After Anah’to leaves the inn I groan in frustration and throw myself back into bed. What a miserable conversation to end what was otherwise a relaxing evening, but there’s nothing to be done about it. It’s time to go back to The Waking Sands, but that’s just about the last thing I want to do. My life has slipped from a familiar cycle that I enjoyed with ample time for solitude and leisure to a heavily supervised and endless stream of chores.

Chores really is the right word, too. While I will freely admit that my ‘lifestyle choices’ have more than earned the scrutiny I am under, there is a complete lack of personal satisfaction in what the Scions do on a day-to-day basis. From Phekda’s sales pitch, it seemed like I would really be helping on the front line combating threats that none else were qualified to handle, but in practice it’s more ‘Move these bodies,’ or ‘Go ask some drunkards if they have seen any suspicious activity recently.’

Though that’s closer to ‘excitement.’ More often, Phekda tells me to help any random schmuck who needs it to improve my social standing, but all I’m doing is letting people take advantage of me and my time. Killing insects, delivering materials, and being a functional postmoogle is my real day job. With these past few days all taking place at Camp Drybone, I always head home magnitudes more tired and filthy than farm work ever managed to make me feel, which is a real damn achievement.

“I know it doesn’t seem like much, but the work you’re doing now is really helping people a lot!” Phekda tries her best to cheer you up. “The calamity has really left this town in a sorry state, but thanks to the help you’ve put in, they have food to eat and are free from monsters raiding their homes.”

She’s right, of course. It’s just all the more difficult to feel any kind of dignity doing the work when I constantly get weird looks and unwelcome comments about my appearance as an Au Ra, particularly since my Xaela scales look strikingly similar to Amalj'aa ones.

Tomorrow, Phekda insists that we will be cracking the case regarding mysterious disappearances in the town wide open, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Given the recent Louix incident, it has become painfully apparent to me that investigations like this are slow and sometimes yield no fruit at all. Either way, staying here in this inn is a poor use of my time. Staying out late will only make me more tired in the morning. As I stand up, I feel a little lump in my pocket, and reach in. I pull out a ruby gemstone and gasp in surprise. This Ruby Carbuncle has been in my pocket all day today, and I completely forgot to feed her!

I summon her forth just as Anah’to taught me to, and despite what must have been hours of starvation she seems to be in great shape.

“I’m so sorry, Ruby! I got all caught up with Anah’to…” I reach down and pet her, and she leans into my hand. “I guess we better get you some food, pronto!” Her tail flicks back and forth in anticipation. I make my way down to the Aetheryte Plaza, and Anah’to is of course long gone. The two of us teleport to the Horizon Aetheryte and begin our standard route back to The Waking Sands.

Once we make it to The Footfalls, the feast begins. I lure beasts out of the water and Ruby roasts them alive before running up and gorging on their finely crisped bodies. She gnaws away at them for a bit, chews, and then eventually spits out a small, mushy goop back into the water, before resuming her regular eating.

“Haha, I can tell you were really hungry this time.” I pet her as she eats. “...Say, I should really start calling you something besides Ruby, right? That’d be kind of confusing for me…” I sit down and think about it for a moment. “Anah’to named his topaz carbuncle Brick…so…” My mind clicks perfectly into place. “Mortar! Mortar will be the perfect name for you, and you and Brick will be an unstoppable duo!” Her ears wiggle at the prospect.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten your training either!” I puff out my chest, and she pauses from her eating in response. “Once K’yoko gets you back, she’s going to need to see the best behaved and smartest carbuncle of all time! So if you want more grub, you’ve got to get fired up!” she immediately combusts into flames. “YES! Alright, let’s find a suitable target.”

I slowly make my way into the water and slowly trudge through the muddy depths to search for prey. Mortar eagerly awaits my signal on the shoreline as I begin to dig into the mud and rip out an Orobon that thrashes violently in my hands.

“Alright, coming RIGHT UP!” I throw it with all my might toward Mortar directly, who unleashes a stream of flame from her mouth. It is seared alive as it travels, and just before it collides with her she rams it mid-air to send it hurdling back to me. Its body limply skips across the surface of the water, allowing me to raise my axe and strike downward, a task made much easier by the heat Mortar provides. “That’s the ticket!” I cheer as I pull out a small fillet knife and quickly cut off a morsel of flesh from the fresh catch. While it is horribly burned on the outside and raw on the inside, I hand it off to Mortar regardless as anything that enters her mouth is seared anyway, and she happily gorges on it.

While she eats, I turn back to the Orobon and fillet another piece which I then slice up and scatter into the water before moving behind a nearby pillar and waiting. After a few minutes, a stoneshell crab slowly makes its way over to peck at the food I’ve left behind, allowing me to get the drop on it.

With a swift blow using the blunt side of my axe, I daze the crab enough to shove it closer to Mortar, though I dare not use my bare hands to do so-- the things are notoriously good at slicing limbs off of careless fishermen and adventurers. With enough pushing and slapping, I eventually get it on to the same brick path that she is waiting on, and finally turn to give her an instruction.

“Alright, Mortar, I know you can do it! Are you ready to use flame prison?” I run up to her and lay my axe down in front of her, which she then steps on. “Alright, here goes nothing!” I fling her skyward and she twists in the air to try and face the crab as best she can. Before I know it, a barrage of flame flows from her towards the poor creature, though in a much more wild and chaotic way than I’m hoping for. Fire wildly spews across the stone and on to the water, hitting stray walls and sending any nearby wildlife fleeing.

The stoneshell has partially recovered from its stun and tries its best to scurry off, but random pillars of fire keep it locked in place. While her form could definitely use some work, it’s hard to argue with the results! This is a functional prison of flames. Satisfied, I run a weak stream of electric aether through my axe and slowly approach the stoneshell, bopping it on the head from the farthest range I can. After a few seconds of sustaining this, the creature is completely paralyzed, making capturing it with a net a very simple affair. I run up to Mortar and pat her on the head for a job well done.

“Nice work, Mortar. Next time, we’ll try to tighten up on that spread a bit more, and you’ll be able to use it on the field in no time at all!”

The walk home is quiet, and Mortar’s ruby red glow nicely illuminates the path to Vesper Bay. Before I enter, I reach back down to Mortar and release her physical form to let her rest and shove her gem in my pocket. As I make my way inside, I awkwardly lug the stoneshell over my shoulder into the kitchen where I find S’olahr hard at work making some kind of broth in a comically large pot.

“Oh sweetums~!” S’olahr said as he slowly turned around. “Back so soon with the co-- Erden!?” His attention drifts to my net. “Is that a dead body?”

“Dude. It’s a crab.” I say with a sigh as I put it down next to me. “...Who did you think I was?”

“D-don’t change the subject!” He interjects. “That’s massive! What are you going to do with it?”

“Ideally,” I cross my arms. “I’d like to cook it. Maybe for tomorrow, if you’ve already got something going.”

“I didn’t know you liked to cook.” He tilted his head slightly. “But I’m sorry to say, there’s no way we have a pot that big for it.”

“Hmm? That’s too bad. Guess I can just toss it.” I begin to turn away.

“Wait!” He runs after me. “There’s no need to be so wasteful, you doof. I can just make you one from clay.”

“Woah, really?”

“It won’t last as long as a metal one, but it’ll get the job done. Just give me a minute to grab my cane; make sure you get some firewood while you wait.” S’olahr turned and walked towards the dorms. I quickly made my way to the furnace room and grabbed a few spare logs from the logpile supply before making my way up to the surface to make a small, tidy pile with them. I made sure to make some distance between it and anything flammable, and settled on constructing it by the shoreline.

When S’olahr arrived, he immediately drew his cane and uttered a quick chant I had never heard before. In an instant, rock slabs rose from the ground and formed curved seats around where I made the pile.

“Alright, this area is great. Next, we’ll just need to get some clay.” He turned and began to walk away, and after a moment turned back to face me. “Well? Get a move on!”

We slowly made our way back toward The Footfalls, and I summoned Mortar back to my side as we approached. S’olahr immediately was drawn to its gentle glow.

“Did you get this little one from Anah’to?” He asked curiously, slightly leaning towards it for a closer look.

“Well, Mortar was…a gift? From K’yoko. No, perhaps it’s more of a loan? Regardless, S’anah’to taught me how to summon her, and I’ve just been training her when I can.” I pause for a moment, thinking of more to say as we trudge through the quiet night. “I don’t think she’s really ready for big battle settings, but when it’s just the two of us she does pretty well.”

“I doubt a little carbuncle like her will do much harm.” He shrugged, bending over to give her some headpats.

“...Maybe you’re right, but fire can be--”

“It uses fire?” He pulls his hand away. “I hope you’re planning on learning some spells to dispel flames then, otherwise it could be a heap of trouble.”

“Hmm.” I cross my arms. “Yeah, I guess I really should.”

“We’re here.” S’olahr turns to the large pool of water that stretches across the area. In the water I can see a large collection of stones with muddy gaps between them. He looks cautiously over the water. “We’re looking for really fine, brown, muddy looking rock-- a bit shiny, too.”

“I know what clay looks like! I work on a farm, remember?” I scoff, before stepping into the water and looking around. “Of course, it’s mostly just a nuisance for us.” After a few minutes of carefully skimming over the water, I stumble upon a deposit. Using my axe as a lever, I move some large rocks out of the way to expose more clay underneath. “I found some here!”

“...Quicker than I expected.” S’olahr made his way out of the water and over to the deposit before drawing his weapon. Through a brief channel and quiet incantation, chunks of clay slowly rise from the water and begin to orbit along the crook of his cane. “Hmmm…this should be enough, as long as I dig a little deeper for more.” He leaned down to a crouch and looked carefully at the exposed rock in the watery hole below. I looked into the small pool and scratched my head-- the light wasn’t as clear in the deeper section.

“If you want, I can just look f--” A loud splash of water came from behind S’olahr as an Orobon lunged for a bite. He flinched in response and began to turn, but not before I shoved him out of harm's way with my left arm and drew my axe with my right. The wrath of my swing cut clean into the creature’s side, sending it back into the water with a large open wound. Before I can move forward to take another swing, Mortar unleashes a barrage of fire onto it and continues until the monster stops moving.

I turn back to S’olahr who I seemingly shoved straight into the shallow water. While annoyed and soggy, he is unharmed. He gets up and draws the water from his clothes to dry himself off before letting out a small sigh.

“Thank you.” He approaches the hole again.

“Sorry for getting you wet.” I comment as I look around the area to check for any more unwanted guests.

“It’s my fault for not being more careful, but I would appreciate you remaining vigilant while I work.”

“Got it.”

-

The freshly made and fired pot sits on an equally large fire, and after lightly seasoning the boiling water I carefully lower the stoneshell in so as to not spill water everywhere. After a moment of poking and prodding, I take my seat to monitor the flames themselves.

“This is a good temperature.” I turn to Mortar. “Do you think you can try to keep it around this hot, girl?” She nods dutifully and keeps diligent watch of it.

“I’ve never seen anyone cook a stoneshell before…How did you capture it without it snapping your fingers off?” S’olahr looks into the pot to check for cracks, but after the inspection sits down besides me.

“Just a bit of lightning to the head will paralyze it, then it’s no problem at all.” I smile and playfully run a tiny stream of lightning between my thumb and pointer finger.

“Ah, of course.” He leans forward and holds his hands out to the fire. “Phekda does something similar when we need to fight monsters together.” He chuckles. “At least, when she doesn’t just take them out in one blow.”

“She’s a real force of nature, huh?”

“Yeah, she is…” He smiles and stares deep into the flames.

“Awww, how cute.” A familiar, taunting voice calls out from the dark. Phekda approaches the fire with a small rack of cod. “It’s nice to see you two getting along for a change.”

“Phekda!” S’olahr stands up quickly and walks up to her. “Great catch as usual. I’ve got the pot ready and simmering inside.”

“I’m just making some stoneshell crab for tomorrow night.” I add.

“Nice!” She hands the tray over to S’olahr. “Make sure you two rest up tonight-- it’s looking like we’ll have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Oh?” I tilt my head. “What for?” Phekda gains a wide, knowing grin, and she steps closer to the raging fire.

“How much do you know…about the Lord of Inferno?”