Anastacia took her first steps out of the forest into the clearing they had been heading towards and was immediately blinded by the sun finally reaching her eyes without being impeded by the treetops. She shielded her vision with her hand and took a look around.

Hundreds of meters across, the entire clearing was dominated by a single tree in the center of it and its massive roots covering most of the area, the same ones she had seen in the forest, but far larger. Many of the roots were wide enough to be comfortably used as paths across the clearing, and due to them covering a lot of it, would have to be used as such. In places where ground was still visible, flowed several streams of clear water that all seemed to congregate into a small and shallow pond around the tree. The tree itself was abnormally large and girthy, though not particularly tall as far as trees went. Its massive branches spread far and wide, shadowing a large portion of the clearing but not all the way to its edges. Its leaves were as large as dinner plates back at the inn and of every color imaginable, from bright pink to unnaturally black and with countless shades of each one. Its bark ranged just as much in appearance, being smooth and greenish in some places, white like birch in some as well as thick and rough in others. Despite being only maybe twenty meters tall, its shape would have made it very easy and safe to climb, should one want to do such a thing, which Anastacia now desperately wanted. There was ample room to lounge about on top of the larger branches, and some of the nooks along its trunk or on top of it even seemed cozy.

Scattered across the area, were a couple of dozen wooden creatures Anastacia now knew to be spriggans. Some clearly resembled animals such as deer, wolves, even exotic ones like large cats, and some had the shape of things she didn’t even recognize. Many of the shapes were far from perfect copies but more approximations, certainly nowhere near as accurate or detailed as Xamiliere’s take on the human body. Though a few of them momentarily seemed to notice the pair arriving to their home, most didn’t spare a second thought on the matter and returned to whatever it was that they had been doing.

Relived that they didn’t get immediately swarmed, Anastacia headed to a nearby stream to hopefully get a drink after their walk. “Can I drink from this?” She asked from Xamiliere, who was now extremely on guard for anyone who even remotely seemed to take interest in her or the necromancer.

“Yeah, you can just eat whatever fruits or berries you find too – non-poisonous ones anyway.” The spriggan said and kept nervously looking around.

The necromancer kneeled by the water and leaned in, but just as she was about to scoop up some water, she heard a rustle from the opposite side of the small stream. What appeared to be a spriggan’s loose interpretation of a stocky fox strolled out from a gap between the massive roots and locked eyes with Anastacia over the water.

“Good day.” Anastacia said as dignifiedly as she could.

“What’s up?” The fox asked in an oddly familiar manner and sat down by the stream.

The necromancer glanced at Xamiliere, who simply shrugged in return. “I was thinking about having a drink.” She answered.

“But that’s water, I thought necromancers drank blood?” The fox wondered out loud.

“We don’t. You’re probably thinking of vampires.” Suggested Anastacia in return, continuing the very odd conversation she had been sucked into.

The fox frowned and pondered the proposition for a while. “Wine! It was wine they drank back then! That’s what it was, the gross grape juice.” It remembered. “Have you had wine?”

“I have. Not my thing.” Anastacia said. “But it is one of the things some of us enjoy.”

“Fascinating!” The fox said in a way it was hard to tell if it was being extremely sarcastic or very interested. “Anyway, I heard you told off Regnans for bullying the loser over there. Haven’t been here for more than an hour and already making big moves like that.”

“I did and will do the same for you if you keep calling her a loser.” The necromancer said calmly and finally scooped some water with her hands and drank it.

Xamiliere had been keeping an eye out and was fairly sure no one else was going to be immediately causing trouble, even if a few of the nature spirits had moved a bit closer. “Sorbus, what are you getting at?” She sighed.

“I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with her. She seems very dignified and powerful, so the only reason she would even bother glancing at someone like you would be that there’s something equally fucked up about her.” The fox said without a hint of ill intent in its voice, as if it was simply stating a fact and did not care either way what it sounded like. Anastacia’s threat had similarly no apparent effect on it. “Are you sure you’re not like some weird renegade necromancer that shuns and is shunned by all others, and had questionable tastes in most things which led you into getting tricked by the houseplant over there, with their weird and meticulously detailed person act?” It suggested out of the blue, still showing no emotion of any kind besides genuine intrigue.

“No.” Anastacia lied, trying to figure out if Sorbus knew something or if they were simply very good at guessing. “No one has tricked me with anything. I’m the apparent heiress to be The Empress of Mournvalley, I simply do not think I have the experience to take the throne yet, which is why I’m here – and my tastes are exquisite, for your information.”

“Right, right! Then it would cause no turmoil or distress to anyone if I were to copy the looks of our wayward twig over there? Just for the sake of making our guest more comfortable, of course!” Sorbus cheerily suggested, still not revealing their intentions but making it clear that some kind of a game was afoot.

Xamiliere had been done with the situation before it had even started and put her foot down, refusing to take part in any of her kind’s jests. “Sorbus, just tell us what you know or want and stop this bullshit. We need to find Ulmus and don’t have time for your nonsense.” She stated tiredly and grasped Anastacia’s shoulder.

“I was just minding my business in the underbrush over yonder, trying to find a few things for a glade I’m working on, but I happened to see and hear the two of you promiscuously flopping about on the ground and sharing all kinds of things…” Sorbus admitted and casually hopped across the stream to brush against Anastacia before having to avoid a kick from Xamiliere. “The point is, I’m taking the necromancer. After hundreds of years outside, I know you can’t do anything about it, you know you can’t do anything about it – it's going to happen whether you like it or not.”

Anastacia stood and looked down at the fox with a cold stare. “I do have a say in the matter as well.” She reminded the sly nature spirit. She found it a bit hard to believe that someone who was at best the size of an average dog was all too significant, but one glance at the defeated frown on Xamiliere told that this little fox indeed had the upper hand.

Sorbus chortled, not threatened in the slightest. “I do admit that ending up in the wrong end of whatever you did with Regnans would be a bit of a fucking hassle indeed, which is why I didn’t just throw your friend back into the forest and grab you. Instead, I will be taking the necromancer, but we will be coincidentally heading to where Ulmus is – if someone happens to tag along, it’s no bark off my back.” They extended a fairly dubious offer, apparently wholly uncharacteristic for their kind.

Obviously very suspicious of the deal but not really having much in the way of options without turning it into a fight, Anastacia figured that she would agree for the time being – but certainly not without at least adding some terms of her own. “I came here to learn, so as long as you’re able to answer my questions, you will be good as any to show me around.”

“Sure, sure! I know plenty of things.” The little fox agreed ecstatically and started bouncing onwards along the stream. “This way, you two… ladies, I guess?”

Xamiliere moved closer to whisper to Anastacia. “There’s something off about this. Sorbus isn’t the worst one there is, but… I don’t know, there’s something they want more than just keep you around. I guess following them around isn’t the worst idea though, some others might even think twice about trying to do something to you with that little shit around. We’ll figure out what to do when we get to Ulmus.” She said, understandably suspicious.

Led by the fox, the pair followed the stream for a while before taking a turn into the mess of roots covering the area. Having to crawl under them or help each other over some was more than a bit of a workout and Anastacia hardly had a chance to come up with any questions to ask from their guide. The distance they had covered was downright pathetic before Anastacia had to ask for a brief pause to both catch her breath and fix the inconvenient outfit that was meant to portray authority and not to be worn on an obstacle course.

“You two keep mentioning this ‘Ulmus’, who are they?” She asked while rolling up her sleeves.

“Ulmus is what we would call a humongous fucking nerd.” Sorbus said and hopped onto a root to give a mean glare as a warning for a few other nature spirits that had started to follow them at a distance. “They haven’t had any land to watch over for ages, so instead they’ve spent the time remembering and figuring out stuff.”

“Kind of an older sibling. We don’t really have those, but Ulmus was one of the first ones to sprout and is forced to solve every issue these knotheads run into.” Xamiliere shed more light onto the role of the aforementioned spriggan.

Sorbus sneered. “Well, who’s the knothead with a problem now, eh? I can smell the divine shenanigans on you even from up here. Guess ditching us didn’t put you in good graces with them at least.” They laughed and slid back down from the root after making sure none of the other spriggans would be getting any bright ideas to try and claim the catch away from the fox. “What ailment did you come here to fix anyway? I might know something too – I’ve spent a lot of time out there recently as well.”

“My weight was taken from me.” Xamiliere briefly stated the nature of her situation, fully expecting to be mocked for it.

“Yeah, that sounds like shit a god would do. Not surprised people wouldn’t be able to figure it out though, they’ve only got so long to learn before they die.” Sorbus simply agreed and resumed guiding them through the mess of roots.

Anastacia popped open the topmost button on her vest to allow for more freedom of movement before following Sorbus. She had noticed something interesting about the fox, there was no hint of spite in their voice. Where Regnans had been very outspoken about their dislike for people and disagreement with Xamiliere, there was no centuries worth of hate behind the words but rather a token effort to appear mean and unapproving for whatever reason whenever Sorbus had something negative to say.

Unsurprisingly, the next few paces of the journey were much the same: climbing, crawling, sliding, leaping and occasionally tumbling down the massive roots. The grove clearly wasn’t a place for anyone who needed to get anywhere in a hurry, or minded some acrobatics. The white color of Anastacia’s outfit proved to be a mistake as well, as it now was mostly green or brown from the various intentional and unintentional instances where she found herself on the ground. Along the way they did pass several interesting little nooks and crannies the necromancer would have liked to get a better look at, but she figured there would be time for that later. Finally, after a good while of struggle, they came across what they had been apparently looking for: a spriggan in the shape of a large elk, calmly resting on a large flat rock that was wedged between the roots fairly close to the massive tree in the middle of the grove.

Size quite a bit larger than any actual elks Anastacia had ever seen, patches of moss and several small branches that didn’t fit the general outline of the animal all showed the considerable age of the wooden body compared to Xamiliere and Sorbus’. Despite this, the green energy flowing through its body was perhaps stronger and more vibrant in color than on any of the spriggan the necromancer had yet seen.

The elk immediately perked up as the necromancer slid down a root and rather ungracefully slammed into the side of the rock. “I see not much has changed in Mournvalley.” It spoke and didn’t even attempt to move closer to help Anastacia.

“She’s mine, hands off! Get your own one.” Sorbus was quick to declare as they hopped between the elk and the necromancer.

“I am no one’s.” Anastacia muttered and staggered back on her feet.

“Incorrect. All people belong to death, you should know that better than any, necromancer.” The elk said and gave a tired look to the little fox trying to look intimidating in front of them before turning to address Anastacia again. “If you are here regarding our covenant, you have not kept your end of it. Do don’t expect us to heed your call so easily.”

Anastacia bit her lip for a few seconds, trying to suffer through the pain from her landing while regaining her posture and authority. “I am not here to call for anything, I am simply on a journey to learn of the world and our kinds while accompanying a friend of mine here. I have no idea what covenant you might be talking about, and it has been hard to do our part of it without knowing it exists.” She finally said, still very sore.

“Figures. Well, it is not your fault that you were cursed to be people. The mother grove will always welcome necromancers, and there is no doubt much for you to learn here. I am Ulmus, one of the few sensible ones you’ll find here.” The elk sighed disappointedly. By this point they had definitely noticed Xamiliere, but were choosing to ignore her.

“She’s a proper big shot over in Mournvalley too! Something about a throne and heir or whatever, and almost blew Regnans’ head off.” Sorbus proudly declared, as if all of it was now somehow her own accomplishments. “And mine, just so you remember.”

Ulmus rolled her eyes at the boast. “Obviously she is, not just every necromancer prances around in white, or have you forgotten what little we know of them?” They pointed out and once more turned to the necromancer. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, age may be on our side but that stops very few of our kind from having their heads hollowed out by rot and woodpeckers. Sorbus is, and forever will be, a mental stump… Speaking of rotten things, your retinue has some kind of a louse-infested husk trailing behind it.”

The necromancer pretended to have a look around as if she didn’t understand the insult thrown at Xamiliere. “I see no such thing. As far as I can tell, there’s only myself, my very dear friend, Xamiliere, and our guide. Surely you simply misspoke and didn’t mean any of us? Because I might take that sort of comment rather badly.” She said sternly, slid out one of the spikes she was armed with and slowly spun it in the air until it pointed at Ulmus. “Moving on… My friend there has run into a bit of a problem regarding the gods, and apparently you are the one to speak to about such things, so I would have you help her. I trust there’s no issues with that?”

The elk’s glowing green eyes intensely scanned the necromancer’s calm but unwavering exterior, likely searching for any weaknesses to counter the very thinly veiled threat with, but they would not find any. Anastacia was already done listening to any unneeded comments about her friend, and definitely wasn’t above making a crater into the massive tree in the middle of the grove to make that point clear, in fact, she almost wanted to do it to avoid having to do the same song and dance with every spriggan they would come across.

Seemingly content with their evaluation of the necromancer, the elk let out a haughty scoff. “I will tell her what I know once I’ve seen what the problem is, if for nothing else, for the fact that my spite for the divine far outweighs the pity and disappointment I feel for such a failure of a spriggan. But ultimately, it’s not my decision whether anything will be done about it, the mother grove will see to the woes of its children as it sees fit.” They said, not sounding particularly bothered by having to help Xamiliere but more impressed by a necromancer standing up for someone like her. “Come here then, houseplant, let’s get this nonsense over with.”

Xamiliere stepped onto the rock and was met with mostly visible disgust, but it wasn’t hard to tell that Ulmus found her plight a rather interesting thing to observe as their energies meshed together on contact with one another. It may not have been the first time such a thing had happened, but gods and nature spirits definitely kept clear of each other enough for it to be very, very rare. Because of the silence between the spriggans, Anastacia wagered that whatever conversation they might have been having happened in a way she couldn’t participate in and stated to wander around the rock. After a while, Xamiliere told the necromancer that, as with all things regarding immortals, things would take a bit of time and that she should either take a nap or let Sorbus show her around for a bit instead of menacingly pacing back and forth while attracting unneeded attention to the somewhat hidden nook of the grove. Anastacia wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of leaving her friend alone, but she did want to see more of the grove and figured that they would get separated sooner or later anyway.

“Can’t believe we just stood up to Ulmus like that! It could’ve gone very badly very quickly!” Sorbus excitedly yapped as soon as they were out of earshot.

Anastacia inadvertently chuckled, breaking her stoic act for a moment. “We? Did you do something?” She asked and slid the bone spike back into its place.

“I was right there in the thick of it with you!” The fox proudly claimed, something which wasn’t entirely untrue. “Pretty cool of you to do stuff like that for a friend, I didn’t know people did that sort of thing – if I was a person, I’d be constantly worried that I’d die from something dumb, like falling over, for sure wouldn’t be talking shit to Ulmus…”

“What are you, if not a person?” Anastacia saw a chance to ask something she had pondered ever since speaking to Regnans.

“I’m a nature spirit, of course? People were made by gods, and by association most of us consider them to be a bit shit – and to be fair they are very weak.” Sorbus explained, again without the despising tone the other two spriggans had. “Of course, necromancers are special, but you’re still people.”

“What makes necromancers so special? I’ve met many who can keep up with me with other talents.” The adventurer continued to inquire since her guide was actually proving to be pretty helpful.

Sorbus stopped to ponder for a moment. “I don’t rightly remember, something to do with balance, I reckon. You might want to ask Ulmus later, assuming you won’t start a fight.”

The fox left Anastacia to a small opening in the root coverage, where a stream had formed a small pond around a large, slightly tilted flat rock that received some sunlight through the gaps in the gigantic branches above. Being somewhat near Ulmus and with a direct, easily accessible route to the forest along the stream, it seemed like a good place to use as a base of operations for the time being. Anastacia took off her coat and tossed aside her boots and socks before walking across the shallow pond to sit down on the edge of the rock and soaking her feet in the cool water.

Sorbus watched the necromancer with the same curious intrigue they had displayed since they had first met. Without Anastacia noticing, small roots grew out form Sorbus’ wooden paws, which firmly planted them into the magic-imbued soil beneath. The green light in their eyes slowly faded and the agile shape of a fox grew into a more rigid wooden statue of one until nothing but the rough resemblance to an animal was left to separate it from a normal plant. Anastacia was snapped out of her moment of relaxation by a loud crack as Sorbus’s old body split in half when its small size could no longer contain the new one that the spirit had formed within. Fresh wooden growths weaved into a new, eerily familiar shape, forming a pair of arms, a head complete with facial features, vines in semblance of hair, a small and slender body and finally a pair of feet. The new form settled, losing its fresh green color in favor of more protective bark and better-defined shape that wasn’t simply a knot of branches and vines, but more akin to a human – a human Anastacia recognized herself in. Much less detailed and accurate than Xamiliere’s usual guise, Sorbus’ attempt was a very rough copy of the necromancer, recognizable but clearly made by someone not quite familiar with the workings of a human body.

“Behold! Pretty amazing, right?” The nature spirit announced, moving their new mouth in a manner that in no way matched with what they were saying.

Anastacia felt it was appropriate to applaud the change but was more confused than anything. “Sure, but also why?” She asked.

“I figured it’d be easier for you to talk with someone who at least looks like a fellow person, and I’m not going to lie – hands are an absolutely nuts as far as limbs go, top-notch. Have you ever tried to plant shit with little fox paws?” Sorbus explained and stepped into the pond to lean over the necromancer. “Besides, isn’t this what you’re into? I saw and heard all sorts of things back there.” They whispered and placed their hand on Anastacia’s thigh.

“No, a janky, naked, plant-based version of me isn’t it.” The necromancer stated bluntly with an unimpressed scowl on her face.

Sorbus stared deep into Anastacia’s eyes, perhaps hoping to find a hint of dishonesty hidden somewhere, but couldn’t. They groaned in frustration and collapsed onto the rock next to the necromancer. “Well, fuck! I’m not changing back! Do you have any idea how much effort this took?! A moderate amount!”

Anastacia shrugged. “I guess I don’t mind it too much, but why? Won’t you get mocked by the others like that?”

“They can go pollinate themselves. Bunch of necromancerless tumbleweeds… With you here, this is the perfect chance for me to practice.” The spriggan grumbled and wiggled her newly-acquired fingers to get a better control over them.

“What do you need to practice, and what for?” Anastacia absent mindedly asked while getting back into her relaxing mood, not really meaning to stick her nose into the spriggan’s business but wanting to make some lighthearted conversation.

Sorbus stared at the branches high above them. “You know, stuff.” They avoided having to answer.

Anastacia couldn’t help but to feel some level of comradery between herself and Sorbus. Something about the nature spirit felt like they didn’t quite fit in with the other two she had met so far, and certainly didn’t fit the harsh description Xamiliere had given for her own kind. The chances of their behavior being a ruse seemed slim, not only was there very little to gain for such trickery, the two were already alone so if the spriggan had ulterior motives, they would have acted on them already. Unthreatened by the spirit, she folded her coat to use it as a pillow and leaned back on the rock to rest her eyes.

Unsure whether she actually fell asleep or simply drifted off in her thoughts and the feeling of normalcy the complete lack of living matter nearby gave her, Anastacia was woken by Sorbus nudging her shoulder.

“Necromancer, necromancer, I might need you to do your thing.” The spriggan whispered and kept nudging Anastacia increasingly forcefully.

Opening her eyes, it didn’t take Anastacia long to find out what the problem was: atop one of the large roots around them, with its green eyes gleaming brightly, sat a massive nature spirit in the form of a wolf. Far larger than any of the direst of the dire wolves in the north, the spriggan was somewhere between a large bear and a small hut in size, easily large enough to drag both Anastacia and Sorbus away in its teeth had it chosen to do so. The well-defined and kept body had no signs of moss or aging like Ulmus or Regnans’, nor did it seem messy like Sorbus’ new shape – this was a spriggan who had perfected its shape to the same degree as Xamiliere. Though her initial impulse was to scream on the account of the giant wolf, Anastacia hid her terror much the same way she had done in front of the even larger snake she had faced. She calmly got up on top of the rock, crossed her arms behind her back and stared up at the spriggan who had dared to disturb her rest.

“What am I looking at?” She whispered to Sorbus while locking eyes with the grinning wolf.

“Baccata.” Sorbus nervously whispered back. “They’re uh… a worry.”

“Sorbus, Sorbus, Sorbus…” The wolf suddenly spoke with a growly and low voice. “How come you’ve hidden a guest like this from me?”

The smaller spriggan hesitated for a moment before speaking up and taking a step forward to be in front of Anastacia. “The necromancer is mine! Go become a bonfire somewhere and leave us be!” They growled in response with words that had absolutely no weight behind them, making Anastacia feel like she was a cadaver a smaller predator was desperately trying to hold on to when being confronted by a much mightier beast.

The wolf chuckled and dropped down from their perch with a loud crash as its feet cushioned the fall of their weighty body. Beginning to circle the rock, it stepped into the pond and inspected both the spriggan and the necromancer. “What might this new shape of yours be about? Has the lunacy of the other guest I’ve heard about began to spread onto you? What’s next? A new name? Clothes? I hear table manners are a big deal to people.” They mocked Sorbus. “I always figured you were a bit of a loser, but you’ve far exceeded my expectations.”

“What I do is none of your business! Besides, losers don’t have necromancers and look what I have!” Sorbus kept boasting with a voice that lost confidence on each word, yet somehow never ran out. “Go hump some driftwood, will you?”

Baccata moved ever so slightly closer to the rock the pair was stranded on. The worrying grin on their wolf-like face grew ever wider as it passed in front of Anastacia. More branches reached out from between existing ones one their body, adding to their already considerable size and heft. The green energy fueling the movements of all spirggans burned bright within the wooden shell and periodically pulsated all the way down to the sharp thorns working as claws on the wolf’s feet. It was hard to say if Baccata was more focused on threatening Sorbus with their size, or trying to somehow impress Anastacia with it.

“Necromancer…” The wolf growled and turned its unblinking gaze at Anastacia. “The company you keep is unbefitting of your status. There are others in this grove who are farm more intrigued to hear of your works outside, and who are far more deserving of your presence, such as I.”

“Do tell, what makes you think you are more worthy of my attention than Sorbus?” Anastacia asked, hoping to get a better grasp on the situation and exactly how much her opinion mattered.

The wolf laughed. “Sorbus’ watches over meager glades they’re barely able to protect, I have seen to my great forests for thousands of years, warded off hundreds of threats to them and served the balance to my fullest for as long as I can remember.” They explained and once again moved closer, now occasionally scraping the sides of the rock with their body. “And if not for that, then simply for the fact that I can take you from them with ease.”

As she weighed her options, Anastacia noticed that they were being watched. Dozens of glowing eyes were fixated on what was happening from a safe distance, as they no doubt took measure of the necromancer that had arrived, to see where she would fall in the pecking order when being confronted by what seemed to be one of the mightier spirits around. “Is that so? I am not the one for gardening, so your little hobbies do not weight much in my mind – and honestly, I doubt you could take me from Sorbus’ company anywhere as easily as you think you could.”

“Yeah!” Sorbus agreed before realizing what was being said and visibly wilting in seconds. “Wait, no, they absolutely can though.”

“No, they can’t.” The necromancer reassured her guide.

“Enough of this!” Baccata barked. “Necromancer, let’s go before this has to get messy.”

Anastacia shook her head. “No thanks, I’ll stay here. Bullies like you have never really impressed me, so you can just leave – besides, I hear you hump driftwood and I just don’t want any part in that.” She said with a completely straight face and gestured for the wolf to piss off.

Perhaps understandably, this angered Baccata, who snarled for a moment before lunging forwards and latching his massive jaw onto the necromancer’s arm, tightly enough for the wooden teeth to break skin but still with clear intent to drag her away rather than grievously harm her. Anastacia felt the sudden pain on left her arm and had to consciously stop herself from utterly obliterating the wolf with every piece of bone sown onto her outfit, she only had so much ammunition for the trip and she wasn’t even sure how much good it would do against a spriggan within the boundaries of the grove. Though that was about as much reasoning as she had available at the moment, and successfully avoiding necromancy, her body chose the second most powerful weapon in its arsenal with very little consultation from her brain. She had not taken along the few crystalline daggers she still had for convenient use of ice magic, but she did happen to be standing on a large rock that was more than suitable to be used for storing a lot of energy in a hurry. The temperature in the immediate area plummeted sharply as every drop of liquid stored in the wooden body of Baccata froze before they had a chance to even realize what had happened and release the necromancer’s arm from their jaws. The water around the wolf’s feet froze solid in mere seconds and the oppressing amount of moisture in the air began to form snow and ice on their body.

“Ah…” Baccata sighed in realization as their wooden body no longer had the malleability it usually had, and the last few movements it did to open its jaw and move back caused the wood to crack and split in enough places to have their legs buckle under the weight of their body and let the whole wolven shape to crumble on impact upon the ice under it.

Anastacia looked at the painful-looking but ultimately harmless gash on her arm and bit her lip as the pain increased and adrenaline wore off. She took a deep breath to not break character after felling one of the stronger spirits in the grove and while being stared by dozens of awestruck spriggans. “Ow.” She stated and turned to Sorbus.

“So, this necromancy stuff… A lot more fire and ice involved in it than I remember, now that I think about it.” Sorbus said and kneeled to look at the frozen chunks of wood on the ice. The green energy flowing through them quickly sank into the ground as Baccata presumably retreated to reform their body elsewhere. “Another great victory for Team-Sorbus!”

Ignoring the spriggan’s claim that they had anything to do with the brief squabble, Anastacia grabbed her guide by the arm and showed them the barely bleeding superficial wounds on her arm. “Can you maybe do something about this first?!” She demanded as politely as she could through the pain.

Sorbus confusedly looked at the injury, plucked a couple of leaves from their head and placed them on the wounds. The necromancer expected some kind of magical effect to activate with sparks of green energy and everything, but no such thing occurred while they stared at the leaves for a moment or two.

“And what does that do?” She finally asked from the spriggan.

“Covers them.” Sorbus shrugged with no clear intention to do anything to further help.

Rather than voicing out her disappointment and frustration, Anastacia hopped off the rock and walked over to a non-frozen part of the pond to wash the wounds. “So will this nonsense at least become less common now that I’ve handled this Baccata idiot, or do I have to individually go and threaten every single spriggan here to be allowed a bit of peace?” She asked to distract herself from the smarting of the wounds.

The nature spirit looked around at the other spriggan who had gathered to watch the spectacle from afar. “No, I think you’ve gotten rid of that issue… Polishing off the big bad wolf of the area without breaking a sweat makes even the other apex morons rethink their place. Not really sure things will get much more peaceful though…” They estimated.

“How so? Am I going to have to deal with an unending stream of assholes trying to measure themselves against me?” The necromancer grumbled tiredly.

“Opposite, actually!” Sorbus laughed awkwardly. “You’ve probably figured out that our kind likes to have one of yours around – kind of like how you people keep cats or dogs around. To keep pests away or whatever and occasionally let you pet them. So, naturally, when you first appeared, having the necromancer was the thing, but you’ve gone and flipped that whole dynamic by first standing up to Regnans and then doing this. I think the goal for everyone interested might soon be to make you want to keep them around for company.”