Since Dez and his party hadn’t returned to the palace yet, Rory figured he could take some time to decide what everyone would work best with, when it came to Warded items. Anything he made needed to complement someone’s chosen method of… well, Rory had been thinking of fighting, but then his thoughts landed on Samson’s Gathering and April’s gardening. Those weren’t fighting, but they were just as important, if not even more so.

Basically, Rory needed to take his time and talk with everyone.

The first person he came across was Bo. Apparently, he had heard from April how she could now use her gun without trouble, and now he wanted one too.

“I think it’ll help, to be honest,” Bo said. “I’ve never been great at fighting with my fists. It’s cool and all that I can make exploding rocks come out of my hands, but I just don’t gel with it, you know?”

Rory frowned. “So, you want to throw exploding rocks with that instead?”

Bo brandished his large hockey stick. “That’s right. Nothing better than a good, old stick to bash a monster’s head in with.”

He looked so enthusiastic about it, and so fearful that he’d be laughed off, that Rory gave in. That first day where Bo had panicked worse than the rest of his family combined and nearly set people on fire still lived rent-free in Rory’s head.

“Uh, sure,” Rory said. “I can just Ward a Sigil of Flarespike in there. I think.”

Rory tried it. He pulled out one of the aforementioned Sigils and activated his Sigil of Warding at the same time, pressing the Sigil of Flarespike to the head of the hockey stick. It was a nice thing that regular items didn’t need to be prepared or dressed up or have any other strange requirements before he could Ward any Sigil into them.

Though that did make him wonder if seemingly incompatible pairs could be Warded together. What if he tried to Ward a Sigil of Fire on a block of stone? Stone was inflammable.

But no, that line of thinking was silly. He was literally about to make a hockey stick throw up miniature, spiky volcanos. Old laws of physics and whatever else seemed realistic didn’t really apply where the system and its Sigils were concerned. After all, Rory had been told the only real limit to Sigils were one’s imagination.

“Here,” Rory said, handing the hockey stick back after he was done with his Warding. “I think that takes care of it.”

“Thanks, man.” Bo gripped the hockey stick tightly. “Appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Here, use the Sigil of Wielding to try it out. Just try not to set me on fire this time.”

Rory had meant that as a joke, but Bo grimaced, which made Rory shrivel up inside a little bit. He hadn’t meant to make poor Bo feel bad.

Credit to Bo, he recovered quickly and brandished his new weapon. Rory quickly gave him some space before he was perforated with flaming rock spikes. Bo focused hard on the hockey stick. Nothing happened for a while, and Rory was considering whether he ought to try to reassure Bo that everything would be fine, but then April appeared.

“You got this, hon,” she said quietly.

Bo seemed to straighten at her presence. Without warning, the end of the hockey stick burst into flames. Spikes shot out of its end, the flames shooting out of it illuminating the whole area and sending up a stream of smoke into the air.

“You did it,” April said, clearly holding herself back from rushing up to her husband in congratulations. “Great job!”

Bo grinned. There was a sheen of sweat across his forehead, and Rory thought he detected the tiniest quiver in his arms and shoulders.

“That’s good enough,” Rory said. “Great work.”

With a surreptitious sigh of relief, Bo deactivated the Sigil of Flarespike in his hockey stick. “That was fun.” He wiped sweat off his forehead. “Let’s not do it again.”

April laughed as she walked over and clapped him on the back. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

Rory smiled and let them be. He had to find the others he wanted to give Sigils of Wielding too. Bo thanked him once more before he walked off. It left him feeling a little fuzzy inside.

Ned was at the back again. This time, he had perched atop the broken-down van.

“Why do you like hanging out here so much?” Rory asked.

Ned started. “Oh, hi. Didn’t see you there. What’s up?”

“Hello. Just wondering if you had any ideas about what you wanted to Wield.” Rory tapped his knee as he leaned against the palace’s wall. “And why you like hanging out here. Enjoying the privacy?”

“Hmm.” Ned looked away into the forest past the walls. “Honestly, I’m not wholly sure. I think it’s less a matter of privacy and more just… I don’t think I really like being around people much. No offence to you or anyone else, of course. You’re all great. I just feel comfortable by myself, with trees and cars and maybe pets.”

“And monsters?”

Ned snorted. “Well, maybe not monsters. But yeah, privacy makes it sound like I’ve got something to hide, or I’m keeping secrets or something.” He shrugged. “It’s not like that. It’s… simpler by myself, and I just enjoy that.”

“Ah, sorry, didn’t mean to insinuate you were keeping secrets.”

“That’s alright. Just me reading into things unnecessarily.” He laughed again, nervously this time. “See why I like hanging out by myself?”

“Yeah, I think I do.” There was a momentary uncomfortable silence, and Rory realized how that had come off. “And I don’t mean that. I mean, I understand your idea of simplicity and why you want it. It’s fair, valid.”

Ned relaxed. “Thanks, Rory. You’re a good guy, you know that. But anyway, I think we were considering something ranged for me to use.”

Rory decided to forcefully reroute the conversation to the matter at hand. “Hmm, you thinking of a gun like April’s? Maybe a rifle?”

“I don’t think I’m much of a firearm guy, if you know what I mean.”

Rory laughed softly. “They did recover a crossbow recently.”

Ned perked up at that. He stat straighter, eyes boring into Rory’s. “Seriously?”

“Wait, you want a crossbow?”

“Of course! What’s not to love about a freaking crossbow?”

As a certified antiquarian, Rory would be the first to point out that crossbows were eminently cool. As the leader of his merry band of apocalyptic survivors, he was also responsible for pointing out that crossbows were heavy, unwieldy, and nowhere near as efficient as a pistol.

He explained all that to Ned, whose face gave no sign of disappointment. “You still sure about that?”

“Sure as sunrise, Rory. Where’s this crossbow, again?”

Rory shook his head. “Come on. I think it’s in the pile of other things.”

They headed back inside. Ned was the one who took the lead since he had used the rear entrance—or exit, Rory figured, depending on the perspective—the most so far. A small pinprick of worry niggled at Rory. It wasn’t impossible for more monsters to pop out of the abandoned hallways or rush out of abandoned rooms and attack them.

Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened. Rory wondered if they were taking a path that Malcolm had already explored with the others. Hmm, that gave him ideas about what to Ward…

They reached the pile of new weapons and armour on the second-floor landing of the main stairway adjacent to the main hall. Ned dug through the pile with a metallic clatter before pulling out the old crossbow. It was the size of his entire chest, the wood dull but not rotten, the metal crank gleaming with a low sheen.

“It’s… old,” Ned said.

Rory frowned. “Were you expecting it to look brand new?”

“You know, there are modern crossbows. With a proper stock, sight, foregrip, and all that.”

“Yes, I’m aware. But this is what we get in an old, run-down palace partly filled with monsters. Still think you don’t want something different?”

“The only thing different is a gun, so no thank you. This is too cool to pass up. It just needs a little bit of shine and lustre, and then we’ll have it ready. Not sure what I wanted Warded in it, though.”

“Something to complement what you’ve already got, for sure. I think I actually have a decent idea. Water works well with lightning if it has some impurities in it. I think yours is too pure for that matter. Good thing I can get you a Sigil to fix that. Give me a couple of minutes. I just need to find where I can get the Sigil we need.”

“Wait, what are you thinking?”

Rory paused, wondering how he could word the picture in his head. “Imagine it. You throwing your water everywhere to make everything wet. Then you can shoot our crossbow bolts at anything and everything and make your water actually dangerous.”

“How so?”

“Think about it. What can water do?”

“Uh, make people wet.” Ned frowned, the crossbow going a little slack in his grip. “Though if we can add things, we can make it shock or freeze people, or heat it to steam them up.” His eyes seemed to start twinkling. “You know what water is made of? Oxygen and hydrogen. If we can separate those out from the water, we have an instant bomb on our hands!”

Rory laughed. “Looks like someone’s warming up to the idea. It’s not going to be easy, though. Ideally, we’d use your crossbow bolts to make your water do that.”

“But we don’t have any.”

“Exactly. So instead, we’re going to have to replicate them.”

“Yeah. Just not sure how exactly we’re going to do that.”

That was certainly a conundrum Rory was yet to figure out. It was obvious they couldn’t reply on using actual bolts. For one, the initial amount they might be able to find was already bound to be quite low. For another, they’d run out of those soon and there was no easy way of replenishing their supply.

In other words, they couldn’t rely on using regular old quarrels.

That was where Rory’s Sigils came in. He had the faint inkling of an idea regarding how to fix the problem, but there was a lot he needed to do for it.

“I’m going to see what I can do,” Rory said. “In the meantime, why don’t you try to… make it look less like it’s going to fall apart after the first time.”

Ned looked down at the old crossbow in his hands and grimaced. “Uh, sure. I’ll see what I can do too.”

Rory nodded his farewell and headed straight for Trish. Along the way, he found Malcolm idly playing with Darcy.

“Hey, got a minute?” Rory asked.

Malcolm got up, his spot before the little girl quickly taken up by Leo and Leanne’s big wolfhound. “Sure, what’s up?”

“I need you to find something very specific the next time you go exploring and salvaging inside the palace.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Quarrels. Like, big arrows for crossbows. We need some. Doesn’t matter what condition you find them in. Even one will do, I’m pretty sure.”

“Alright. We’ll keep an eye out. What did you need them for?”

Rory briefly explained his idea regarding what Ned wanted Warded. It was fun to see Malcolm’s eyes go wide.

“That’s… interesting,” he said.

“Isn’t it?” Rory started moving off, scratching the wolfhound behind the ears as he passed. The dog barked, and little Darcy waved. “If you want a Sigil of Wielding, just let know, alright? We can Ward you something too.”

“Sure,” Malcolm said, waving a belated goodbye. “I’ll think about it.”

Next up, Rory headed to Trish and obtained a Sigil of Steel by Weaving away her axe. After that Rory got a Sigil of Stormfire from Miles, a Sigil of Ice from the things he himself Wove into being. Then he found Samson and told the guy to set his Gathering’s sight onto crossbow quarrels as well. He looked a little confused but agreed.

With that done, Rory was about to move onto the other matters. There were more things he could Ward, after all. He Warded a Sigil of Fire into a mace canister for Leo, Warded several Frozen Lightning into a bunch of pikes that Malcolm’s team had recovered, and even Warded a Sigil of Barricade into an old shield that Oliver was really into.

But that was as far as he got for the day. Dez and the others returned that afternoon.

The sky had darkened to a stormy gloom. Rory wasn’t sure he liked that. It felt ominous on a day when things could change at the blink of an eye. It was likely the premonition of a thunderstorm, but he was hoping there would be some Mana falling with it too. They hadn’t had a real one since the first day of the apocalypse.

“Good outing?” Rory asked Dez and the others.

“Not bad, man,” Dez said, and the rest of the party nodded. “We got in some good practice and some salvage too. We’re going to have to go again soon.”

“Well, we can go again right now.”

Dez paused. “You mean to the substation?”

“Yep! Need a Sigil from there. Why not make it an outing?”

“That’s… not a bad idea, all told.”

“Are my ideas ever bad?”

Dez laughed. Rory smiled. He’d been feeling a little anxious about it, but the conversation had excised his worries, mostly. Rory turned back towards the main hall. It was time for Rory to attend to the most pressing matter.

Getting the last Sigil to activate the Safe Zone.