Tristan

With Kythean now gone, Tristan strangely felt a bit more at ease. He wasn't sure exactly why. Maybe it was because the man was just so striking that it made Tristan feel... inferior? That didn't make sense though. Tristan hadn't ever cared that much about what he looked like, and he'd always only been complimented on his physique. Maybe there was something more to the elf himself.

Tristan didn't seem to be the only one comforted by the elf's leaving. Even after her stint of near silence, Sophie was still visibly shaken, but brightening. Sneakers, on her shoulder, was leaning heavily into her head pats.

Tristan tried to crack a joke to put himself even more at ease. "So what's the story there? How come I've never met him before?"

Jamal stood up and yawned. "Because he wasn't available, sadly. Not that he'd have had much reason to interact with you anyway. He isn't much of a fighter. Not even a little bit."

"So what's his deal then?"

Cherry scoffed. "He's just beautiful. Not much else to say."

"He's more than just beautiful," Jamal objected.

"Oh?" Cherry raised an eyebrow. "Tell me more about him then, and I'll stand corrected."

"Right, well, he's an elf for starters."

"Mhmm."

"He runs a business! That's why he's so bloody busy."

"Does he, now? Do tell! What, exactly, is his business? What does he do?"

"He, uh..." Jamal began to flounder, and his eyes shot all around the room, even toward Tristan, as if seeking the young man's help for someone he'd only just met.

Cherry waited patiently, her smile growing ever so slightly with each passing moment.

"He's in a busy business!"

"Of course he is." Cherry grinned. "He's very pretty though, so you're mostly forgiven. It's fun to see someone affect you like you affect so many others."

Jamal grumbled something Tristan couldn't hear when a new but familiar voice came from the doorway. It belonged to the dwarf fire mage, Aldra. "Would any of you care for additional sustenance, or might I take these last remnants back to the kitchen?"

Tristan tried to look thankful as he replied, "Thanks, but I've had plenty. Everything you prepared was wonderful."

The dwarf bowed. "It was an honor to serve you once again."

"Ugggggh," Jamal groaned. "Enough with the formalities. Aldra, we really need to get plastered or something."

"Hey, at least she's gotten beyond calling me 'the Student.'"

The dwarf bowed politely. "I regret that I still must refuse your offer, Master, though I appreciate that you still consider ways to 'improve' my disposition, as you see it. And I must thank you, too, Tristan, for recognizing my progress."

"Girl, you've got to bloody relax with all that propriety," Jamal whined.

"She's only recently come to work here from the Petrified Woods," Tristan explained to Sophie.

"Oh! Then I wonder if she knows Drannis!" the astralist replied, and her words were clearly overheard by Aldra.

The dwarf perked up, her eyes almost glowing. "Did my ears hear correctly? Is it true you know a dwarf of the Petrified Woods called Drannis? Did he happen to be a towering tank with a glowing shield?"

Sophie tilted her head as she considered. "Towering... for a dwarf? I suppose he could be considered as such. And yes, he happened to be a phenomenal tank. He was our raid leader for Cinderbark's Fall!"

"By all the gods, yes! That is bound to be him. He was once in consideration to be my intended, though it saddens me to say our parents could not come to a suitable arrangement. He was quite handsome, and he always took immaculate care of his beard."

Tristan coughed. "Yes, well, his beard is still quite impressive. And so are his tanking skills. He really did a great job."

"Of course he did. I could never imagine he would allow anything less of himself."

Jamal sighed. "Yes, right, lots of mutual stuff and such with people I don't know. Tristan, I believe you were saying you were here for something important?"

Cherry didn't quite suppress a chuckle.

In response, the fire mage immediately apologized. "Forgive me, Master, for detaining yourself and your guests at such length. I shall be returning to my duties now."

Jamal, with a flat deadpan, said, "Oh, what? I didn't mean for that to make you go--but if you insist, then I suppose I'll let you. But know that I'm not going to change my mind--or stop trying to get you to unwind."

"Thank you, Aldra," Cherry said, shaking her head at Jamal.

As the dwarf saw herself out, Jamal turned his attention fully back to Tristan. "Anyway! Let's get back to you! You're going to need to put in lots of work if you want to deal with another {Legendslayer}."

Cherry raised the folder she'd returned with. "Right, I've got the briefing here, but it's far from full. Unfortunately, we don't have any books on time mages here in the manor."

"Well that's easy to solve," Jamal injected. "I can write you a pass to get into The Embrace's Divine Collection in Rockmoor. I've made quite a few donations there, mostly keeping in the tradition of my master... and to be left alone. As a result, I've been named a 'generous patron,' which is about as pretentious as any title I'd ever dare to get."

"That would be amazing!" Sophie replied before Tristan could even ask what the Divine Collection was. Perhaps she saw his uncertainty, as she added, "It's a library that prides itself on having a copy of almost every text to ever be published. They even have a full department of scribes that hand-copy any new texts that can't be physically added to the collection!"

"So they'll be bound to have all sorts of information on time mages," Tristan said.

Sophie nodded. "Including common build manuals, skill upgrade guides, and more. If we're lucky, they may even have eyewitness accounts of some of Timetwister's activities, assuming she's done things of note."

Tristan's brow furrowed. "Other than slaying the Brightshield?"

"Point taken," Sophie replied. "I'm sure there have already been scholars searching for as much information about her as they can find. This is going to be exactly what we need, Jamal!"

Tristan seconded her excitement. "Yeah, thank you. This will be a big help. My goal is to never have a repeat of Shadow ever again."

"See that you bloody well don't," Jamal said with a laugh. "I'm not at all interested in having to speak of my only student in past tense. To that end, you know you could just let Sophie go do the studying thing on her own while you stay here with me, getting a little bit more training done. Just think of all the good we could accomplish in another week! It's like research, but for your body!"

Tristan considered the offer for the briefest moment before shooting it down. "I wouldn't feel right even asking her to do that. Besides, I want to do the research, too. It's another set of skills I need to work on. Can't just be a one-trick pony."

"Unless that trick is really good," Jamal said snidely. "There have been a few to get all the way to godhood that way. Not me, obviously. I'd rather be good at everything."

While Cherry rolled her eyes, Tristan had a bothersome concern. "One question though. Will getting to this Divine Collection thing take me through the Steelblood Guild's territory? I kind of pissed them off... Again."

Jamal's eyes narrowed. "For the love of all things pointy, tell me you didn't get a second strike."

"I, uh... would you like me to lie?"

"Blessed gods among us, kid!" Jamal cursed.

Cherry cleared her throat. "I actually tried to tell you that a few days ago."

"You couldn't have, or I wouldn't have been so surprised--or furious--about it now!"

"I did," Cherry said flatly. "You were preoccupied."

Jamal brushed her off and faced Tristan directly. "But how did you get another strike?!" he cried. "You weren't gone that long! I told you to watch out for yourself, man. What did you do, pick a bloody fight with one of their members?"

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"It doesn't matter," Tristan said, trying to dodge the question. "I'm going to do better avoiding them from now on. That's why I asked my original question."

"Oh. Right, man. Of course. Forgive me for taking a single moment to reflect on the abject stupidity of my only student's disregard for his--and my!--reputation!" Jamal turned away while clearly trying to compose himself again.

"I genuinely didn't mean to though," Tristan tried to explain. "I just... Yes, I lost my temper about my crafting, but that was because one of the judges was totally unreasonable. He insulted my sword, Jamal. This sword!" He pulled out his [Sanguine Challenger]. "He said that because nobody else could use my sword that it wasn't a real item! But that's not fair at all! I can't do anything about that."

When the swordmaster turned back, his face was calm and his jaw firm. "It doesn't matter though, Tristan. Don't you see? No matter how nice that sword is--" and here he paused momentarily. "Wow! Bloody nice work on that, by the way. But it doesn't matter! That second strike's gonna cost you immensely, and it's your own fault! You say you've grown, that you've learned a lesson from Shadow, and yeah, maybe you have a bit. I'm glad to see you now have enough sense to want to research your much-higher-level foes before facing off against them. But if that was the limit of the patience and composure you've gained, well, then you haven't gotten nearly enough of it! You've got to learn to control yourself!"

Jamal looked at Cherry, who hadn't said anything but must have attracted his attention anyway. "Yes, I get the blessed irony in that, Cherry. Thank you very much."

Cherry merely bowed slightly.

"I know," Tristan replied, a bit shamefaced. For some reason, weathering this criticism felt just as hard as handling the attacks Jamal had sent his way in training.

"Well, just make sure it doesn't happen again. You're building a reputation, Tristan, and it will affect mine. We're tied together now, and we can't have you acting so thoughtlessly that you risk dragging both of us down."

Tristan swallowed, recognizing the sudden strictness in Jamal's tone. "Yes sir." He ran his hand through his shaggy hair and looked toward the door. "If you wouldn't mind, though, could we get that pass now...?"

"Sure, sure," the swordmaster said as first a table, then a pen and paper, appeared in front of him.

"Since you won't be sticking around, would you like me to say anything to Cleo when she returns?" Cherry asked. "I could deliver a message, or a note?"

Once again, Tristan was a bit unsure how to respond. "I suppose just let her know I was here, and I'm glad to hear she's doing well."

The red-headed assistant smiled and nodded. "I'll be sure to do just that."

Jamal made a huge, sharp-looking signature on the bottom of the page and held it out. "I suppose you're going to want to head off now, then?"

"If that's OK with you," Tristan said, hedging slightly. But when Jamal didn't respond immediately, he took the offered paper.

A moment later, the pen and table both disappeared again, as Jamal stood and stretched an arm straight up, popping several joints along the way. "I mean, you've only been here five minutes or whatever, but yeah, I get it. Path Quests, and all that. At least you're taking this one somewhat slower."

"We could stay--"

"Nah. Good luck, Tristan. Better yet, study well."

"I will," the swordsmith promised.

"Good. Then I'm going back to bed. Cherry, send me at least five."

The woman sighed. "I'll get right on it. And Tristan, good luck. I'll send Billy around to drive you." She turned to Sophie. "Try to keep him safe."

"We'll do our best," Sophie said, and even Sneakers bobbed his head firmly.

- - - - -

Cleo

As Cleo stepped down from the carriage, finally back at Jamal's manor, she felt a warmth and accomplishment that she'd been unknowingly missing for too long. Perhaps that was why she tipped her driver an extra 25%; her generosity was bolstered by her good mood. It was her third dungeon run in two weeks, and they'd ended what had been a years-long drought. She couldn't help but bask in the afterglow of the adrenaline. There was nothing quite like the highs and lows of a dungeon run to test and hone a healer's skills.

This run had provided an unexpected challenge, too, despite the fact that they hadn't gone into any of the peak tier 4 dungeons. Cleo tried to change the young group leader's mind, but the girl had been upfront about her lack of experience, which might have seemed odd given her high level, but Cleo understood and respected the girl's honesty. The group leader was a noble who'd paid to be carried through everything to get her leveled up this far. Cleo wasn't surprised: she was here to do the same thing today, and earning an impressive paycheck while doing it. At least the girl knew her limits.

The little noble hadn't been wrong about her abilities, either. She'd had particularly awful situational awareness, pulling groups by accident so often that the party was nearly constantly in combat. Had Cleo not been amongst the best healers in the realm, she had no doubt that all of them would have died before the midboss. The noble girl had simply been too reckless too many times. It was a miracle she'd been carried this far.

It'll end up as yet another story dumb people cite to call me the best healer in the realm, she thought with a sigh. But I'm not even tier 5. There are people out on the Frontier that put me to shame. I'm just the most visible because I'm still in the domains.

That was a frustration for another day, though, when she could lament how much everyone seemed to expect of her. She didn't want to go down that road currently. Staying on her toes for practically the entire dungeon had proven to be great training. She was in too good a mood, and she wanted to focus on that feeling.

So when she opened the doors to the manor and Cherry was there with a silly smirk on her face, Cleo wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. She knew she needed to prepare herself, but not what for.

"Why are you smiling like that?" she asked.

The red-headed half-elf's grin widened. "Like what, Cleo? How was your run?"

"Exhausting, but great," the healer admitted. "Is Kythean finally gone? Is that why you're so happy?"

"Yes, he's gone, but that's not all of it."

"Is it Jamal? How's he doing?" There was a brief lurch of anxiety in her belly. Ever since he'd tiered up--and genuinely before that, ever since he started training Tristan--he'd seemed much improved. It was the curse of the healer, though, to wonder about all the damage their patients, or friends, suffered. Non-HP damage was the hardest to deal with. The things that couldn't just be fixed with a spell.

That he'd been getting truly better was the only reason Cleo had started grinding experience again. She didn't want to get left behind.

Not now of all times, when Jamal is finally getting close to being ready for the rest of the world again. He might not need to keep himself hidden away much longer.

Secretly, there was also the thought of 'He might not want me around much longer,' but she didn't give it much room to breathe. She knew the guilt he felt towards her, what he was still trying to overcome.

"It's not Jamal either, thank the gods," Cherry answered. "It's unfair of me to tease you like this. You'll never actually guess it."

"So then tell me already," Cleo offered, glancing over the half-elf's shoulder in the direction of her own room. A warm bath would really feel good after such a hard day's work.

Cherry inclined her head. "Alright, alright. We had more visitors."

Cleo tried to smile, but there was clearly more to the news that hadn't been shared yet, as so far, this didn't affect Cleo at all. Trying to stay in the moment with her friend, she decided to play along. "Oh? It's unlike Jamal to entertain anyone else when Kythean is here."

"You're right about that," Cherry confirmed, "but these weren't just any old visitors. In fact, they were quite young..."

Cherry started considering all the people that might fit that descriptor and cross-referencing them against the people she would personally care about having missed, and it was a short list. Only one, in fact. Would he have come back so soon?

"Cut to the chase, please, Cherry. It's been a long but good day. I can see you're enjoying this, but I'm looking forward to a warm bath."

"Oh, fine," the ever-capable assistant replied with a mocking huff. "The prodigal student returned, and with all sorts of news, including a freshly-minted Permanent Party with the astralist girl!"

It took a moment for Cleo to parse all of what she'd heard, and another to sift through her own feelings about all the pieces, but she had practiced her poker face enough to believe she didn't reveal too much, even to Cherry's studious eye. No, Cleo was the only one in the manor capable of discerning that her own pulse had started racing.

"Oh," she managed to say, trying to fight off the autonomic reaction that wanted to send blood rushing to her cheeks. "And how... was he?"

"He looked great," Cherry said, eyes twinkling. "He made a new sword, even bigger than the last one, and twice as beautiful. Did I tell you that he apparently won one of the Tier 2 crafting contests on the Crafting Ark?"

"I think so," Cleo responded, knowing full well that both of them knew she had. So she's definitely trying to get a reaction out of me. That kind of challenge caused her to open up her [Checklist] skill and add, 'Torment Cherry mercilessly' to it.

"Well, he also got another update to his Path Quest. You remember that, too, I'm sure. A third {Legendslayer} is apparently in our very own zone."

The healer swallowed. "Tell me he's not just rushing off to fight whoever it is immediately."

Cherry laughed. "Thankfully no! I think he truly might have learned at least that lesson. He came to get information on his target. And Jamal wrote him a letter of entry to the Divine Collection."

"Wow. That's remarkably rational of him."

"Could be the influence of that astralist," Cherry said, taking a subtle step back and twisting her body almost as if to walk away. For only an instant though, as then she turned back and leaned in instead. "She was cute in that 'small, dark, and damaged' kind of way. But also smart in the talented bookwormish way. I wonder if that's his type?"

Cleo's smile was now entirely forced, as she'd clenched her teeth firmly together behind her sealed lips. Ever since her scarring, all of those words had been what others used to describe her. Especially 'damaged.'

"Oh, and he left a message with me for you, too," Cherry said, absolutely beaming. "Upon learning that you were starting to get out more, he said, and I quote, 'I'm glad to hear she's doing well.' Isn't that sweet?"

"Naive, but yes, sweet."

"Yep. That's our boy," Cherry said before starting away. "Just thought you'd like to know."

She didn't say whether he'd be returning here, Cleo realized with a start. Surely he'll come back to see Jamal before trying to take on another {Legendslayer}, right?

As much as she might like it, she wouldn't delude herself into thinking there was any guarantee of that. She shook her head.

He's always running off toward danger. Gods among us. I hope Tristan really has grown enough to prepare properly for this. Please watch over him...

She caught herself in surprise. It had been a long time since she'd truly prayed to The Hope. Ever since her scarring, in fact. And all for a boy who got too drunk to remember what we've done. She sighed. Hopefully he doesn't take as long to grow up as Jamal did, for his sake.

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