The first thing Liliana had done when they reached Meshire, a larger than average town, was find the tallest building in it and stake it out as her ‘spot’. Away from the crush of humanity and social niceties required when one spent time around others, while giving her a bird's-eye view of the area.

She rarely had any interest in people. She only made attempts at socialization when she saw a point to it. For information gathering, for alliances, to make certain tasks easier. This time, she had no reason to force the residents of Meshire to endure her presence.

The second years needed to talk to the townsfolk, to gather information, but that had nothing to do with Liliana. She didn’t care if the second years passed or failed their assignment, and would not be lending a hand to help them with it. Not because they’d been told, several times, by Vereign that interfering with the second years’ assignments, to aid or hinder, would result in failing their own assignment. Rather, it was because she didn’t want to.

Her assignment was to make sure they got back to the Academy alive. Preferably in one piece, but alive was the objective. And she didn’t need to integrate herself with the people residing in Meshire to accomplish that. In fact, the distraction could cause a failure if something unexpected happened and Liliana couldn’t get to the students in time. Corbin had decided to stay near the students, fully welcoming the role of ‘bodyguard’.

Liliana wondered how long the students would last before one of them tried to kill the bard. He could be trying in large doses. At least, that was Liliana’s experience. Perhaps the students who stared at him with admiration, and in some cases lust, would find him more tolerable.

Liliana preferred her method of ‘body guarding’, finding a high place to relax in, Polaris shadowing the students while Lelantos prowled outside the town, looking for threats. She could get around the town quickly from here with flight.

Polaris could alert her if something happened to the students. As well as protect them from anything dangerous before Liliana got there. Lelantos would warn her if something outside the second years’ capabilities approached. It left Liliana ample time to catch up on her schoolwork.

Soon the students would probably head out, hopefully after they’d acquired all the necessary information to ensure they would be facing what they thought they would face. Liliana hadn’t paid much attention to the second years’ chatter, but she thought they were sent here for a subjugation assignment.

There was allegedly a pride of Hellcats in the area, decimating crops and killing livestock. Nothing too treacherous. Hellcats were more clever than their cousins, Hellhounds, faster as well, but physically weaker.

Once the students got the information to be sure it was Hellcats and not something similar but incredibly more dangerous, they would likely go and scout the area to find the den before retiring for the night to make their plans.

Liliana checked the sun’s position. It was mid-afternoon, and Hellcats were nocturnal creatures. If the students were smart, they’d know to scout soon, while the creatures still slept. And to not instigate a fight so close to evening. Assuming the second years did everything the logical way, they should only be here for a day or so more, unless everything went sideways.

Liliana really hoped nothing went sideways. She was half done with the final draft for her History essay. And she was almost done with the second draft for an essay for Fundamentals.

“The kits seem to have gotten the information they need. They’re planning to leave the town,” Polaris’ voice floated through Liliana’s mind. His voice was clipped, annoyed.

He hadn’t been best pleased to be put on stalking duty, but it was a punishment for terrorizing the younger years. Besides, she’d be insane to ask Nemesis to wander around a human settlement, and Lelantos was too large to sneak in a town. Asking Serenity wasn’t even a question, for one she wasn’t a fighter and wouldn’t suit to being a guard. For another, Lilliana was fairly certain she’d get drowned for even asking.

Right on time. Liliana mused as she sent her papers and pens to her storage. At least this assignment meant she had gotten copious amounts of time to catch up. The Academy had many facilities for studying, but it was far too easy to get distracted by friends there, especially when one would rather do anything else but slave over a three foot long essay on how a Spell could evolve into a Skill or vice versa along with examples and detailed reasons for why such a change had occurred.

“Keep following,” Liliana instructed as she stood and rolled her shoulders, [Wings of Radiance] activating and blooming from her back in a flurry of sunlight colored feathers. The afternoon sun caught in some of the feathers, sending rainbow fractals of light over the rooftop she’d been sitting on.

Liliana crouched and jumped, taking to the sky. She circled lazily around the sprawling town, enjoying the freeing feeling of wind gently ruffling across her skin. She examined the town with a detached curiosity as she soared slowly over it.

Meshire was small in comparison to a city, but it was larger than many towns and villages she’d seen so far. The warmer climate of the south was noticeable even on the very edges of it, like Meshire was. They were well into fall by now, but here the warm days had yet to fade, and the nights were only pleasantly cool, rather than the chill at the Academy or the biting cold of the north.

Liliana circled lower, following the bond to Polaris. Her eyes didn’t take long to locate the familiar, at least compared to the residents of the town, figures of the second years. Liliana dived and landed without a sound just behind Corbin, who was trailing the group of second years.

“Where are they going?” Liliana asked, looking at the students with slight interest as they discussed their plans.

Corbin startled so badly he jumped a foot in the air. “Gods damn it! Where did you come from?!” He squawked, hand on his chest.

Liliana muffled a snicker behind a hand. It was always so entertaining to startle Corbin, and so easy. The second years froze, turning quickly at the shout, half prepared to attack before they realized it was only Corbin being over dramatic. As always.

“You’re scaring the children,” Liliana chided mockingly as the second years turned back to their conversation.

“We’re not children!” a second year-Lamey? Shouted back over his shoulder.

“Legally, you are,” Liliana drolly responded. The boy began to turn around, face turning red, when Andusmelt grabbed him by the ear and forced him back into their argument about how to proceed.

“Stop antagonizing them,” Corbin hissed, rubbing at his chest as if the fright he’d been given had harmed him.

“That wasn’t antagonizing. I simply spoke the truth.” Liliana rolled her eyes. Corbin sighed and dragged his hands down his face.

“You’re impossible. I’ve never met someone with such high Charisma who seems dead set on doing everything she can to undermine it,” Corbin grumbled.

“What purpose is there in trying to ingratiate myself with second years?” Liliana asked, surprised to find herself mildly curious as to the answer. She had little else to do currently, and it was better to provoke Corbin into a discussion than to stand in silence.

“Because you never know who they could become once they’re no longer second years. Not to mention potentiality alienating heirs of noble families with both political and monetary power,” Corbin nagged, sounding like he couldn’t believe this had never occurred to Liliana. Incidentally, it had occurred to Liliana, and she had long ago decided she simply didn’t care enough to change her behavior.

“And if they become nothing? Then it’s wasted time.” Liliana pointed out the fault in his logic immediately. She didn’t add on that she didn’t much care if they did grow to be powerful. Liliana wasn’t recruiting for an army or some guild. But she was trying to be nice.

Corbin stared at her as if she was particularly dense. “Is being contrary something you were born with, or did you grow it yourself?” He demanded.

“I like to believe it’s a trait I carefully nurtured.” Liliana smirked, enjoying that she was getting Corbin riled up.

Corbin shook his head. “I can’t believe you.” He sighed once more and looked back at her.

“Yes, it might be a sunk cost if they don’t amount to anything. But think, what if you helped them? What if you aided them in becoming powerful? The risk of a loss goes down, and you end up with a loyal ally who is indebted to you. And you didn’t touch on the alienating heirs, who will one day become nobles. And irritating the heads of noble families is always unwise.” Corbin’s voice had taken on a lecturing tone as they followed the second years through the streets of Meshire and approached the outskirts.

“That sounds like a lot of effort. Wouldn’t it be better to find people who are already powerful and make them your allies? This is also working under the assumption that I want or need more powerful allies than what I already have.” Liliana tilted her head, trying to make sense of the idea of wasting time and effort to build someone up on a chance, rather than just finding someone who had what she needed already. And making allies at all.

Liliana could see the value of them, if she was planning on doing anything in her life that required a vast network of allies or people who owed her. But she had no such plans and therefore had no reason to subject herself to playing nice with people she didn’t care about.

“And don’t talk to me of nobles, Corbin. You’d do well to remember I am one. I know how their politics work far better than you. It doesn’t matter if you insult one. If you’re strong enough, they’ll crawl on hands and knees all the same.” Liliana sniffed disdainfully.

Nobles could be petty, and they had long memories, yes. The amount of blood feuds that happened was evidence of that. But above everything else, nobles coveted power in whatever form it took. Cozying up to those higher than them on the social ladder, grabbing promising adventurers to employ, brokering deals with rich and successful merchants. Power was what motivated all nobles, and if they couldn’t have it themselves, then allying with or indebting the powerful to them would do just fine.

Liliana already knew she was powerful, and would only become more powerful. She had no choice. It was gain power, or die and watch the world filled with people she loved fall to ruin. The nobles would come to her in time. Some were already sending their children to her with courting gifts. In the end, small bruises to their pride, like harmless insults and denials for courting, would be forgotten.

“You can find people, yes. But there’s no guarantee someone already powerful or strong will want anything to do with you. Better to grow someone else, and ingratiate them to you first,” Corbin argued, “and not everyone has the power to entice nobles to forget insults. And sometimes you might need their goodwill before you’ve cemented your power. Which they won’t do if you keep handing out insults like candy.” Corbin shot her a sharp look at the last comment and Liliana stared back, utterly unrepentant.

“That’s why we’re friends. You can just charm them for me. Since apparently I’m spectacularly bad at it,” Liliana smiled cheekily, eyes dancing when Corbin’s eyes sparked with annoyance.

“I can’t believe you, or your audacity,” Corbin growled as Liliana grinned widely at him, utterly delighted at his anger. She hadn’t gotten to fight anything fun the last few days, and she’d been itching for one. If Corbin got angry enough at her, she might be able to goad him into a duel.

“You already said that. Aren’t bards supposed to be eloquent?” Liliana teased. Corbin glared at her like he could make her convert to his point of view through sheer force of will.

“Excuse us,” a voice chimed in, hesitant and soft.

It was enough to distract Corbin, and Liliana frowned, feeling her chance for a duel slipping away. Corbin was always more fun to duel when he was upset. He stopped treating it like a game then and would really fight then. And that was such a rare thing, to see his perfect composure slip and unveil the monster lurking beneath.

“Yes?” Corbin asked, turning in the blink of an eye from irritation to suave charm. Andusmelt looked warily between the two of them before she focused on Corbin.

“We’ve decided to scout the area to find where the Hellcats are residing and get the lay of the land. We’ll reconvene and fight them later tonight once we have an idea of what the fight will look like,” Andusmelt explained, and Liliana couldn’t contain her snort. Andusmelt looked at her, eyes narrowed and body language going closed off.

“Is there a problem with that?” Andusmelt demanded.

“Does your team know nothing of Hellcats?” Liliana asked, almost mockingly. They deserved to be mocked anyway if they hadn’t done basic research on the things they would be fighting.

“We know enough to kill them,” Andusmelt defended hotly. Liliana raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

“Obviously not, based on your plan of attack. Did any of you pick up a local bestiary so you could get acquainted with the monsters that commonly spawn around here? Hellcats aren’t uncommon in the south, so information on them should be in one.” Liliana explained. She leaned forward slightly and her tone dropped its mocking lilt. She always was unable to resist speaking on her favorite topic. Beasts.

She couldn’t, and very much did not want to, tell them everything she knew of Hellcats, and exactly why their plan would end with failure. But she could at least lead them in the right area, so they wouldn’t go in blind.

It was solely because they weren’t showing the proper respect to the beasts they wanted to fight, not for something as laughable as concern. Telling them to read a book wouldn’t count as interfering, and it should’ve been one of the first things they did, anyway.

She was simply reminding them of lessons they’d undoubtedly already had in Battle Training about gathering information on enemies. At least beasts were easy to gain information on, as most were in bestiaries. Humans and human organizations were far harder, and was the reason such assignments weren’t assigned until the second semester of third year.

“She’s not wrong, and more information could only help your team complete the assignment,” Corbin spoke up, his tone far less prickly than Liliana’s. Liliana’s eagerness and Corbin’s soothing tone combined, and Andusmelt relaxed. Liliana could see her giving honest consideration to the suggestion before she nodded.

“Stanely, can you grab a local bestiary from a shop?” Andusmelt called out to one of her teammates. A girl, tall and unassuming, nodded before she took off back into the town. Andusmelt reconvened with her team.

“Why was she so against listening to me at first?” Liliana hissed, crossing her arms with a fierce scowl.

“Because you’ve been a right bitch this whole trip?” Corbin drawled. Liliana shot him a betrayed look.

“I have not. I just because I don’t want to make friends with everyone I see doesn't make me a bitch!” Liliana defended herself angrily.

“It does when you’re insulting, rude, and pricklier than a brier bush,” Corbin retorted without hesitation.

“And that shouldn’t mean anything when I’m someone older, with more experience and levels than them giving them advice. Paltry things like their feelings shouldn’t get in the way of listening to solid advice.” Liliana grumbled back with a fierce scowl. It was ridiculous, the way people would let their feelings make decisions for them, even at the detriment to their health and lives.

“Now, do you see the value of being at least approachable? It makes people more likely to listen to you. If you’re rude and standoffish, then even when you have good suggestions or information, people won’t listen simply because they don’t like you.” Corbin continued and Liliana felt her shoulder rise defensively.

She hated that he was right. She hated more that it said far too much about human nature that they cared more that the information they were given was presented to them in a specific way, rather than the information itself.

“You might be right about that,” Liliana spat out between her teeth, Corbin smirking in victory before she raised a hand, “but I’m of the opinion that if people are dumb enough to care more about how something is said than what is said that they deserve to suffer the consequences.” She finished with her own smug smirk when his smile dropped and he glared at her.

Liliana sighed and softened her smirk into a smile. “and you’re assuming that I don’t know how to charm people if I want to. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean I can’t.” Corbin regarded her with blatant skepticism and Liliana’s smile widened.

“Well, if you’re so confident, maybe you should prove it. Or maybe you can’t, and you’ll need to spend some time in class with Professor Newfeather, master of Charisma.” Corbin threw an arm over her shoulder and Liliana hissed at him.

“I will stab you before I call you Professor. I’d rather schmooze up this entire damned town.” Liliana promised as the girl from earlier, Stanely, reappeared with a book in hand.

Liliana watched with smug curiosity as the group of second years converged on the girl and flipped through the bestiary. She saw the moment they found the Hellcat entry and saw when they read about their times of activity.

Liliana had known they’d find that information in there. One of her first stops in every town big enough to carry books for sale was to find a bestiary. She’d already read the same bestiary the second years were looking at.

“Maybe you should call me master, then?” Corbin teased.

Liliana’s head whipped around from where she had been watching the students devolve into another argument to glare at Corbin. A dagger materialized in her hand and she pressed it to his neck.

“I will slit your throat,” Liliana hissed dangerously, pressing the razor-sharp blade into his pale skin hard enough for a single drop of blood to well up.

“Always so aggressive and dramatic.” Corbin rolled his eyes, utterly unaffected by the dagger or promise of death.

“You love it.” Liliana grinned, a deadly flash of fanged teeth.

“Of course I do.” Corbin snorted and Liliana vanished the dagger back to her storage. The cut was already healed and Corbin wiped the spot of blood off his skin.

“Is it so wrong for me to want others to see you as the amazing person you are? When you push them away, when you snap and bite and slice them to pieces with insults, that’s all they see. They never see all that you are, all the marvelous parts of Liliana Rosengarde. They’re too blinded by your razor tongue,” Corbin continued speaking, squeezing her shoulder where his hand rested. He nodded his head at the second years, where Andusmelt was breaking free to approach them again.

“We read the bestiary.” Andusmelt was looking determinedly at the ground as she got within polite speaking distance. Liliana shot a smirk at Corbin who raised an eyebrow, a silent ‘well, prove it’.

“Did you find information on the Hellcats?” Liliana asked, keeping her tone kind, loosening her body language.

Her lips pulled into a soft smile, her eyes widened, and her head tilted ever so slightly. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, her shoulders relaxing and her weight shifted so she was out of a battle stance. A complete transformation in a heartbeat, from standoffish and withdrawn to open and inviting. Andusmelt lifted her head, a sharp jerking movement that belied her surprise. She could hear Corbin sucking in a sharp breath and she could feel him staring holes into the side of her head.

“Uh-We- Yeah. We did,” Andusmelt stammered slightly, seemingly thrown off by a Liliana who wasn’t being curt and ‘rude’. Liliana bit down on a laugh. It was always funny how people reacted when she slid on this mask. It was rarely ever worth the effort, in Liliana’s opinion, but at least it could provide her with entertainment when she did it.

“We, ah. We’re going to scout and fight them tomorrow, around noon, when they should be deep asleep.” Andusmelt said haltingly, looking at Lilian as if for… confirmation? Liliana shot a haughty look at Corbin at the complete one eighty from the second year. He was looking at her with something between admiration and shock.

“Thats good. We’ll be there to make sure you all stay safe,” Liliana responded with a wider smile, still kind, careful not to flash her fangs but still show teeth. People thought smiles with teeth looked more genuine.

Andusmelt smiled happily at her, standing up straighter as she returned to her team. Liliana coughed lightly to hide the giggle that emerged from her. People were so easy to manipulate.

“You’ve been able to act like that this entire time?” Corbin demanded in a low hissed whisper. Liliana looked back at him as the mask dripped off of her like water, leaving a fang filled sharp smile behind as she reveled in Corbin’s outrage.

“It was rather easy, wasn’t it?” Lilliana asked idly, still grinning a cheshire cat grin at her friend as he looked seconds away from screaming. She could hear him quietly counting and his temper seemed to calm over the next minute.

“That’s the benefit of high Charisma. The bigger the difference between your target’s Intelligence stat and your Charisma stat, the easier it is to charm them. Humans are no different from beasts when it comes to that,” Corbin pointed out tiredly, rubbing at his face.

“I know that. I took first year Fundamentals too. I’m also perfectly capable of reading stat descriptions.” Liliana snorted, rolling her eyes as they started walking again, the second years heading out of the town, finally.

“If you know that, and you obviously can do it, why do you never use your Charisma on people? I’ve watched. It’s like you actively try to do the opposite.” Corbin asked, exasperated. Liliana took a few moments to muse over her answer.

It was a fair question, considering her stats and class. Liliana had always known that Charisma could be used on others, had seen it firsthand multiple times. It wasn’t unusual for nobles to have high Charisma stats, after all. But she’d never truly emulated such behavior often. She had never seen a need to before. She normally hadn’t ever needed to. She had friends who were far more charming than her who usually dealt with anything that would require such a disposition.

“Because at the end of the day, I don’t see a use for it. The effort I’d invest in pretending to be someone I’m not, in pretending to like people I don’t, isn’t worth whatever I might gain from it. I can do it if I want to, and I have before. I’m not afraid to use every weapon in my arsenal to achieve my goals. But I also don’t see the point in pulling out weapons when they’re not needed.” Liliana finally answered him when they’d left the town. Corbin still looked like he didn’t fully understand her, but he thankfully dropped the topic after that.