They made camp as dusk fell, the sky a gorgeous shade of orange along the horizon, with wisps of pink and crimson clouds. Already, the silver moon was visible in the darkening sky, with the ghosts of stars dotting the darker horizon. The copper moon would join it soon, as the sun dropped the final degrees out of sight.

The wagons circled around the campground in loose walls, with canvas tents popping up along their sides. Already, some of the caravan guard took up posts along the wagon walls, bows slung loose over shoulders, sharp eyes watching the encroaching dark.

All around the camp buzzed with activity, every person well aware of their place and the tasks they were responsible for. Alyx and Marco had disappeared to discuss watch and defenses and such with the other combatant companies. Pellen had set up her tent and retreated into it faster than Cass could offer to help or chat. And Telis had vanished entirely.

Cass stood by her tent, entirely unsure what she was supposed to be doing.

Resting, Salos said. Your Health still hasn't fully recovered.

Cass sighed. So I should just sit here?

You could lie down in the tent instead.

Grudgingly, Cass did as he suggested. Sleep had been rough lately. Nightmare after nightmare. But last night had been better. Quieter. Maybe she was getting over it?

She closed her eyes.

But all she found behind them were green hallways and armored corpses.

She shot up. This wasn't helpful. This wasn't restful. She inhaled sharply and shoved the images across Liminal's Veil.

She'd sleep—she had to sleep—but later. Tonight. When she had to.

She moved to a stool outside, listening to the wind. It carried descriptions of camp and its buzz to her, easily interpreted by Atmospheric Sense into clear images of the encampment and its inhabitants.

All around, people were forming small groups to chat and rest and greet the night. There was Kelstor on the edge of camp, dozing in the last of the dying sunlight. Some martials were sparring on the other edge. Mostly slow half-speed exercises, probably focused on form or something. She should probably know.

Something to ask Marco about later. When her Health was recovered.

In the center of it all, a man stacked logs in an earthen pit, arranging them into a log cabin. He was a bulky man, heavy-set the way men who did physical labor for a living but didn't necessarily work out were, with a set of back-swept horns sprouting from his temples.

Cass couldn't make herself sit still any longer. That was all she'd done all day. If she were left alone any longer with her thoughts… She wasn't in the right headspace for rest.

She approached the horned man.

Where are you going? You should focus on your recovery, Salos hissed.

She needed to do something. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

The man looked up from his pile. "You're that sorceress, aren't you?"

Cass nodded. "Cass Yuan. Nice to meet you."

He squinted up at her. "I'm alright, thanks. I don't think I need anything blown up."

Cass chuckled. "Oh, no. I'm not that good at explosions, actually." That seemed like a missed opportunity. What kind of sorceress couldn't blow things up? How could she use Elemental Manipulation and Tempest Blade to make explosions?

You are thinking something strange, I can feel it, Salos muttered.

Cass shook her head. This wasn't important right now. "I was wondering if you needed any extra hands to help set up camp."

Beacon of Hearth and Home had started as the skill Set Camp, and it hadn't leveled up in a long while. Possibly because she hadn't been doing much camping since leaving Uvana, possibly because she hadn't needed to push it any further than she already used it for just herself.

"You want to help?" the man asked.

Cass nodded. "Especially with anything campfire related."

He snorted. "That sounds more like a combat mage again." He shook his head, humming to himself. "Well, if you want to get the fire started, then I can get started on meal prep."

Cass nodded. "I can do that."

"Thanks." He held out the log he'd been holding to Cass. She took it as he stepped out of the fire ring. "The name's Hess, by the way. I'm the caravan's quartermaster and cook. You have questions about supplies or dinner, I'm the man you ask."

Rorst Quartermaster

Lvl 24

[The rorst are a stubborn and hearty people of the mountainous regions of the Western skies. This one has spent many years on the road, developing a knack for organization and logistics.]

"Nice to meet you," Cass said again.

"I'll leave that to you, then," he said and strode away to one of the wagons.

Cass picked up where he left off on the wood stacking, carefully arranging the logs for airflow and heat control.

Why are we doing this? Salos asked.

Hearth hummed softly in response.

I would have thought you'd be praising me, Cass said. I'm working on skill building.

Go practice your Staff Mastery with Marco if you want to train skills, Salos huffed.

Later, Cass promised. It had been ages since Marco had said they'd do that. But it had been one thing after another stopping them. Even now, it might be better to wait until her Health was more recovered before sparring.

Salos grumbled, hopping off her shoulder to curl up in the dirt just outside the fire ring. You could set the fire by our tent.

I'm sure I can build that one too, Cass agreed. None of this was his point, though. Are you still worrying about people finding out about my camping skill?

He looked away. Anything your opponent knows about you is a scale in their favor. Real fights begin long before you step onto the battlefield.

Cass sighed, shaking her head. How would someone use knowledge of Beacon of Hearth and Home against me? Who would bother?

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It radically changes how quickly you recover, Salos said. If you keep a tight lid on the details of the skill, an opponent may underestimate how much Health you have or how much Focus you can recover between ambushes. This information could be the difference between a successful sneak attack and a failed one. As for who might benefit from this knowledge. Salos glanced over his shoulder.

Cass didn't need to look to know who he was talking about. She could feel him at the edge of her perception.

Kohen can't hurt me, Cass said.

For now, Salos agreed.

Cass shook her head as she summoned a ball of flames to light the campfire. The kindling at the base burst into flames, licking at the logs, coaxing them to join the inferno.

Beacon of Hearth and Home spread around her with the fire's heat. She closed her eyes and breathed a little easier.

Salos's concerns were excessive, but the core concern—Kohen—wasn't unfounded. What was she going to do about him? Saving his life shouldn't have resulted in this kind of headache. Honestly, why did he have to join this caravan?

"Oh, that's nice," Hess said as he returned to the fireside. He pushed a cart over the uneven ground, laden with foodstuffs. Behind him, a pair of skinny youths carried tables. "You should've told Exavier you had a camp buff."

Cass shrugged. "I don't like to flaunt it."

Salos snorted.

"Yeah? I'll keep it vague if anyone else asks what's doing it then."

"Thank you," Cass said.

"Any who, these are my apprentices, Jain and Valk," Hess waved at the two youths again. They waved awkwardly with the introductions. "We're gonna get started with dinner. Did you want to help with that, too?"

"Anything to help with camp, yes please," Cass said. Just setting campfires wasn't enough to push the skill; it was time to try other activities to see what would.

He clapped. "Happy to have another hand."

Hess and his apprentices set up the table and began spreading out vegetables and meats on cutting boards. He directed her to chop a vegetable that looked much like a bushy, yellow celery but which smelled more like licorice.

Adenian Parsley

[A long, fibrous vegetable, with a mild spicy flavor and sweet aftertaste. It is also known to enhance the effects of other medicinal ingredients, making it a common concoction ingredient as well.]

"Have you worked with parsley before?" Hess asked her.

Cass hesitated. Yes, Earth parsley. Which was an entirely different plant. "Not this variety."

"Oh?" When Cass didn't elaborate, Hess continued. "Well, we'll be stripping the stalks of the leaves. They'll go into the watch's pick-me-up. Then chop the stalks into thin slices. That we'll put in the stew."

"Simple enough," Cass said. "Not too different from celery." Not that Cass had ever made—much less drunk—a tea made from celery leaves, but she knew the leaves had a lot of strong flavor and could be boiled to make stock. "Are the leaves more medicinally potent?"

Hess raised an eyebrow. "That's right. Are you an alchemist?"

Cass shook her head. "No, but I dabble a little bit."

She had a skill in it after all. Even if it was mostly just something she used to make herbal teas.

Although, "Maybe I'd like to be?"

It sounded kinder than being a spellsword, at the very least. An alchemist wouldn't be having nightmares like hers.

"Considering a career change?" he asked.

Cass shook her head. "I don't think I can afford to."

He chuckled. "I promise a skilled alchemist can bring in far more glin than a spellsword, any day of the week."

"It isn't about the money." An alchemist couldn't rescue her siblings.

"Hm," the man said. He let it drop. "Well, to answer your original question, yes, the leaves, especially of fresh parsley, are much stronger. If left on the stalks, the stalks slowly reabsorb that potency over time. You can preserve the effect and potency of the leaves by stripping them after harvesting the stalks and drying the leaves. Especially if you can dry them under starlight or a full copper moon."

Cass began stripping the leaves like he'd instructed. "Then why not do that right away?"

"With the leaves stripped, the stalks start losing potency right away," the quartermaster explained. He chopped away at starchy tubers that Identify called Marsh Potatoes as he spoke. "They also quickly become bitter. If the goal is to make potions or medicinal concoctions, you'd only be interested in the leaves, so that's fine. But in a matter of days they become too bitter for most folks to stomach, which is a problem if you were planning on using them culinarily."

"What makes that happen?" Cass asked. She had never heard of a plant that acted that way on Earth.

He shook his head. "I don't rightly know. That's something for an academy alchemist to answer. I'm more of a practical chef than anything fancy like that."

The evening continued like that, Hess lecturing her and his apprentices on the proper preparation of stewing vegetables for maximizing their regenerative effects without compromising flavor or increasing food waste.

"On the road like this, you have to make every scrap of food count," he said. "You never know when you'll be able to resupply. So, only cook what you need and use or preserve every part."

It wasn't enough to level up Beacon of Hearth and Home, but Cass got a few levels of Herbal Concocting instead.

Herbal Concocting has reached level 6.

Herbal Concocting has reached level 7.

You really should get some sleep, Salos reminded her. You are expected to join the watch tonight, and you need every minute of rest you can get.

I'm okay, Cass assured him.

It's not a matter of how you feel. That's just how Health regeneration works. Recovery factors are multiplicative, not additive. Resting in camp with your skill is significantly better than resting in the wilds on the dragon and working in camp.

You worry too much, Cass muttered.

Salos bristled.

Cass stared down at the knife and root vegetable she was cutting.

I worry too much? Salos repeated. Shock snapped across their bond, followed by a buzzing.

Her hands kept chopping. She didn't look at him.

Say it again. Say that to my face, he hissed. Images flickered across their bond. Cass in the claws of the epherwing. Cass pale and passed out on the floor of the catacombs. Cass fleeing paladins and dragonfire. Cass slammed against the wall, the figure of a 41 combatant looming over her. Cass lying motionless in the infirmary, unconscious for no reason he could discern.

All of it rang with fear. It twisted up her spine, cold and clammy and suffocating. Not her fear, but his.

I've survived this long, she choked out, though the thought was little more than a whisper. Her survival was as much luck as skill. It was unreasonable to assume her luck would hold forever. She should be more careful. She should find the time to heal and recover.

He didn't need to say any of it. His frustration rumbled through the fear. It billowed off him like smoke from a fire, filling her lungs until she could barely breathe.

Maybe I could step away, Cass said. She finished chopping the vegetable directly in front of her, pushing the pieces into the cooking pot, and set her knife down. "Thank you for letting me help. I should get some rest before my turn on watch."

"Nah, don't worry about watch," Hess said without looking up from his cutting.

"I'm sorry?" Cass stuttered.

"Noncombatants don't have to participate in watch," the quartermaster said.

"But I'm—"

"A noncombatant as far as camp chores are considered. Specifically, I've decided you're part of my crew now."

Cass shook her head. "I don't—"

"Do you have any skills for night watch?" he asked.

Cass pursed her lips. She didn't, but she wasn't supposed to just admit what kinds of skills she had.

"I already sent Valk to tell Exavier," Hess continued.

"But why?" Cass asked.

The man frowned in thought. "Perhaps because you volunteered?"

Cass shook her head. That didn't make any sense.

"Would you rather join the watch?" he asked.

Not even a little.

Do what you want, Salos muttered.

You think my time would be better spent on watch? Surely she'd recover faster in the warmth of the fire helping around camp than on the wall staring out into the dark of night.

No. The word came with a restrained resignation. The additional rest you can get on kitchen duty is worth the humiliation. Probably.

Humiliation? Cass repeated.

She wasn't going to like what he said next. He knew it already and was projecting that knowledge over their bond.

Salos? It came out sharper than she'd intended. But he couldn't say that and then not explain.

This kind of work is beneath you.

Cass flinched.

It's noncombatant work.

Hearth flared in her chest. Excuse you?

You are a mage. A combat mage, not some hedge witch. Doing this for yourself when you have to is one thing. But one doesn't become powerful spending time on this kind of thing, so the powerful don't.

Cass's teeth ground together. There were so many problems with that. The inherent classicism. The absolute dismissiveness.

Her indignation boiled across their bond and his soul recoiled from hers. It builds skills like anything else, doesn't it? Skills mean stats. It shouldn't matter what skill it is.

But will the skill milestone bring useful stats to your combat style? Salos pushed back. Could you not also get a combat skill instead and spend the time cultivating levels in those?

Maybe I don't want to spend all my time in combat.

I am simply explaining how things are, Salos said, avoiding her eyes. You asked. In a quieter voice, he added, What you do is up to you.

Cass grit her teeth. She had asked. He'd answered.

Hess cocked his head, still waiting for her answer.

Cass took a deep breath, forcing her frustration with Salos out of her voice. He was right about one thing, at least. This was her choice. "No. I'd be happy to join your crew. Thank you for having me."

"Glad to have you!" Hess said. "So get back to chopping!"

"Right away," Cass said, picking up her knife again.

Behind her, Salos slunk away, his emotions indistinct but bubbling in his soul.

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