Manager Holla greeted them at the doors of the Auction House. "Honored Divines! Miss Kestra! What a delight for you to honor our humble House with your presence!"

"Branch Manager Holla, it's a pleasure to see you again!" Kestra smiled, moving carefully as her body adjusted to the increased statistics.

"Master Alchemist Sung mentioned that she would very much enjoy the opportunity to speak with you further on your shared craft. Will you be in the city long enough for me to inform her of your presence?" Manager Holla asked, holding the door open.

Ralouf chuckled. "Ah, Graemire, your little potential outshines us already!" he joked, elbowing the Emperor of Wood in the side.

Kestra mock pouted to Ralouf, but quickly made introductions. She added at the end, "Sadly, we're stopping to inquire about communication devices and then headed to Sortalheim. We've a quest there, to end the unjust enslavement happening there."

Holla's eyes bulged before sweat beaded up on his brow. "Please recall that the people are often ignorant or powerless against the lords," he begged.

Kestra laid a reassuring hand on his forearm. "To act without understanding is to create more harm that good, and we're pretty sure the quest is a result of the Blessing of Benevolence. To got against the blessing's intent would hardly be profitable, now would it?"

Holla heaved a sigh of relief, then seemed to recall himself and straightened back up. "Forgive me for my doubts, Honored Divines. The movement of giants among ants is a terrifying thing for we poor ants."

Before anyone else could poke at him, Kestra said, "I do apologize for our haste, but would you happen to have communication devices for use across the First Horizon?"

"Yes, this way! Allow me to show you our selection! Most of what we have is of the High Novice grade as that is about what this Horizon may normally afford. We do have four Mid Apprentice grade devices. They are less prone to mana interference and have a longer range before requiring message scrolls. The scrolls will reach around the entire Horizon, though there is a slight delay. Now, normally the interference wouldn't be much of an issue on this Horizon, but the presence of so many Honored Divines and Immortals of late has stirred up things. You may need a high Mana Manipulation skill to compensate."

Ralouf and Nicada examined the devices and they each did something that changed them, increasing them to mid and high Expert grade communication devices, respectively. Kestra quietly passed over her Zonzhi token and two Base mana stones to pay for them all to receive a device, then let the duo improve them to a point they were useful to the Divine Creatures. Holla returned her token, and said, "Master Sung seemed especially interested in the mention of acid tempering ingredients."

Kestra nodded. "Do you have something like a scribe's kit? I'm without a good brush and ink, and more paper is always useful. I'll write down the theory for her perusal when I have a chance. That's just a mechanical process for now. My Control Earth isn't quite high enough to isolate the right minerals to make it a technique."

Holla's eye brightened again and he happily glided over to another display shelf. "One moment. I think we can just call this a bit of gratitude for a profitable venture. Why, I'm told that your technique has already saved us a few Sky stones worth of materials, and it hasn't been a full week since our in House alchemists began using it!" He returned with a box, lifted the lid to show a small ink mill, some ink sticks, a trio of calligraphy brushes, and a thick stack of nice quality papers. Kestra smiled in appreciation of the set, and he closed the lid sliding the case over to her.

"Oh, great!" Kestra said while taking the box. "It's always so frustrating when you lose rare materials during the crafting process!"

Ralouf handed her one of the upgraded devices. "I've already registered the other devices. It should be intuitive to use, Miss Kestra, but we can practice on the way. I fear that were it not for the 'new shiny' Vost would be a terror of impatience already. Manager Holla, it was a pleasure to meet and do business with you."

"The Jade Pearl Auction House is always pleased to aid our Honorable Divines," Holla responded.

Kestra let herself be swept away, sending the scribe box to her storage.

They were up in the air, the bit of enchanted metal on Kestra's ear when she heard Yorgin ask, "Did someone pay for these?"

She laughed. "Yep! All four were just two of the Base stones. Just a few hours delay in Vost's next snack," she added to cut off any objections from Graemire.

He smiled and shifted her a little more securely into his side. "Apply your boosts!" he mock growled, chuckling at the banter that started up.

"Fine. I'll just do them all at once, shall I?" she asked.

Ralouf snorted. "Good night, then!"

She shot his a bit of side-eye and kept to just upping her stats by five. She got the Heightened Title for all of them, and then the Enhanced title for using more than 50 boosts on her strength. That replaced the Heightened Title, which lost the +5 for Heightened, but gave her +10 for Enhanced, so overall another +5 to her earned base strength statistic.

She did feel quite tired after all her boosts were applied, about two hours later, which was weird, until she realized that she had just about doubled her stamina pool. Even with the increase in her stamina recovery, she was feeling some physiological strain.

"Mind if I nap on your shoulder?" she murmured to Graemire.

"Go ahead," he told her.

"Okay. Wake me when we land, yeah?" A yawn mangled the last word.

"Alright," he agreed.

Ralouf spoke through the clever bit of enchanted metal, his words more or less private, addressed to Graemire. "You've taken quite a liking to your little bit of potential, haven't you?" He sounded mildly concerned.

Graemire unconsciously pulled the sleeping human woman closer. "She reminds me of joys I had forgotten," he answered.

"How long will you stay with her?"

"I do not know."

The wyrm made a noise in the back of his throat. Graemire ignored it.

Ralouf said, "Have a care how you raise her up to the Tenth Horizon. She needs a firm foundation else the mountain of her power will crumble at the first stomp of a Giant's foot."

"You have Ascended children. How have they grown?" Graemire asked.

"Into their graves, most of them," was the grim reply. "Only Tasali and Naemajra remain, and they are unwilling to progress beyond the Eighth Horizon. They linger among the Dungeon Masters, as if mere levels will prevent age from taking them into the final repose."

"Yet life among the Sects is far from kind, either," Graemire pointed out.

"It is preparation for the final tribulation, where the shackles of time finally come unbound. Aye, there may be death for those who seek violence in the Divine Horizon, but there is no withering ! Yet, none of my wyrm-born sons or daughters have survived, either.

"Eh, I'm not saying to forego today's joys for fear of tomorrow's woes. Just, be aware that there may come woe tomorrow and be sure the joy of today is worth that."

Graemire considered, then said, "I will hold your words close in my thoughts, my old friend."

They were still flying when Kestra roused. At some point, Graemire had shifted her from his side to sit on his arm, cradled against his chest, his other hand holding her head to his shoulder.

"How close are we?" she murmured.

Graemire gave her hair a light stroke, rather reminding her of how she might pet a favored horse or tamed beast. "Descending as we speak."

They touched down in a clearing. Graemire put up a complicated shield, and then Kestra summoned her gate. With her greatly expanded mana pool and recovery rate, it was a matter of moments and a bit of concentration for the gate to form. Eilith, Vostler, and Yorgin followed by Nicada and Ralouf ducked inside, and then Kestra closed her gate.

Ambrose slid into the ground, already taking off for the city of Sortalheim. Graemire lingered only long enough to remind her, "Call us if you have need of us. We will meet up at the road just outside of the woods no later than noon tomorrow."

Kestra nodded. "I will, and I'll call if I'm done sooner."

Graemire then disappeared into the woods. Kestra checked her map, and found the unmarked camp site. She cast her Fade spell and set off, casting about to find any traces of the rebel guards whom she suspected to patrol the woods.

She found tracks, a lot of them, what looked like a large troop of armored men.

"Two, maybe three days old," she muttered to herself. She checked, found her bow still stored strung. The stasis effect at least meant her weapon hadn't taken any undue stress from being constantly strung. She picked up a few fallen branches, repeating her trick of shaping the wood while imbuing it with affinity-rich mana. Now, though, she shaped the wood according to the Finely Balanced Blunt Arrow blueprint, imbuing it with a mild enough amount of lightning affinity mana to produce a stunning effect. After finishing the first one, she got blue screens.

Congratulations!

You have successfully created a High Novice grade Stunning Finely Balanced Blunt Arrow.

Congratulations!

You have successfully learned the Woodworking skill! View your Skill Book to keep track of your skill ranks.

All in all, she made five arrows, two High Novice grade, two Mid Novice grade, and one Low Novice grade, which she stored for the moment. Having the blueprints, the right spell, and cheat-worthy high level of Mana Manipulation meant that Kestra was able to turn even the less than optimal shed branches into usable arrows.

She briefly questioned why she only learned the Woodworking skill now, but she guessed it was because the arrows she had made before were as often made of dungeon rock as grass. She hadn't learned Stone Shaping or Sculpting, or whatever the rock shaping equivalent skill was either, and decided to shelve the question for later.

The closer she got to the camp, the more trampled the tracks got. She found splashes of blood, dried now, along with impressions of a well worn patrol route.

An odd sound had her stilling. It came again, and then a man's voice, muffled, the words indistinct. Kestra slowly advanced to a place where she could observe the area she thought the voice had come from.

Two men wearing darkened breastplates and leather armor, and not in the style of the rebels, watched the cave entrance. Kestra observed the area just in front of the cave and saw more blood in the churned up forest loam.

Yeah, this camp had been raided. She considered a moment. She still needed information, and there were two potential witnesses right there.

Decision made, she stretched the kinks out of her neck and changed her creeping direction.

"… mean, we got them all, didn't we?"

"Shut up."

"It doesn't make sense why we have to stare at that damned cave all day--"

"Shut up."

"--long for three days now! Three days! I have a wife, you know! This assignment's just--."

"If you don't shut up, I'm gutting you now and reporting you dead to one of the white boars!"

"Fuck you! You can't even touch me in training, what makes you think--!"

Kestra popped up behind the irritated duo and poked each of them with a stunning arrow. The lightning arced between their metal breastplates, burning off the armor-black in a pattern reminiscent of gnarled oak branches. She had already put up a sound shield with Control Air to prevent any noise from escaping, which was good because the lightning crackled and boomed.

The men dropped, twitching. Kestra put her arrows back into storage, retrieved material for blindfolds, gags, and cords for binding them. When they were secured to her satisfaction, she hauled them up and used her Fade spell and Traceless Steps technique to get some distance from the rebel camp.

After finding a decent spot for the questioning to come, she called into her realm, «Any of y'all good at interrogations?»

Her oath bound her not to speak of the rebels or their camp. It did not require her to prevent others from revealing those secrets.

Ralouf volunteered to head out, and Kestra drew him out of her realm without using the gate.

"Nifty trick, that," he said, his gaze taking in the hog tied, unconscious men in armor. "Not sure if you knew this, but interrogations work better when your prisoners can talk."

"Before I wake them, I'd better strip them. Armor makes a person feel safer," she mused aloud even as she winked at Ralouf in appreciation for his humor.

Once the men had been reduced to their small clothes, all the gear they had been wearing -- including their storage rings and an interesting stat boosting necklace on the talkative one -- she sent it all to her storage, to be set aside for now in case she decided to return the equipment after the forthcoming "little talk". She had had to unbind and then rebind them, all the while keeping up her Organic Assay to ensure they were unconscious, an unused stun arrow at the ready.

She put up her improvised silence ward with Control Air and removed the talkative guard's gag. Then, Kestra cast Minor Healing on him, rousing him.

"Explain why you were standing guard where you were," she ordered, letting menace lace her words. She didn't particularly respect either of the men, but she had more sympathy for the one this one had so thoroughly provoked with his incessant complaining while on duty.

"Who are you!? Lord Ramakith will have your head!" the complainer snapped, trying to bluster over his fear.

Kestra circled behind him with silent steps. "Not if I eat his heart first. Now, if you don't want to be my snack, answer my question."

She must have gotten the right amount of disdaining arrogance to inspire him to bleat, "Bandits! There was a bandit camp there, and we cleared it out!"

"How many survived your 'clearing'?" she asked.

"I don't know! Most of the women, a handful of the leaders!"

"Where are they now?"

Either he rallied, or she let off the intimidation, because he squeaked out, "Facing Lord Ramakith's justice! Just like you'll be--!"

Kestra, mindful of her new strength, caught his throat in her hand. She let her voice turn to an irritated growl near his ear. "I have a quest to bring justice to your lord, so don't insult me with that lie. What location where they sent to?"

"I won't tell you anything else!" he said. Rallied spirit, then. He could stew for a bit while she checked how helpful the other would be.

"Mm. Not now," she agreed, gagging him again.

Then she healed his fellow guard and removed his gag. Even recognizing that she was more favorably inclined to the man for the shared misery of having stood watch with nattering idiots before, she decided to try a more affable start to this interrogation.

"You don't seem to like the fellow you were stuck standing guard with," she said, conversationally.

"Who are you?" the second guard asked.

Kestra ignored him, asking, "That place you were guarding, what was special about it?"

"Captain said they were bandits in there," he answered, smart enough to be wary.

"Captain said, but you don't believe that, do you?" she asked.

"Too many women and no chains," he agreed.

"What happened to the people there?" she asked.

"The captain had most of the men killed. The ones that were strange, he put in chains, with the women, sacked the camp, and the rest of our troop took them and the loot back to Sortalheim. Fucking Emgars was left with me to watch and report if anyone came to check out the cave. Please tell me you killed that little fuck."

"When you say strange, what do you mean?" Kestra asked.

"Skin too pale or dark, with odd colored hair, or dressed like no one we've ever seen before."

"Did any of the people your captain claimed were bandits say anything?" she asked.

"Not much chance, to be honest. The chains are enchanted to silence prisoners."

"Is that common?"

The guard growled. "Too much more of late. If I weren't oath bound in service, I'd've left, but it's my life to leave."

"Tell me," Kestra encouraged. "What has given you these second thoughts?"

The guard had a litany of abuses to recite, creeping from sufferable hardships to intolerable injustices. The victims had began as the meanest of the poor only to spread to the least of the lord's own retainers.

Ralouf used the communication devices to feed her questions. The disgruntled guard, Andol, was only too happy to talk, and Ralouf began to create a three dimensional map of the city's defenses, with markers for where key officials were located.

The interrogation lasted for a few hours before Ralouf suggested moving them to her realm for the nonce. He would stay out. She agreed, and moved them, letting the others know what had happened. Yorgin moved them to a smaller room in the tower, untied them, and then Nicada put bars over the egresses of the room.

Kestra did some wild harvesting on the way to the meet up spot. She made a stew with some of the meat chunks she had looted. She ate her fill, as did Ralouf, before she sent the pot off for the prisoners. She had her little Stone Sprite make a crude chamber pot and leave it just inside the bars of their cell.

The cooking got her the Cooking skill, and an item creation notice about making a Low Novice Field Stew.

Graemire met them just before dusk fell. He turned some bushes into a comfortable little hut, and encouraged the grasses and mosses to grow into mystically soft and relaxing bed.

"Go, sleep some more, little one," he instructed, and Kestra couldn't muster the energy to nay-say him.