notice this before."

"So when he'd disappeared," Kylie says quietly. "It was after you two kissed?"

"After he kissed me," I state. "He was really drunk, and it just kind of happened. The morning after, he heard me and Nik talking about the kiss, and that I didn't like him that way. We've cleared things up, and he's happy just being friends. At least, he said he is, but this is weird. You should probably get going, or you might pass out from whatever's getting your temp up."

Gold lets out another groan, and more thoughts, impressions, and images hit me. Including a flash of Kylie, then of him kissing me.

"Gold," I say. "I can't understand that. Why do you keep telling me that?"

He groans again, shaking his head and walking off, and I look at Kylie, whose face has gotten redder.

"Kylie, you really should lie down for a bit," I tell her. "Actually, it might not be a good idea to walk back. I can carry you, or you can get some rest upstairs. Gold and I haven't really used the beds, we usually sleep by the fire."

"I'll be fine," she tells me, then hurries out.

I hope she gets home okay. I like her. I'd like her more if she'd stop being so hesitant and on-edge around Gold. He's a good person.

Since she seems to be healthy enough to leave quickly, I assume she'll make it home alright, so I track down Gold and suggest we train some more. His face lights up, and he draws his wooden training sword and follows me back out to the yard.