I was back in the office of Doctor Patenaude, wondering when I was going to start feeling better. He asked a lot of questions that didn’t seem to be related to anything, but I answered them anyway.

“How people see the orcs?” I asked. “Violent, angry, stupid. Fairly typical, even by understanding in this world, however that sort of realm-crossing information works.”

“I see,” he nodded. “And are they?”

“Are who what?”

“Orcs. Violent, angry, unintelligent?”

“Well, yeah.”

“How many did you know?”

“Well… none, really.”

“What about your parents?”

I shook my head, “Didn’t know them.”

“I see. Interesting.” This guy took a lot of notes about nothing, it seemed. “Would you consider yourself intelligent?”

I didn’t even have to think about that. “Of course. It’s not easy to be an effective mage. I studied hard to know how everything functioned, even if it didn’t give me any experience.”

“You’ve talked about the details of experience before, and your Aspect of the Barbarian,” Doctor Patenaude always referred to it by the technical name, instead of calling it a curse- once I told him. “Is this more common among orcs?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Do you have data to back that up? A list of aspects and who has them, along with population numbers?”

“Uh… someone might,” I shook my head, “But that wasn’t really available for study. Master Uvithar had an impressive collection, but I don’t know if anyone actually tracked that stuff. But it’s just sort of something people know.”

-----

“I thought you were my friend,” I looked down at Midnight.

“Please don’t say that,” Midnight returned my gaze. “I have your best interests at heart.”

“I don’t see why I should do it though. She hates me, and I thought she liked you?”

“She might like me,” Midnight admitted, “But it will mean more coming from you.”

“Will it?” I shook my head. “Ugh.” I looked over at the counter. “Looks like our order’s ready.”

We were at the same coffee shop as before. Apparently Midnight came here often enough that they recognized him, and so nobody complained about a ‘cat’ sitting on the table.

I grabbed my coffee, along with the few items for Midnight. A plate with a few strips of bacon- the only sort of things Midnight could really have at such a place- a bowl, and a cup of water. I poured the water into the bowl- apparently it was easier to transport in the cup, since it could slosh out of the bowl. Especially for Midnight who had to use Mage’s Reach, that was the solution they had.

I took a sip of the coffee. “Ugh. Bitter.”

“That’s how coffee works,” Midnight said. “Why drink it if you don’t like it?”

I shrugged.

The bell rang and someone came through the door. I glanced over. Not anyone I recognized… at first. Something about their walking and posture, though. I raised my hand to greet them, before realizing I probably shouldn’t. Our eyes met though, and I lowered my hand while only making a vague noise.

After completing their order, the slight figure approached our table. “Hey. I’m Jo.”

“Turlough,” I said, extending my hand.

Midnight looked between us, tilting his head, and wrinkling his nose. “Oh! I’m Midnight. And I am not actually a cat.”

“Great,” Jo said. “I do have to head out, but I wouldn’t mind speaking again in the future.”

They grabbed a cup of coffee from the counter and walked out. Midnight sniffed again, then looked at me. He spoke very intentionally in Celmothian. “I’m pretty sure that’s a full sized cup of espresso.”

I shrugged, “It must be fine. Shockwave would have died by now otherwise.”

The incident made me realized I wasn’t necessarily familiar with the civilian identities of many of my co-workers. Not that it was assumed that I would be. The team had gotten together for some things, but outside of people that were extremely easy to recognize like Jim I rarely saw anyone. Then again, there were a whole lot of people in New Bay, and not all of the people in the Power Brigade would live and take their leisure near HQ.

A few minutes later, Izzy walked in. Instead of ordering a drink, she came directly to our table and sat down. “So? What do you want?”

“I could buy you a drink,” I said.

“Coffee doesn’t always agree with me,” Izzy said. “Small body mass. So?”

I switched to speaking common. This was a slightly secretive matter, at least. “Have you heard about the portal powers?”

“Yeah,” Izzy nodded. “Apparently it’s big news here. Not my responsibility though.”

“It’s not,” I agreed. “However, I happen to know someone who got one. The features of a scout, in particular. I can’t really teach her anything. So I need you to do it. I can pay you, or owe you a favor… though I don’t know if that’s useful.”

“A favor from a mage is always worth something,” Izzy said. “You can… you’ve been gaining experience here, right?”

“There’s tons of fighting,” I said. “I’m still slightly lower in level than I’d like to be, but I’m making quick progress.”

“What if I wanted to go back?” Izzy said, leaning halfway onto the table, supported by her elbows.

“I don’t, uh…” my brain was running through so many possible scenarios. “I could maybe help find a portal? It’ll probably be years before I’m capable of casting Gate, and I’m not completely sure if it crosses dimensions. Though I suppose things are maybe easier here. I still need the points and to have a large enough mana pool that I remain conscious to keep it open.”

Izzy tapped her fingers on the table. She was looking at me, but I wasn’t sure what she expected to find. “How much would I need to do?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I was only trained as a mage. I don’t know if scouts need tons of books or if you can just write down abilities she should expect to be able to achieve eventually. I’m not asking you to train someone into a master, but it sucks not knowing being able to advance.”

Izzy chewed her lip. “Who is this ‘she’?”

“Her name is Tylissa. I don’t know if you remember, but she and her son were actually near the same portal you came through. You saved them. Unless there was some other halfling scout.” I shrugged, “Anyway, I knew Jerome and he became a mage, so I’ve been teaching him.”

“I don’t remember anyone in specific, but I did fight some plant things attacking people,” Izzy nodded. “Could have been me. Alright, fine, I’ll do it for the favor. As of yet unspecified, but not something minor.”

“Understood,” I nodded.

“Fine,” she stood up. “Have Midnight send me her info.”

“It might be easier if I do it.”

She looked back, “Alright. Midnight knows my number.”

-----

“Ow,” I said, holding my hand to my head.

“What happened?” Midnight ran out of the bedroom, concerned.

“Nothing. I just hit my head on the cabinet.” I shook my head. “My legs already hurt, didn’t need my head to hurt too.”

“Why do your legs hurt?” Midnight asked. “Are you injured?”

“No,” I shook my head. “Maybe I overdid exercises or something.” Swimming had used a whole new set of muscles that I wasn’t used to, so that could have been it.

“Couldn’t Meztli help with that?”

“Sure, but I’m not a newbie anymore. I should be able to properly stay within my own limits. She doesn’t have the energy to use her power where it’s not necessary.”

Midnight nodded. “Alright. Show me your head.” He hopped up on the counter, and I leaned it down. “No blood, at least,” he said. “Your hair is getting long again though.”

“It’s growing weirdly fast,” I admitted. “Or maybe normally fast? Hair doesn’t look like this by coincidence.” Some people got blue hair with different colored tips on purpose in this world, since they had easy access to dyes, but where I was from it could only be the result of magic. Which was normal, since I was a mage.

-----

Doctor Martinez finished scanning me another time. “Alright, you seem to have recovered from the crystallization. As your doctor, I must advise you against continuing the activities that brought that upon you in the first place. However, understanding that you may be in positions of danger, I can't tell you not to use mana crystals when you absolutely need it.”

“So I’m cleared for this upcoming mission?”

“I don’t have the authority to actually stop you regardless,” he pointed out. “But I would have had to report you for reckless behavior if you had continued after finding out something was wrong. Do come to see me after the mission no matter how you feel.”

“Understood,” I nodded.

-----

It had been some time since I’d seen Handface. He was protected by that weird technology which kept me from locking onto him with Scrying, and he apparently never left the safe area. But Calculator had me keep trying occasionally, and finally something was happening. The mists swirled to reveal a figure walking along through some rough alleyways.

“I’m surprised,” Calculator admitted.

“Me too,” I squinted, rotating the image. “Something seem off to you?”

“Now that you mention it…”

“Handface has the wrong scar pattern.”

“I was going to say that Deimos seemed to have forgotten his handy device,” Calculator frowned, “But I can see that the pattern is different as well. I’m surprised you noticed.”

“I have to picture that in my head any time I’m Scrying,” I said. As I concentrated, the image tore away. Then it showed underwater tunnels. And then… Handface himself.

“What is this?” Calculator asked carefully. “Why did the image change?”

“It wasn’t the right guy, so I pushed through to try to find the real one,” I said. “It’s not easy though. I don’t think I can hold this for long.”

“Just keep it up as long as it’s safe,” Calculator said. “This is useful information.”

The room was dark, but that didn’t stop me from seeing to some extent. Handface was bent over some sort of table, scribbling on a map. He couldn’t see in the dark either, so it was lit up… rather poorly though. I tried to read some of it, but a lapse in concentration popped me back to the tunnels outside. Then the Scrying faded away.

“Wonderful,” Calculator said. “You’ve improved your abilities.”

“Have I?” I tilted my head. I hadn’t spent any points to improve Scrying. It was still more than half of a level to upgrade it slightly.

“You couldn’t do that before, right?” Calculator asked. “So you’ve improved.”

“Right,” I nodded. That… made sense, actually. Upgrading a spell increased its power, which would certainly help with what I was doing, but using a spell better could be done without. Even a simple Firebolt had to be aimed, and there was also some control I could exert over how it moved towards its target. That wasn’t something that points did, but practice. I’d shot countless Firebolts in the past, but only recently did I feel like I was actually improving. I wasn’t just shooting at a rock, after all. It was good that I had improved, but now my head hurt.

“Are you alright?” Calculator asked.

“I think so. Just feel more strained.” I took stock of myself as well as I could. “I don’t think I overspent mana or anything.” I was still pretty sure that was impossible. But magic could come with mental strain beyond the realm of just spending mana. Like when I’d tried to scry Gloom. That was… a mistake I wouldn’t be repeating any time soon.

“Alright,” Calculator nodded. “I will compile what we’ve learned from this session. Try to avoid doing anything strenuous tomorrow, since the mission is in two days unless we receive critical information.”

I nodded. We’d been just on the cusp of making the attempt when all the portals happened. Now, all these portal powers had appeared- including among Handface’s goons- so we were going about things differently. But our squad was still the primary actor. Personally, I would be glad to be done with it. I really didn’t like the idea of some criminal with a grudge against me roaming around longer. I occasionally had twinges of remembered chest pain to remind me why.