We managed to get away before the others showed up, happily. I was fairly exhausted. While my staff wasn't heavy all the time anymore, it did unleash its potential when I was in combat, which was a strain.

I didn't mind though. It was a good ache, like the kind you get post workout. I mostly hovered over Callie, or at least as close as I could on the goats. I'd gotten a sliver of the crystal we'd bargained off Wulfric for her, and despite her annoyance at being treated like glass, she really enjoyed the warmth when she triggered the effects.

Even a sliver of the stuff was enough to create a bubble of pleasantly warm air for ten feet or so around her (which definitely wasn't at all part of why I stuck so close). She seemed to notice that though, and smirked at me in amusement as we went along.

As for me...I'd been scared out of my mind. It wasn't like none of us had been hurt before, it happened sometimes, but seeing her like that, slumped back against a tree, had terrified me. I'd realized that I was in charge now, and the only thing keeping my loved ones alive was ME.

Being the leader added a whole new dimension to battle. Responsibility. It was easy to put aside my worried and trust whoever was in charge, to just focus on the battle. But when anything that happens is your fault...it was brutal. I felt terrible for putting pressure like this on Callie for months without knowing.

Sensing through the bond what I was thinking, she sidled closer, reaching out to grab my hand. She winced, ribs still tender despite Jessie's boost to the healing I'd given her. She gave me a warm smile, and I felt the love and concern from the bond as she said gently. "If you don't stop blaming yourself for my actions I'm going to push you down the mountain."

I burst out in a surprised laugh, and she grinned at me mischievously. "There he is. I was going to ask if you'd seen my boyfriend. He's a pretty upbeat guy, and the brooding self flagellating thing isn't nearly as hot as some people claim. I prefer his particular brand of optimism."

"I don't think you can call it optimism when someone just bulls into everything without thinking it through." I said wryly. "I'm just trying to be a more responsible leader now that I'm in charge."

She snorted at that. "Shane, baby, you just had Abel THROW you at a giant monster without warning anyone. You're not trying to be a more responsible anything. You're being an overprotective worrywart. I got hurt and it scared you. And that's ok. Do you remember how terrified I was when you got injured in the necropolis? Because I sure as hell do. And when the bond fried in the tournament. I love you, and you love me, and being scared for each other makes sense."

I groaned in frustration. "It's more than that though. I'm in charge now. You getting hurt is my fault."

"Yup." She said mercilessly. I blinked and gave her a hurt look she didn't need to see because of the bond. "What? I'm supposed to argue? Not like you would listen if I told you it wasn't. So, assuming your completely absurd claim that my own actions are your responsibility is even technically true, you could theoretically claim that you screwed up by not making a plan for engaging the enemy."

That annoyed me. "I didn't even ATTACK them. Jessie did. I had only just reali-" I trailed off at her smug look. "You know you get like...ten percent less cute when you're a know-it-all."

Her smirk turned sarcastically sweet. "Honey, I can feel your emotions. We both know that isn't true." I flipped her off and she cracked up, cutting off the laugh almost immediately with a groan as she strained her broken ribs. The amusement snapped off on my end too, replaced with concern. "Callie! Are you ok? Just breathe." I reached out for a scan heal to check on her, but she batted away the hand.

"Fine, love." She wheezed. "Just hurts a ton to laugh. The feeling of my bones grinding together is...unpleasant. Worth it though, since I got my guy out of his head." She reached out to squeeze the hand she'd just batted away and I felt a rush of warmth flood through me. I adored this girl, annoying sarcasm and all.

Once she straightened up again and the pain had faded, I glanced over to where Jessie was running with the wolves. "How long do you think the healing will take? Should we look into buying something to help? Jessie's heals are damned effective, but some medicine might compound things. There are probably high F-ranked Vitality medicines with thousands of points of effectiveness. Even with her absurdly overpowered Vitality Jessie is still new to the rank."

She shook her head, and I noticed how ginger the motion was, like she was trying not to move her torso at all. "No, it's fine. I'll be good after a night's sleep. She wrapped them for me too, that first aid Skill came in handy. I'll be fine tomorrow, between your heal to stabilize things and her treatment there should be no problems."

I exhaled in relief. "Ok. Sorry, I'm just..." I shook it off. "So, what did you think of...that?" I gestured back at the mess we'd left behind.

"I think it worked out extremely well for us." She grimaced. "Your plan wasn't...terrible. Just not very well thought out. My main issue was you not bothering to tell us before you did it. If you're in charge you need a better communication strategy than 'hold my beer'. If we need a shorthand or something we can develop one, but impatience isn't a reason to leave the team in the lurch like that."

Rather than reassure or placate her...I thought about it. She was right. I needed to do better. I'd gotten lucky this time, but the gods forbid something happen to one of my friends, I'd feel terrible either way, but knowing I'd made a mistake and caused it would be even worse.

I was pretty surprised when Nat rode up next to me, my cousin giving me a sympathetic smile. "It's a bit overwhelming huh?" I blinked at her, cocking my head so she'd know I was confused even through the mask. "Being out on your own. I've been out and about for ages, but when I first left my home planet I was definitely pretty confused. I had a hell of a let less people counting on me too. It's ok to be a little overwhelmed."

Blowing out a breath, I shrugged. "I get that, but it's not ok to let that feeling force me into making stupid choices, which...I kind of just did. When Callie was running things she always found time to include us and ask what we thought. I didn't even really consider that. I just got excited because being in charge meant I could do things my way without letting anyone stop me."

"Yeah." She said comfortingly. "You're a weird guy." At my noise of offense she just grinned. "What, it's true. Wishing is a support power. Nine out of ten candidates are hands off back ranks types. Even the ones who go the leadership route usually play armchair general at best. Running headlong into danger isn't exactly our style. The only person in the family I can think of who fights like that is the current Wishmaster, and he cheats."

He did. I tried to imagine what that would be like, supplementing a completely separate ability with my Wish power. Maybe specialize in a specific kind of wishes to boost one stat above the others. It would limit my ability to grant wishes at the same level, but I could make up for that with combat efficiency, not to mention I could still grant wishes to lower level clientele with Impact offsetting the cost.

It made me even more interested in our trip to the Ruined Soul Temple. Getting another ability would be...amazing. Who knew what I could become with something like that. But that was a tangent, and an obvious attempt to sabotage my own self reflection, so I forced myself to refocus. "So what do you suggest I do?"

"Think." She said simply. "We came out here to gather information. To see what it was like in the mountains. So use it. Figure out a strategy for moving and working out here safely. Then apply that strategy. You have information, resources, and time, those are all the things you need to lead properly. That and the ability to care about your team, and you definitely have that too. You'll do fine if you just sit down and put some thought into things."

She was right. I was making this much more complicated than it needed to be. I didn't need to come up with some brilliant scheme to justify being put in charge. I just needed to go slow and steady and keep my friends as safe as possible.

"You know." I said with a smirk. "For an ally of convenience you're pretty supportive. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're worried about your little cousin and trying to go out of your way to make me feel better."

Shrugging, she just gave an embarrassed laugh. "You're not wrong. You're a good kid, and you seem to care a lot. I'd started to internalize the family's cutthroat mentality a bit too much I think. It's nice to have a relative who actually gives a shit and doesn't want to use me as a human shield or a patsy."

I winced at the statement. Honestly that sounded like a nightmare to me. Even dad's cold rational approach to parenting was at least slightly based on my personal wellbeing. "How long ago did you awaken your ability?" I wasn't sure if the contract dad had sent was something usual for the WCP, but I got the impression it wasn't. Some sort of method of waking my ability early, which outside wishes I'd never heard of anyone doing.

"A few years now. Maybe half a decade. I lose track. I was like you to start, until I got in touch with some of the other family members and learned how it all works." She shrugged. "The candidates tend to accumulate over time once the competition starts. It runs ten years, giving everyone time to gather forces, and then when the time is up they call us together for the inheritance conflict. We have some time before that, thankfully, but you'll want to make damned sure to be ready. If someone can BE ready for something like that."

She sounded tired and afraid, and I winced sympathetically. This whole thing was so...brutal. I didn't mind some hard fights, but doing this kind of thing to your own family, just because it had worked before. Sending kids away from their parents, away from their homes, to be raised by strangers and tested through combat. It was all awful, and if I became the Wishmaster, I was going to put a stop to that.

In fact, while finding my mom was my primary goal, that was good motivation to aim for the top. To save my family, even from itself. To make sure no one lived the life I did, or Nat did. I felt something inside me shift slightly as my purpose became even clearer. I found my way forward, and another thing to push toward. Granted, it was a longer term goal, but I was going to work toward it either way. I'd find my mom, ask her why she left, and then I'd save my family from its own bad choices, whether it liked it or not.