Interlude - Erin - The Wandering Inn

These days, you didn’t have to wake up at dawn to avoid accidentally rousing her. But there was still a trick to it, and the trick was to not get…emotional.

Which was hard, in a way. Because if you were waking up early, it was to talk about her, and the moment you felt a tiny bit sad, she’d start to wake up. But it also meant you couldn’t be grumpy about the hour or stub a toe.

There was a trick to keeping yourself feeling neutral. Not empty, but just zen. And Ulvama had to draw on her training from the Molten Stones tribe to keep her in that mode. Training from when she hadn’t been sure if she’d be a [Witch] or another kind of spellcaster.

It was seven o’clock, and it wasn’t hard to wake up at that hour, even if she liked to lie abed and pretended to sleep when Erin got up. The Hobgoblin sat up in the tent on the back of the slumbering Corumdon Beetle, and this time, she avoided the ball of fur slumbering to her right. Across from her, Erin was sleeping with Matha and Mera in cots on the other four corners of the tent woven out of fresh leaves and blades of grass.

The [Angry Druid], Vrilla, had enchanted it all for them as a parting gift when they’d left the village of Dretonamis. Vrilla hadn’t made much of it at first beyond scolding Bowom to ‘behave’, but then she’d cupped his head in her hands and given the surprised [Mad Doctor] a kiss on the lips.

Like someone gave to someone they’d never see again. Then, Ulvama had known they were doing a terrible thing, encouraging so many Fraerlings to leave their homes. They’d brought death with them after all despite their best intentions.

It made the [Shaman] upset. But the Fraerlings just laughed at her. They were leaving home, chasing an adventure.

‘Better to be alive than pretending it.’ That was Bowom’s turn of phrase. And he was one of the Fraerlings who got up early like this.

Not Matha or Mera. They’d tried including the brawling duo, but Mera had about as much control over her emotions as the Battle Hamster. Ulvama edged around him, taking care not to step on him. One wrong foot and he’d rouse everyone in the convoy, not just Erin.

She had to hop off of the Corumdon Beetle’s back after that, down to the tents below. Almost everyone was asleep; they’d been marching or riding all day, and the giant Aphids were also napping.

Only a few Fraerlings didn’t camp with some sort of protective covering. One of them was Eurise, who could lie down wherever he wanted, bereft of a blanket, and sleep. He was already waiting for her as Bowom rolled out of his tents. Literally rolled…he grinned, but suppressed his own sense of amusement, which suggested he wasn’t actually that amused, just trying to get Ulvama to crack.

She waved at them, and the trio were joined by Roja, one of the [Explorers] who’d agreed to go just as far as the nearest Fraerling city to give everyone an escort. Like Eurise, she couldn’t abandon home that lightly.

In an hour, they’d all pretend to wake up. Then they’d have some mudroot tea, seasoned with nali-sticks, and get moving. Before that, they spoke. Bowom had a map out as he sat up.

“I think we’re a day away from Lemoste-Under-Cliffs. It’s not the biggest city, but it’s the closest. They should have a suite of facilities far beyond what we have in our villages, at least. If there’s no better [Healer], I’ll take my best shot at her the moment we get in. They are expecting us, right, Eurise?”

The Level 50+ [Explorer] shrugged, scratching at his spidersilk vest. He wasn’t openly concerned, but then, Ulvama couldn’t always read his steady face. He had seen worse than this, so he leaked no emotions out.

“I sent a tamed Dragonfly, but we’ve got no one I’d risk on the flight itself. It didn’t come back. Could be they sent it on to another destination or it got eaten.”

Bowom grunted.

“Well, they’ll have decent [Alchemists]. But I do think we need a Level 50+ one, which I don’t recall there being one in Lemoste. A city with everything we could ask for and a Last Box would be…Konor Amongst Pines. Have I mentioned how much I hate our naming conventions yet?”

Ulvama thought it was very Goblin-like, but she just nodded. Roja was having the hardest time keeping level emotionally. Ulvama cast a little spell of [Calm], and the [Explorer] nodded at her.

“It’s nearly eight o’clock these days. How fast is it getting worse, Bowom? Give us a real answer.”

The [Mad Doctor] scratched at his head.

“It’s a miracle she survived that much magical radiation. But again, I doubted it was that to begin with. It’s not my field; I can stitch limbs onto people, but the soul…that one’s hard. How bad was she coughing, Ulvama?”

“Lots in the night sometimes. For thirty minutes? Then she’d stop. Four times?”

Bowom tugged on his chin, thinking.

“Well, we don’t have enough data. Keep listening. If she stops breathing or goes low-air again, we’ll consider that another sign her deterioration is accelerating. My guess is that it’ll be a host of symptoms until total bodily failure.”

No one reacted. Ulvama kept her emotions in her chest. First the damage from the battle at sea, now this.

“What about closing the crack-thing? That’s easiest.”

Bowom shook his head as Roja demanded that.

“Good way to get a real horror. Think, Roja. If I split you open and sewed an ant into your chest, what would happen? Maybe it stabilizes you. Maybe you reject it. Worst case is that you accept it and it starts taking over. Or you’re just not the person you were before the operation.”

Silence. Eurise spat onto the ground; he’d been chewing on a bit of seed.

“We’re reaching Lemoste today. I could run ahead or have Zemmy or Mera do it if you need it, Bowom.”

The [Mad Doctor] was cool as could be, and not for the first time, Ulvama was grateful he had decided to come on their trip. Without him, it would be just her, and she couldn’t help Erin.

She wasn’t…the right level. It was tearing her up a bit, and she could tell because there was a flicker of wakefulness from her charms. Erin was getting up. Eurise’s eyes flicked to Ulvama, but he just nodded, and Bowom murmured.

“Don’t agitate the patient. Every time she gets upset, she gets worse. Alright, she’s up? Keep her from using her fire or craft. The color-Skills seem to be just f—”

He stopped talking.

They all did. Ulvama’s eyes grew wide, and she turned, but then she halted. Eurise stopped chewing on his mouthful of seeds. He ruffled a hand through his hair, then nodded.

“That’s good. New. She’s mending.”

“You can’t make a medical diagnosis; I’m the [Mad Doctor] here!”

Bowom snapped at him. He cleared his throat, and his bug-leg tapped its foot on the ground several times. He squinted at the tent.

“Yep. That’s positive. But what was the trigger? Did she level? Has to be—”

“You’re sure?”

Roja gave the two Fraerling men a suspicious glance, but Eurise just gestured at Ulvama.

“I was wondering—I thought maybe because they were Tallfolk, it was different. But it’s just what I thought. Erin’s no [Warrior]. Nor is she tough enough for her level. This is what was missing.”

Ulvama said nothing at all. She just blinked, and it washed over her. A feeling emanating from the tent, waking the other Fraerlings and even the beetle, who lurched to his feet blearily.

It wasn’t an aura. But it was coming from Erin. It felt like…that tingle you got when a lightning spell passed too close by you, but in a good way. Like the energy from rest, when you sprang out of bed, coming like a beacon from a lighthouse. Eurise nodded.

“We’re going to have to get her to turn that off. Used to be I didn’t know how either. I had to fight everything in a mile’s radius.”

“What, can old Zinni do that too?”

Eurise nodded at Roja.

“Sure can. Remember when her herd came calling? That feeling like a stampede’s bearing down on you? Mostly, she just uses it to keep her animals reasonable. If you ever hit 50, you’ll probably get kicked out of the village before your presence makes everyone go running off on expeditions.”

He nudged Roja, and the [Explorer] turned and glanced at Ulvama. The Hobgoblin was smiling again. But her eyes were slightly tearful as the sun rose.

Ulvama didn’t know how or why. Bowom just shook his head.

“Terrible [Innkeeper]. Making us all worry and the nice Goblin cry. Okay, investigation mode. Don’t miss anything. This is only circumstantial evidence…”

But he felt it too. When Ulvama climbed back on the Corumdon Beetle’s back, she saw a slightly sweat-soaked [Innkeeper] rubbing at her back. Erin Solstice pushed her hair out of her face and coughed once into a fist. But then she smiled.

“Hey, Ulvama. I dunno what happened, but I’m feeling better. Great, actually.”

The Hobgoblin managed to raise her brows skeptically.

“You sure? All I see is a sweaty [Innkeeper].”

Erin sniffed under one armpit and recoiled.

“Pleh! Gross! But I do feel better. See?”

She got up as Matha sat up sleepily, and Mera jumped out of bed in a flying kick. The Battle Hamster kicked her in the face, and she landed, swearing. Erin leapt off her bed, or tried to. She planted her legs, and Ulvama saw her shoot up—hit the ceiling of the tent—and punch through the top.

“Aaaaaah! What the—”

The Hobgoblin gazed up as the [Innkeeper] flew into the air. Mera and the Battle Hamster stopped punching each other, and then Ulvama did grin once.

“I’m falling! I’m falling! Oh wait, it’s not gonna h—”

Erin hit the Corumdon Beetle’s shell with her head, bounced off, and she crashed into the campfire, scattering little embers. Then the Beetle stepped on her by accident.

But she was just fine.

Fantastic.

——

“Hey, Ulvama, Erin’s looking great, isn’t she? Seedwrap sandwich?”

Matha commented as they were stopping for midday lunch. They were watching Erin squaring off with Zemmy and Mera. Ulvama took the sandwich as the Fraerling sat right next to her.

“Mm. Better.”

Matha energetically munched on the mashed seeds combined with bits of fruit and nut-berry to make a paste that you wrapped an edible leaf or dough around. It was Fraerling travel food and not the best, but hardly tasteless. She leaned casually against Ulvama. The Hobgoblin didn’t pay attention.

“I’m feeling great! Just try kicking me this time, Zemmy! Just not in the face!”

The [Innkeeper] was hopping from foot to foot and making beckoning motions—right until Zemmy launched into a flying [Double Kick]. Erin blocked the first one, but the second knocked her down. She was getting up as Fraerlings laughed or cheered. Zemmy tried to stomp on her when Mera tackled him from the side.

It was seeming like the regular free-for-all with Erin and the two [Brawlers]. They were evenly matched. Or no…Ulvama thought Erin was worse than the Level 40 [Brawlers]. In an actual fight, they’d kick her around unless she used her flames or witchcraft on them, and they were wise to her tricks these days. She was still an [Innkeeper], and they were dedicated combat classes.

So she was probably the weakest one, but it was still fairly even until…Erin was running away from Mera, who was on the offensive, when it happened. Her legs seemed to speed up, and her feet began leaving tracks in the ground, flinging dirt around.

“Ooh, her Galas is activating.”

Matha shaded her eyes, then ducked a clod of dirt that Erin had accidentally kicked at her. The [Innkeeper] was suddenly outpacing the swearing Mera, and she whirled.

“[Relc Kick]!”

She missed as Mera jumped over the simple stomach-kick, but Erin wasn’t done. She spun, then launched herself off the ground in a spinning kick towards Zemmy. He blocked it and swept her other leg.

“She’s going Galas! Get her, Mera!”

The two [Brawlers] teamed up, trying to keep Erin from getting to her feet. She cursed and kicked at them, and Ulvama nodded.

So far, the Galas muscles seemed to be only activating in Erin’s legs. They weren’t that strong according to Eurise, but the fact Erin had any meant that she’d kick into a kind of second gear after she warmed up. When she was ‘feeling cool’, in Erin’s own words, she could perform acts of strength that were ridiculous to Ulvama.

And it seemed…Erin’s legs were activating a lot faster. She kicked Zemmy off her, and he bounced off the Corumdon Beetle’s shell. Then she was swinging energetically at Mera.

“Aha! Got you! Got—”

Mera tossed a handful of sand in her face, and Erin swallowed half of it. The ensuing scrap ended up with Erin tapping her hand on the ground, her arm in a pin.

“Argh! I thought for sure I’d be super strong. What’s going on?”

She leapt up, peeved. Mera was feeling a tooth Erin had punched.

“I dunno, Erin. You’re not that much better at fighting, even if your legs went off sooner.”

“What, you’re sure? Not even a bit?”

The [Innkeeper] was crestfallen. Mera nodded, then thumped her own chest.

“On the other hand, I’m feeling great. I was all grumpy because you kept coughing in your sleep last night, but now it’s like I had that coffee stuff you pulled from your Skill! Right, Zemmy?”

“That’s right! What is it, your aura?”

Erin twisted around as if trying to see something.

“No. I don’t feel it. Well, I do feel good, but I don’t feel…huh. Darn, I wish I could sense whatever it is you do. It sounds cool. Hey, Ulvama. Hey, you. What’s lunch?”

She bounded over, and Matha waved her wrap at Erin.

“Seedwraps again. Want the rest of mine, Erin? I’ll get another.”

“Uh. I’ll get my own.”

Erin sat down, and Matha leapt up to get her one anyways. Ulvama poked at her hair, which was covered in dirt.

“You’re gross and sweaty now. Go away.”

“Hey! I don’t smell that bad do—ugh. Anyone got soap?”

Ulvama twiddled her fingers, and a rain of water appeared and doused Erin. Spluttering, the [Innkeeper] scrubbed at her head until she was more clean, then Matha handed her a wrap.

“Thanks…Matha.”

“No problem! So, didja figure out how you got better? Hey!”

The ‘hey’ was because the Battle Hamster had parked himself next to Ulvama with Matha’s seedwrap. She tried to push him aside and reclaim her food, but he just bit at her—so she slunk around to Erin’s other side and tried to scootch onto the twig they were sitting on. Erin sighed, but she just turned to Ulvama.

“No levels. No magic—I was wondering if it was something I ate?”

Ulvama was wondering if Bowom had slipped something into Erin’s food, too. But she just chewed on her wrap.

“You’re better if you’re better. Just say when you get worse.”

“Sure…but this feels pretty permanent. I mean, I dunno, I can tell I’ve still got a crack, but it’s not like I’m splitting apart. It’s more stable.”

Erin poked at her chest gingerly, then glanced up and hurriedly added.

“Not that I was splitting apart, but—it’s a lot better. So I guess I’m on the mend! Told you I’d be fine.”

She gave Ulvama a smile that was trying a bit too hard, but the [Shaman] just glanced at Bowom. He gave her two tentative thumbs up.

Why, no one knew, not even Erin. But the convoy was all smiles, younger Fraerlings and older ones returning to their adventure. To Lemoste-Under-Cliffs and beyond!

——

“Oh, that’s not good.”

When Bowom said that, everyone reached for a weapon. But he was merely the first to see it, standing on the Corumdon Beetle’s head as they rounded a huge cliffside—which was really a giant rock—and came to the actual cliff of Lemoste-Under-Cliffs, the Fraerling City.

An ancient tree petrified into stone, leaning against the cliffs that gave the city its name. A secretive Fraerling city, the first that Erin and Ulvama had ever seen in person. Only, it wasn’t so hidden right now.

Ulvama stirred as Matha’s three-stringed guitar playing came to a strangled stop. The former [Raider] rose to her feet, and she was speechless as color drained from her face. Eurise took one look at the city and snapped.

“Erin, Roja, stay with the convoy! I’m heading in.”

He was a blur already. Ulvama just gazed at the huge shards of broken stone lying on the ground. Then the colorful, exposed city that was visible from its wrecked walls. Bowom muttered.

“[Adjust Eyes]…well, they’re not all dead. I see lots of movement. Pyres? That’s either whatever attacked them or we’re walking into a real problem. Slow the caravan!”

“Shouldn’t we go after Eurise?”

Someone demanded. Zemmy was ready to run, but Bowom shouted back.

“Not until we know what the problem is! Hold it! I said hold it—”

A dozen Fraerlings on the backs of Aphids were bounding forwards to see more. They only halted when Erin put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. Since she utterly failed at that, Ulvama did it for her.

The Fraerlings halted and turned—Erin stood up and beckoned.

“Back, everyone! Zemmy, Mera, get over here! You heard Eurise!”

The two [Brawlers] hesitated—then reversed direction. Again, Ulvama glanced at Erin. It wasn’t quite her aura. But her voice had that ringing command in it.

Just as well. By the time they’d reformed, the group was already noticed. Eurise had halted in the distance, a tiny speck, but the city of Lemoste-Under-Cliffs was far from a ruin. The proof of that was a giant frame appearing in the air with the face of a Tallguard Fraerling with a mithril helmet and a scar across his face. He shouted.

“Halt where you are, travellers! Show us your eyes! Keep approaching and you will be cast upon!”

Ulvama saw his eyes flicker to her and widen.

“We’ve got more infec—wait, green skin? Drop the illusions! Is that some kind of polymorphing…? Every one of you, show me your eyes!”

The Fraerlings hesitated, but then complied. Ulvama held her own eyes open as the Fraerling inspected them all. Bowom called out.

“What kind of plague or malady are we dealing with here? We’re from Dretonamis! That’s Eurise the Explorer up there! We should be expected?”

The Fraerling Tallguard blinked, then cursed.

“Dretonamis? You look clear—what’s with her?”

He jabbed a finger at Ulvama, and Bowom glanced sideways.

“Her? Shrunk Goblin.”

“Shrunk—is this some kind of joke? If it’s not, come on through! So long as you’re not bringing actual Goblin Tallfolk…”

The convoy moved forwards slowly, passing by ashy cairns over churned earth. There were huge craters in it, and Ulvama felt her skin crawling as she stared at the city ahead. But the more she looked, the more intact it felt. She’d seen Paeth’s destruction. Certainly, the Fraerlings who were already scanning Eurise seemed numerous enough.

They took an extra fifteen minutes on Ulvama and Erin, but they were willing to chat. The Tallguard in command was Commander Leafin. His first words to Eurise and Bowom were ominous.

“If you’re searching for support, we can’t send it. We will take your village in if you’ve evacuated it. Tell me you weren’t overrun. We threw a warning back via your Dragonfly, but it didn’t seem like you were in the path of the swarms.”

Roja shook her head.

“It never made it back. What happened? We never heard a call for help!”

Commander Leafin cursed.

“We would have sent messages, but our Farspeaker passed. Every [Mage] not conscripted for battle has been running cloaking and barrier spells nonstop, or just casting [Restoration]. Listen, the Architects will want to talk to you when they can, but we could use anyone over Level 40 who’s willing to fight.”

“We’ve got several combat-classes. Fight what?”

Eurise gestured at Zemmy and Mera, but not at Erin. The Tallguard gave him an expression of envy and incredulity.

“The ants.”

There was a beat before Erin began cursing.

——

One of the Architects, Vision Tiregal, was a young Fraerling. Tallguard. Newly elected to his post. He wasn’t the highest-ranked, but he had, apparently, won the election that had occurred last week.

“The city called for it after three of our Architects perished. Lemoste must rebuild far stronger than before. I am calling for Fraerling villages to relocate nearer to us if they are not heavily entrenched like Dretonamis—frankly, I hope you will help us stay and clear out the rest of the hives, Eurise.”

The [Explorer] was walking around the outside of the opened Fraerling city, staring up at the buildings and floors within. It looked like an ant nest as well, albeit far more advanced, which made their foes all the more ironic.

“Of course I will. But how did they ever get through the walls? We saw one of those magical ants—they’re the ones, right?”

Vision Tiregal nodded.

“The Dyed Lands. We heard warnings from Tallguard outposts, but we never thought we’d run into more than a handful of monsters. The ants seem to have exited en-masse and cut a path all the way here. Not even the Great Companies were stopping them…they might have been embattled. We don’t know, only that this was where they honed in on. It could be they sensed our magical signature despite our Allotment falling within range or something else—”

“Excuse me, but I’ve seen Fraerlings fight. How did they break into the city? Don’t you have all kinds of magic and stuff? We killed one of those queens, and they were deadly, but…”

Erin interrupted. She gestured at the city and the Fraerlings on guard-duty, who were armed with crossbows and wands and who had sightlines across the entire cleared fields on anything coming their way.

They’d already seen Lemoste shooting down an opportunistic bird with a long-range fireball spell that had blown off its head. A team of Fraerlings was now going to pick up the corpse, food being one of the things the city needed at the moment. But this was almost like a siege.

Tiregal glanced at Erin, but her Human-ness seemed unremarkable at the moment. Ulvama he was peering at, but he replied in a low voice.

“We had only three individuals above Level 50 in the city when they attacked. Only one combat-adjacent. Over 48 above Level 40, but…we’ve killed 56 of the magical ant queens so far. We think the swarm is mostly broken, but they just overwhelmed our defenses with sheer numbers. We were vaporizing them with [Barrier of Eradication] spells tuned to insects, and they just kept coming until we ran out of mana.”

Fifty-six queens? Erin and Ulvama looked at each other as the gravity of Lemoste’s war sunk in. Eurise simply grimaced.

“You should have sent for us. I’m willing to headhunt the rest of the queens if you can pinpoint them.”

Architect Tiregal gave Eurise a weary smile and nod.

“It’s been four days of fighting, Explorer. You’d have missed the worst of it anyways, and if your village was next—we were trying to lure them away from us the entire time. Not again. The first thing I want to do is re-establish our Crelerbane Armor forces. However, we have to find or buy the Adamantium…Oierdressql had Crelerbane Armor and it still fell. Paeth and Oierdressql were wake-up calls, but we didn’t heed them. You’re welcome to our city, such as it is, but anything you can contribute is welcome.”

“We’ll get to fighting, then. Zemmy and Mera are Level 40+, and Roja is as well. Alright, anyone willing to fight, step up!”

Eurise shouted, and Fraerlings abandoned their convoy. Bowom cracked his fingers.

“I’m Bowom. If you have injured or people missing limbs who don’t mind new ones, sign me up.”

Erin was turning.

“I can go with you, Eurise. And Ulvama—”

She hesitated. Ulvama hadn’t raised her hand. The thought of fighting another sea of insects made her shudder. Eurise glanced at her, then pointed.

“You’re still not necessarily well, Erin. Stick with Ulvama. Matha, you’re in charge of these two. Keep them out of trouble.”

“Got it, Eurise!”

She saluted, and the Fraerling man rubbed at his chin.

“We could use the Beetle and Hamster if they’re willing. We’ll keep them out of harm’s way, but a flier and a Battle Hammie could be useful.”

The Battle Hamster was already in line with Zemmy and Mera, and so the Human and Goblin saw the Corumdon Beetle’s tent removed. They stood there as Vision Tiregal gave them directions to the forces coordinating the counter-offensive.

Commander Leafin was clearly relieved to be sending Eurise to the forces on the offensive, but before he dashed off to send word, he stopped them all.

“The worst part about the ants isn’t just their numbers or how much damage they can do with their pincers. It’s the Queens. If you see a Fraerling out there, make ‘em show you their eyes. The Queens…possess Fraerlings they capture. It’s easy to tell, mostly, and they can be saved. Just kill the Queen. But until then, they’ll act as if they’re on the ants’ side. Don’t let your guard down.”

Erin felt a chill run up and down her spine. She rubbed at her chest and remembered the queen reaching for her when they had fought. Ulvama was looking at her, and any inclination Erin had had to insist on fighting was gone.

Eurise just nodded.

“I’ve seen that kind of thing before. I don’t plan on letting them get to me. We’ll strike every queen ant we find. Got any fliers?”

“Yes, and levitation spells if not that.”

“Works for me. Drop and chop.”

He projected a weary and grim competence that had everyone looking at him as a leader. Erin felt like he could have rallied everyone here if he needed to. So, that was a Level 50 [Warrior] holding nothing back. She wondered…what Saliss was like when he really got mad.

She’d never seen it. Not even with the Wyverns.

At any rate, she and Ulvama had to ask more questions of Tiregal about the ant queens. He was frank.

“Most of our survivors are going through intensive treatment to make sure they’re not still influenced, but their basic summary was akin to hypnosis or being…absorbed into the ant swarms once they were brought before a queen ant. Some power of theirs—again, from the Dyed Lands. These are the most deadly ants I’ve ever heard of in the entire world. Magical army ants don’t even come close.”

For all that, the Hobgoblin felt like the situation was under control—the Fraerlings being on the offensive and unwilling to let the ants regroup seemed to mean that unless there was another huge wave of them coming, most of the magical ant swarms were reduced. Though they might still be horrific threats on their own…she feared they might become an apex predator group in this region, but that was a reality the city would have to deal with as it happened.

Only when Commander Leafin came back did Ulvama get worried.

Because three dozen armed Tallguard were with him as he whispered to Tiregal. The Vision looked apologetically at Bowom.

“I’m afraid we have a problem. We’ll have to detain you for now. You are under arrest.”

“What?”

Erin shielded Ulvama with one hand, and her eyes glinted dangerously. Leafin glanced at her.

“Level 50.”

The Fraerlings around her tensed, and Bowom spluttered.

“This is outrageous! We’re all trying to help here! Miss Erin and Miss Ulvama were trusted by three Fraerling villages and their protectors! I object! How dare you, sir!”

He jabbed a finger at Vision Tiregal, and the young Fraerling man handed him something. Bowom snatched it, unrolled what looked like an old scroll, and hesitated.

“Ah.”

“Bowom the Splicer, you are under arrest for crimes of medical malpractice in three cities and sixteen villages. Given the circumstances, we might actually need your help…the Architects are waiting for an interview. Will you come quietly? It’s just you under arrest.”

Commander Leafin eyed Erin and Ulvama as the [Innkeeper] hesitated. Everyone eyed Bowom, and he raised a finger.

“I object! I’m the medical supervisor in charge of this dying Human and—damn, I thought those things were expired. It’s been twenty years!”

He sighed as they marched him off. Erin and Ulvama gazed at his back as he waved.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can sort this out! It wasn’t anything too hein—well, we’ll sort this out!”

He winked a few times, and then it was just the two of them, all their luggage, and Matha. The [Raider] spoke after a few seconds.

“Who is Bowom!?”

Nobody knew. Ulvama picked up the scroll Bowom had tossed over his shoulder and read it. After a moment, she showed Erin the list of crimes. The [Innkeeper] sucked in her breath.

“Ooh.”

——

“So, I think I could join the fighting against the queens. Burn them a bit.”

After about forty minutes of touring the city of Lemoste, Erin floated the idea past Ulvama. The [Shaman] regarded her.

“What if they do that thing where they try to take over you again?”

“…Right. Maybe not the queens?”

Do you have to fight?

Erin was restless, though. She murmured as they walked around the streets, where elevators that worked on some kind of gas propelled Fraerlings up and down. Only, half were broken because the city’s exterior had been breached, so Fraerlings were using [Lightbridge] spells or just newly-built stairs.

They had a shellshocked look. Or a determined one, like Goblins after a terrible battle. No one was able to chat; even Ulvama was only getting passing glances, not the people in Dretonamis with questions.

“This city’s so sad. I can’t believe they destroyed it. I always thought it’d be so much…cooler than home.”

Matha was the one the most shaken up by seeing the devastation. Erin and Ulvama glanced at each other. The [Shaman] leaned over.

“I feel grief. Sadness. Mostly—shock. Apparently, not many civilians died. Not like Oierdressql.”

Erin nodded tightly.

“That’s good. I sense the same thing. They’re working hard on rebuilding. It’s stressful, though. I think…didn’t the Vision tell us most of their food got eaten?”

Just like the ants to steal that. They’d swarmed over the area before retreating, so a lot of Lemoste’s goods were gone. Even so, Erin murmured.

“They’re determined, though. Poor kids are the most shocked. Like her.”

She jerked her head at Matha, and Ulvama recalled that most Fraerlings in cities wouldn’t be used to monsters at all. Unlike the villages…the [Shaman] nodded. Then she grabbed Erin’s hand so the [Innkeeper] wouldn’t run off to combat.

“You’re resting.”

“But I could help—”

“No!”

The Hobgoblin was so loud and fierce everyone turned, and she lowered her voice.

“We can help here. Okay? Somehow.”

Thus began their own part in aiding Lemoste. A harder task than it seemed.

——

Even after a battle, Lemoste was still far, far too advanced to need the things Goblins would. When Ulvama found a [Healer] with Matha’s help, they gazed up at the big building filled with magic. A weary woman came out to meet them.

“Cutting bandages? Poultices? Thank you, er, Miss. But we don’t need that. We have a [Mage] casting [Restoration] once every hour; if we need to, we’ll have the mana charge increased, but the worst of the casualties are dealt with. Unless you have any regeneration spells or Skills?”

They did not. The [Healer] shook her head.

“Hunting would be best, but the Tallguard want to avoid bringing animals or predators until we have a wall back. So you’d have to ask them. You’re from Dretonamis, right? Are you wearing a costume or did you polymorph yourself, miss? I love the magical signs.”

She gestured with a wand at Ulvama, and the Hobgoblin hesitated.

“No, I’m a Goblin. Just…smaller.”

“Oh. What?”

The [Healer] blinked, then leaned forwards.

“That’s incredible magic! I’d love to ask—but I have a shift to get back to. You wouldn’t happen to know if there’s someone who can do high-level healing amongst your group? I was told there was, but they’re not here!”

Erin cleared her throat with a hesitant smile.

“We, uh, we do have someone like that. His name is Bowom, but I think he got arrested. You wouldn’t happen to know him, would you?”

The [Healer] blinked. Then her face turned grave.

“Bowom? He’s still alive? I studied his case in school! That insane—of all the times! We might actually need him, but dead gods. Is he under lock and key? If not, we need to keep him away from the patients!”

She seemed ready to run until they assured her he’d been arrested. The [Healer] muttered.

“I have to tell our director now! Thank you—er, Miss Goblin. You two. If you can do any magic, we could use some of that!”

Then she was running off. Ulvama wondered exactly what kind of experiments these had been, but regardless, she realized her help to the city would have to be less traditional. She turned to Erin.

“We should do magic to cheer people up! Just a bit of it, you know?”

She flicked her fingers. Erin was nodding.

“Yeah, but I don’t have much happy witchcraft around. Tons of remorse, actually, but that’s not gonna cheer anyone up. And after Pallass, I don’t think just making a flame would be the best.”

Certainly not. Ulvama gestured at their packs.

“What if…we make some little happy charms? Give them out?”

She was thinking of the shellshocked Fraerling children. Someone had to; it was her job, even if this wasn’t her place. Erin scratched at her head.

“What kind of charms do you give to kids? Magic balls like Mrsha has?”

Ulvama stared at her friend. Erin raised her hands defensively.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! The Great Witches didn’t teach me kid-charms. We never got to that segment.”

——

[Shamans] were different from [Witches]. They were, by nature, more communal than [Witches], who existed around communities, but didn’t have to have them. A [Witch] could be reclusive; a [Shaman] had to have a tribe.

Ulvama’s connection to the Flooded Waters tribe was weak, so she had to draw mostly on her own mana and what she could get. Accordingly, her charms weren’t the strongest, but she showed Erin and Matha how it was done.

“For little babies, you get a bit of dust and infuse it with sleepy. Just a teensy bit so they stop waking and crying. For bigger children, a ribbon like so, see? And you tie it like this—”

She made a complicated pattern that neither Erin nor Matha could follow, and the little flower-ribbon was done.

“Then put it in child’s hair.”

“What’s that do?”

Matha scratched at her back, seeming out-of-sorts and upset. Ulvama gave her a tight-lipped smile, trying not to show her teeth.

“When children run around, a tiny bit of their energy goes—”

She waved her hands around.

“Makes people feel better.”

“Neat! How many can you make?”

Ulvama pointed down at the ground.

“Maybe…four? But if we give them out, I’ll make more!”

That was how it worked, you see. Just like how [Witches] harvested their craft to give it away, [Shamans] relied on the people around them to give them scraps of something. Hope, for instance, like when Mrsha had told Ulvama about Krshia making a ball of it to toss into the sky for Liscor’s siege. Primitive work, but the Gnoll must have had training as an actual [Shaman] to do that. It was rather impressive, actually.

The [Shaman] gathered up all the spare food they had—mostly seedwraps—and made a basket with the four charms. Then she went to give them out. Therein lay the problem.

Ulvama got…well…

A bit shy.

——

A pair of Fraerlings hard at work sawing and sanding pieces of wood were joining the reconstruction effort. They were [Woodworkers] with a unique focus: joinery. Thus, they had no nails, but were making wood carved into the correct angles to slot together and form natural connections. It would be just as strong, if not more so, than something with nails or screws, but it was far more involved and precise.

So they didn’t have time for their two children, who were about and underfoot, sometimes running to get things, but, well, distracting.

When they saw the three visitors, one looked up.

“Unless you’re here for a delivery or pickup, we can’t take orders. Everything’s for the new wall. Oh—”

He stared at the Hobgoblin hiding behind the [Innkeeper] and Matha and poking them repeatedly, then nudged the other Fraerling next to him.

“Raan. Raan, look.”

The other [Carpenter] was swearing at a blister on his palms, then noticed Ulvama. He blinked.

“What the—”

“Hello! I’m Erin, and this is Matha, a reformed [Raider], and this is Ulvama! We’re from Dretonamis! We just were coming by with some charms and food if you wanted some? We arrived and didn’t know about the, uh, battle.”

The [Innkeeper]’s smile made both Fraerlings put down their tools. Matha half-glared at Erin as she shook the first [Carpenter]’s hands.

“Very pleased to meet you. Is that a seedwrap? Ah, we can take that. Rina, Rousy—you want food?”

They turned, but their children were suddenly hiding behind the huge joists of wood they were working on. The first Fraerling, Zignem, gestured, but they were staring at Ulvama. He turned to her.

“Are you the Goblin I heard someone talking about? Tallfolk in Lemoste. It’s been an age since then.”

“Hello, yes. I’m friendly. We have charms.”

She muttered so quietly he almost couldn’t hear her. Matha took over, explaining what the charms did as the [Carpenters] chewed on their snacks, asking how Dretonamis was. When they were assured that the village was well, one sighed in relief.

“That’s good. I was worried—I’ve never seen such a thing in my life. One moment they were ringing alarms, the next I saw on the exterior vision spells the ants pouring over the cliffs. Flying down—just waves upon waves of them. We were all heading to the emergency evacuation sites, but I thought—”

His partner nudged him as one of the Fraerling kids who’d been edging closer to Matha, waving a seedwrap at them, froze up. Then they looked so afraid that he halted. Erin hesitated, glanced at Ulvama, and then smiled.

“But you made it. Now everything’s going to be okay now that Eurise the Explorer’s here. Have you heard of him?”

The children hadn’t, but they glanced up as Zignem exclaimed.

“Eurise the Explorer? He’s here? We could have used him during the siege! He could probably wipe out the rest of the queens—I’ve heard he once killed a panther with his bare hands.”

“Oh, we had this huge snuffolomonster he beat up in like three punches. Plus, we’ve got his apprentices, Zemmy and Mera! They’re great. Every time they meet, they hit each other hard as they can. They’re already over Level 40, and they’re not even, like, eighteen yet!”

Erin made some punches in the air, and the mood lightened. The [Carpenters]’ kids edged forwards as she waved something at them.

“Plus, my friend Ulvama here made some ribbons filled with lucky Goblin magic! I think it’s lucky. Might just be Goblin magic. Want one?”

“What’s it do?”

When the two Fraerlings heard what the ribbons did, they let their kids debate who wanted to wear it. Then they directed the trio down the street.

“If it’s noisy babies you want, try Eitine. Her kid’s four, but he saw some of the ants—thank you for the food.”

“…welcome.”

“Thank you for chatting!”

Erin waved at the two and then at the kids. One of them called out.

“Is she a real Goblin?”

She pointed at Ulvama and appeared nervous. Erin turned.

“That’s right. And I’m…Human. Arghablaghblegh!”

She waved her arms, and the girl stared at her. Erin lowered her arms as one of the [Carpenters] began to choke on his snack with laughter.

“You don’t look Human.”

“…What’re Humans supposed to look like then?”

Erin lowered her arms, red-faced, and the girl informed her knowingly.

“They’re supposed to be tall as trees! And go around seducing things! Like trees. That’s how you get Dryads.”

The [Innkeeper] opened her mouth, and Matha was laughing too hard to let her get a word in edgewise.

——

The second parent they came to, Miss Eitine, was better. But when she saw Ulvama, she gasped—the Hobgoblin retreated nervously as she held the basket in her hands. Erin snatched it.

“Hello! Non-seductive Human here, and Goblin! Wanna seedwrap? And a charm for crying babies?”

“…What?”

The Fraerling woman warmed to them considerably more after they explained what they had. She smiled at Ulvama.

“Thank you. I would invite you all in for refreshments, but—”

She gestured at the half-destroyed home she was trying to repair. She was an [Enchanter], but visibly tired.

“I’m sorry, I gave all my mana for the defenses. If you have any to spare, you should do the same.”

“What’s that?”

Erin blinked, and the woman pointed.

“Just down there, you see the impromptu mana circles? It’s a tank of liquid mana. Every spellcaster with non-essential spellcasting is contributing. We’re using it to fuel all the important spells.”

“We can go there! I’ve got some, though Ulvama’s a bit low right now—can we, uh, help with the house?”

The woman glanced over her shoulder.

“Oh, that? It’ll mend. People won’t…the worst part is all the soundproofing is gone. Thank you for the charm, Miss Goblin. Do you have a name?”

She smiled at Ulvama and the Hobgoblin introduced herself. The mother nodded.

“I have another family who probably has a noisy baby. Thank you for the food—we’re rationing until we have a steady foodsource. As soon as this is done, I’m sure the Tallguard will hunt down a bear, but it’s very welcome. Especially for two Tallfolk! And you.”

Matha got the coolest look of all and hesitated.

“Um. Me?”

“Yes, you. A [Raider]? Shouldn’t you be ashamed of yourself, young woman? It’s one thing to be a [Loner] or to leave your village, but to take from it? Look around you! Fraerling settlements die when we don’t support each other, and that’s the class you decided to take?”

Miss Eitine raised her voice as she gestured around the city. Matha turned beet red, and then she was trying to hide between Erin and Ulvama.

“I gave it up! We’re reformed! I’m sorry!”

She might have gotten the rough side of Eitine’s tongue, but at that moment, her son woke up. She took the dust pouch Ulvama had made.

“I’ll see to him. Thank you for your time!”

“You, uh, give it to him after he falls asleep. Maybe with a big snack and water?”

Ulvama called hesitantly, and the [Enchanter] turned, smiled, and assured her she would. Ulvama smiled back, and Erin slapped Matha on the back.

“I like her. She’s got her priorities straight, unlike Citykiller Matha over here.”

“Oh, c’mon—”

They walked outside and watched as a bunch of broken shingles floated up towards a roof slowly repairing itself. Ulvama shook her head.

“Magic. So powerful.”

“But they didn’t have that many Level 40+ people. More than I think you’d get anywhere but Pallass, but still. It feels like even Fraerling cities lack for high levels. Having one Level 50+ person per village is the big thing.”

Erin observed. Matha sniffed and folded her arms smugly.

“Fraerling villages always have the most amount of high-levels per group. Everyone knows that.”

The [Innkeeper] nodded.

“And the most people stealing from them too. Okay, let’s go help more babies fall asleep!”

——

Ulvama was perking up by the time they got to the fourth household. People weren’t that alarmed by the Goblin thing any more than they were Erin being Human. In moments like these—

A little Fraerling boy was opening the door of a rather mansion-like interior, despite the humble exterior. A bit of simple dimension-magic—the owner was a snoozing [Baker] with his mouth open in the living room armchair.

“Hey there! Are we coming at a bad time? We have some magic and a snack!”

Erin waved at the boy. He gazed up at her and shook his head.

“Da! Visitors! Da—look—”

He called, and the [Baker] barely stirred. Then the boy glanced over his shoulder, saw Ulvama waving at him and giving him a toothy smile. He froze up—and then started screaming.

“Monster! Monster!”

Ulvama’s stomach lurched. She instantly hid behind Erin, but it was too late. The [Innkeeper] was waving her hands at the boy as he ran back, climbing the stairs and falling.

“No, she’s not a monster! Don’t be racist—aw hells.”

The [Baker] was on his feet, waving a wand around in moments. He turned to his son, who was screaming his way upstairs, and then Erin and Matha. He saw Ulvama, froze, and then exclaimed.

“Richie, it’s not an actual—oh, cats. I’m so sorry, one moment—”

He raced upstairs, and Ulvama heard the screaming boy as her ears drooped. Erin turned to her.

“He didn’t blast us! Matha, you stand back. I’ll just—”

The [Baker] didn’t stop the screaming, but clattered downstairs in a hurry. He’d stowed his wand, to their relief, and he blinked at Ulvama as Erin tried to explain.

“Goblins? In Lemoste? Are there Goblin Tallfolk around?”

“No!”

He grunted.

“We could use them if they’d fight the ants. Listen, my son saw the ants, and he’s had nightmares for months about a monster with sharp teeth living under his bed. Ever since the damn silverfish got in—”

He shuddered. Proportional to a Fraerling’s body, a silverfish was big, and he’d had to beat it to death with a rolling pin after the boy had found it in his closet. As traumas went—you had to admit, that was a good reason to be terrified of monsters.

Erin was very understanding, but she kept glancing at Ulvama. The [Shaman] had closed her mouth and was trying not to scare the boy who was gazing at them from the banister upstairs, shaking with terror. His father thanked her for the charms, but when Ulvama glanced over her shoulder, she could see a pair of little heads vanishing from another house down the street.

She stared down at her feet. Erin kept smiling as she waved up at the boy. Only when the door closed did she look around and whisper.

“Bleh. I hate kids, right?”

Matha nodded.

“Absolutely. Can’t stand the little aphid shits.”

“…Lyonette has a kid. Two kids. They live in my inn.”

“Aw, c’mon. I was agreeing with you that time!”

——

“So, Ulvama…how’re we doing on the old magic front? Wanna make more charms and get back to it?”

Matha was rolling more seedwraps up, but the Hobgoblin was sitting in their tent, knees curled to her chest.

“Nn.”

She didn’t really make a ‘no’ sound, and Erin hesitated.

“Uh—you hungry, Ulvama?”

“No. No charms, Erin. Just give magic to [Mages].”

Ulvama saw Erin glance at the basket Matha was working on.

“I think that went really well. C’mon, let’s do another ribbon or something.”

“I don’t have enough magic. Too many sad Fraerlings. Not enough goodwill and happiness.”

Even after handing the charms over, it was a bad idea. Ulvama knew they should have just given mana to the defenses. Erin waved her hands at Matha.

“You sure? I think—”

“No. Too tired.”

The Hobgoblin turned to face the wall of the tents. She was tired. It was hard to pull on magic from across the world. Rags’ tribe wasn’t even her tribe, not really. She didn’t know how she’d ever had the energy to cast all that magic when they’d fought the ants.

She just needed to sleep. When Erin tried to get her to have lunch, Ulvama kicked at her leg.

“You go give magic. I go when I wake. Sleeping.”

“What about—”

“Sleeping!”

Ulvama put an aphid-wool pillow over her head. She lay there as Erin retreated and told Matha about the change in plans. The Goblin could hear them whispering.

“What about lunch? I just made more food!”

“We’ll give them out to the [Mages]. Besides, you don’t have a cooking Skill.”

“Yeah, but it’s a seedwrap.”

“Ulvama doesn’t need to eat the same food. C’mon, let’s go.”

They left, and the Hobgoblin went to sleep for a while. When she awoke, she found her stomach growling, but she sat inside for a long time. Eventually, she did have to get up because she wanted food and Erin and Matha weren’t back yet, but she dithered a long time.

——

When Ulvama came out of their tent, she had on a hood and scarf. That helped a lot; most of the children didn’t flinch when they saw her, and only Fraerlings who noticed her eyes paused.

“We, um, we get food here? Please?”

The Tallguard in line blinked at her.

“Dretonamis’ people? Sure, go on. One ration per person. If you’re getting some for a friend, just say so.”

Ulvama sidled into line. To her relief, the [Chef] at the front was too busy to even do more than glance at her eyes.

“Tomato soup and antloaf. If you really can’t stand the taste of ant, get more soup! It’s the last tomatoes we’ve got until the seeds grow.”

The soup was exceedingly fine. The antloaf…Ulvama munched it down while dipping it in the soup. She was wondering where Erin and Matha were, but the idea of searching the city…Ulvama decided to go back into the tent and take a nap.

Maybe they should have gone to fight the ants. Erin was right. Ulvama curled up in her bedroll.

——

This wasn’t really a tale about Erin Solstice. But, well, sometimes she made it about herself. She’d been trying not to, after Matha, even when she’d begun to feel…bad.

Lemoste didn’t need trouble. But—and this was a big but—Erin could tell Ulvama was unhappy. It wasn’t just noticing all the signs, but an actual feeling.

Like a string connecting her and Ulvama. Just like she could tell Matha was bored without having to see the Fraerling scratching her stomach. Erin had felt this before, but it was like she was awake.

What the heck had happened to her? Erin was walking through the city; not at random, though it seemed to Matha it was that way.

“Erin, why don’t we go back? Ulvama’s going to wake up, and this city’s depressing. Especially this part.”

“Yeah, I know. Shush, Matha.”

Erin realized they’d found themselves by a group of weary Tallguard. They appeared recently-bandaged. Their armor was messy, but they were whole. She waved at them.

“Hey, guys, can I offer you some seedwraps? What’s, uh, what’s going on?”

Most of them knew who she was. Even in disarray, a Human and Goblin attracted attention. A Tallguard with a huge scar across her nose grunted.

“Just resting up before getting back into it. Good thing you sent Eurise the Explorer. He dove into one nest and beheaded a queen. That and a trained Battle Hammy? We appreciate it.”

“Whoa, Eurise did that?”

Matha was impressed. The rest of the Tallguard—tired. Erin put the basket down and handed the food around. They weren’t starving, but clearly, they appreciated the food. A few of them eyed the simple nut-berry sandwich but took obliging bites.

“How rough is it?”

The female Tallguard replied directly to Erin as if she were a fellow Tallguard.

“Rougher than we want. Reconstruction’s going to take ages. We might be a month or more before a proper wall goes up, and even if we get the ants, there’s plenty of monsters that will be drawn to our magical signature. If we could get reinforcements or supplies, this would be easier!”

“Dretonamis could help. So will my village! They didn’t get the message—”

Matha began, and the Tallguard snorted at her. Not unkindly.

“Look, kid. We don’t need to tax villages. What we need is city support! An entire company of Crelerbane Armor would wrap up the rest of the damn ants and keep security up. Or supplies, magic, anything. We should have it already. But—Cillencreith’s gone quiet. They were always reclusive, but after this long with nothing? We thought they were just on a blackout, but they didn’t even respond to our emergency contact. So that’s more trouble. And none of our Tallguard outposts around there are reporting in.”

“Cillencreith’s the nearest city to here?”

Erin didn’t know any of the cities at all, and the Tallguard all nodded.

“Bigger than Lemoste by far. So that’s why we’re all down. If it’s two disasters or another wave of monsters from the Dyed Lands—”

The Fraerling woman took a huge bite out of her sandwich. Erin was nodding when she saw the Fraerling woman’s face change.

“What the hell is in—?”

She began unraveling her wrap, and Erin swivelled in her seat.

“Matha! What did you put in it?”

“Me? I, uh, didn’t I shuck the seed husks? Are the nuts or berries off?”

Matha raised her hands, clearly ready to run, but the Fraerling woman shook her head and took another bite. She chewed for too long, Erin felt, before swallowing.

“No…this is great. What the hell did you put in it?”

She took another bite energetically, and Erin realized the group had demolished their sandwiches. They turned to Matha, and she hesitated.

“What? That’s just day-old seeds and stuff.”

“You sure there’s not a sweetberry in here? It’s high-quality!”

“What? Can’t be.”

Someone had to toss a piece back to Matha, and she chewed it before her eyes widened.

“Hey, this is good! What the heck?”

Erin caught a piece herself, and it tasted normal to her. She said so. Everyone gaped at her as if she was crazy.

“It’s better than lunch! You got any more?”

They did not, but the Tallguard were sitting up a bit. Erin blinked at them, then turned. She glanced at her hands for a moment as Matha enthusiastically chewed on her bite. Then Erin…pulled back in that feeling that had been bubbling up with her. Matha stopped chewing, made a face.

“Wait, I got a bad bite. Now it’s just normal. Maybe I had some real fresh ingredients?”

Erin glanced at her. Then she flexed her hands again, eying the scars on her wrists. She saw one of the Tallguard gazing at her and stood.

“Well, we’ve got to get going. Hey, Matha—c’mere for a second. I’ve got an idea.”

——

The [Innkeeper] walked Matha into an alleyway not because she was worried about eavesdroppers. Just because it was thematic. Then she swung Matha into a wall.

“Wh—hey! Did I use your special ingredients or something? Take it easy, Erin!”

Matha appeared alarmed as Erin gave her a look that had the [Raider] sweating a bit. It reminded her of when she’d first met Erin, and she wasn’t actually over that. The [Thought Healer] had actually said she was disguising her trauma and she definitely shouldn’t join this trip, but what did they know?

Erin pointed a finger at Matha.

“Matha, I’m going to be straight with you.”

“Okay?”

“I don’t like you. You don’t like me.”

“Uh…you got that half right.”

Erin blinked, but disregarded that as Matha held still. She glanced over her shoulder.

“Ulvama’s depressed because she thinks she’s scaring the kids.”

“Well, she’s got a pretty awesome smile—”

“Shut it. I’ve got a plan. A stupid one, and we might get in trouble for it, but…”

The [Innkeeper] hesitated.

“I think it can work. I think it’s a good thing, if we do it right. That’s always how it goes. But I need your…help.”

She seemed like she regretted saying that, and Matha blinked.

“Hey, I’d love to help! Whaddya need? Me to steal something? Find someone? Ride something?”

“Nope. You can play the guitar, right? Or that thing’s close enough to one. Listen—”

Erin described her plan, and Matha hesitated.

“Wait. I can play a bit, but I don’t know the song.”

“I’ll hum it for you.”

“Uh—that isn’t how it works. Plus, I’m not that good!”

The [Innkeeper] was giving Matha an impatient expression.

“I’ll cover that, Matha. I can’t sing either, and we need like a drummer at least…hmm.”

Her eyes slid sideways, and she narrowed them.

“I have an idea there. You just agree to help, and we can do it, got it? Follow me. Keep an eye out for better guitars. And we’ll need a few spells for loudness and such. Easy.”

Matha caught up to her as she strode out of the alleyway, and the [Raider] had to bring some logic into the equation here.

“Erin, how is any of this easy? Listen, I used to lead the Cottontail Raiders. You can’t just execute something like what you’re talking about in a second! You need practice, lots of it, coordination, probably advertising and such—where are you gonna get a spellcaster or drummer?”

“Miss Eitine is an [Enchanter]. She can provide the magic. Even if she’s tired out, it’s a low-level spell—or she’ll know someone else who can do it.”

“Wh—okay, I didn’t think of that. But the crowds?”

“The crowds come whenever you do something good enough. As for a [Drummer]—”

They were six streets away, and Matha was jogging to keep up. Erin had made a seemingly random turn each time and gone up a flight of stairs. She walked through a back alley towards a dumpster behind a restaurant. Albeit a Fraerling one—so it was filled with worms who ate the compost and made of wood.

She flipped the lid open and spoke into it.

“Hey, Bowom, do you know how to play drums?”

Matha recoiled as a horror covered in worms rose from the dumpster. Bowom pulled one out of his ear and spoke drily.

“I am fascinated to know how you did that. And no…well, not professionally, but I’m all-in if this is something funny or covert.”

The [Innkeeper] smiled faintly. Then she turned to Matha.

“Okay, let’s rock.”

Matha was still squeaking protests as Erin dragged her into the city. It shouldn’t come together this fast! But Erin went back to the two [Carpenters], and one had a musician friend who directed her to a store who lent her the instruments she wanted because they were a fan of the Singer of Terandria they sometimes intercepted broadcasts of and no one was using them.

And they found a good spot, and Enchanter Eitine had just enough mana to work—but how? The [Innkeeper] just smiled at her when Matha objected. Bowom had to take Matha aside.

“Matha, Matha. I get what you’re doing. Wonderful straight man routine. I’d never have expected it from you. But you have to understand something.”

“What? How is she doing that, Bowom?”

The [Mad Doctor] met her eyes, cheerful, and jerked a thumb at Erin.

“She’s a Level 50 [Innkeeper], Matha. You don’t sneeze when Eurise blows the head off a monster a hundred times his size? You don’t raise your eyebrows when she does this. Here.”

He handed her a guitar. Then Erin was raising her brows at Matha.

“C’mon, we’ll do three practice-runs before we go loud. We don’t have to be perfect—I’m not gonna be.”

“Erin! I can’t!”

“What now?”

The [Innkeeper] growled, and Matha pointed at their audience, who included some of the kids like the [Carpenters]’, and at her guitar.

“I can’t play a song cold like that! I’m not good enough! I don’t even have a better class than [Strummer]!”

“I, on the other hand, am fully confident in my abilities to lay down a beat. It’s like stitching to the beat of a heart. One-and-two-and-one-and-two-and-suture-that-artery—”

Bowom cracked his knuckles as he slapped the drumsticks on the drums. Erin gazed at Matha, and the [Raider] knew that the [Innkeeper] didn’t like her. Which was fair, because Matha did have to make up for what she’d done. But for a moment, the young woman with her hair dyed magical colors and her intense stare seemed to look at Matha.

Her gaze softened, and she smiled as if she were seeing something familiar and funny. She slapped Matha on the back.

“You can do it. Ready? On…five. Is it five or three for music? Heck, I hated band class. And singing in front of everyone. Oh well.”

She took a breath, and Matha heard it tremble, but Erin was glancing down from their vantage point. The open city lay below them, and they could see from here a tiny little green tent. And Matha realized.

Oh, she’s doing this just for Ulvama. Erin winked at one of the [Carpenters] in the audience.

“One, two, three…”

Matha protested.

“Erin—”

She saw the [Innkeeper] point a finger at her without turning her head.

“[Boon of the Guest: Numbtongue]. Four, five—”

——

Ulvama was trying to doze off when she heard a strange, familiar sound from above. It sounded like—

Music? She tried to ignore it, covering her head with her pillow. She managed that for about ten minutes, but it kept getting louder.

And then she realized something was coming from above. The [Shaman]’s head rose, and her own senses, magical, picked up on something else.

“People happy? But why?”

The city was not in a mood for that. But above her, blossoming like a strange flower, there was a rain of…amusement. Excitement. Relief, even, drifting down.

Magic she could almost pull out of the air. The Hobgoblin scrambled out of her tent, and she saw, six floors up, Fraerlings moving towards one spot. That was where the din was coming from.

The Hobgoblin had no idea what was going on. But she heard the faster lyrics, the aggressive wail of a guitar—and the drums, and her eyes narrowed.

“Erin.”

She didn’t know how or why, but she knew.

——

The Hobgoblin nearly threw something when she saw the [Innkeeper] standing in the amphitheater with Matha playing a sparking guitar and Bowom on the drums.

She actually had one of her shoes in hand and was calculating the trajectory when she halted.

Ulvama had never actually seen or heard Erin…sing. She’d known the [Innkeeper] could do it, but never like this. The young woman was striding across the stage, throwing up her hands, dancing to the music.

She looked—incredibly embarrassed if you knew her, but the audience didn’t. And the [Innkeeper] had come prepared. She had somehow convinced the [Chef] to hand out the antloaf and tomato soup next to the stage she was playing on.

Possibly because she’d gotten the [Chef] to taste the food she was serving with Erin’s new power working on it. But what sold the music was the combination.

Erin’s [Singer] skills and her [Perfect Recall]—Matha playing like a legend of rock and roll on her guitar, which wailed as if it were electric—and Bowom.

The [Mad Doctor] was actually the weakest member of the band, having no musical training like the other two, but he did indeed have a very strong sense of rhythm and coordination. He was playing well enough on the drums, keeping the rhythm in line with the song—that wasn’t what was the impressive part.

At some point, the [Mad Doctor] had realized that his drumset had a more modern innovation that the creator might have actually taken from images of the Singer of Terandria’s band.

A bass drum pedal. A simple lever you stepped on to strike the drum. Simple, for a Fraerling artisan to replicate. Simple for a [Doctor] to operate. Just one thing.

Bowom’s dominant foot was his right one. Which he had lost at one point and replaced with a cockroach’s spiked leg. A cockroach’s leg, which had plenty of issues like standing perfectly vertical; it gave Bowom a lopsided slouch.

But in return, it had plenty of advantages like the ability to run at the speed of a cockroach, one of the fastest land-based creatures in this or any other world. And—the ability to hit the drum pedal so fast that you could barely even see his foot.

Bowom was doubling the beat of the song on his drumset. That he was still on-rhythm was crazy. Ulvama stared at the laughing [Mad Doctor] and the [Innkeeper] singing for the Fraerlings, who sat and ate their food, watching the strange Human.

At one point, Erin noticed Ulvama was there. They just made eye-contact, and the [Innkeeper] smiled as she lifted the wooden microphone the two [Carpenters] had helped make for her. Ulvama sat, pulling threads of the crowd around her into her magic. Her magical paint glowing. Trying to keep a scowl on her face so she didn’t encourage Erin.

——

The [Innkeeper] was still playing when Eurise and the other Fraerlings came back from their ant-killing expeditions.

They were bit to hell and back and tired and covered in gore. They’d killed eight queens—mostly Eurise dropping on them and assassinating them. But the aftermath had seen Zemmy and Mera getting a taste of real fighting, and they weren’t happy.

The sight of the city they had come to see so damaged had dampened their spirits, and Mera was unusually unhappy. When they saw and heard Erin and her band playing, she was the one who groused first.

“What is that? Music? We were killing all the ants, and we could have used her help! Instead, she’s just playing silly songs?”

She looked at Zemmy—he was tapping his foot to the beat. When she turned to Roja, Eurise brought a fist down on her head.

“Shut it, Mera.”

“Ow! Eurise! But she’s not even doing anything!”

Roja snorted as some of the older Fraerlings eyed the young ones. She leaned over to speak to Mera.

“She’s putting on a fine show for people. That’s worth more than you think, Mera. And if you think that’s nothing—you try dancing and singing on stage for more than twenty minutes. How long has she been going?”

She turned to Commander Leafin, who was bobbing his head to the beat. He glanced up as he took a swig of water.

“Three hours? They keep doing new songs and practicing them, but she’s been nonstop. Her presence makes the food taste better. Thanks for bringing these two, Eurise. The Hobgoblin’s giving out charms. They’re pretty good for Tallfolk, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

The [Explorer] caught a flask of water as it was tossed his way, and Mera opened her mouth. Then she went up to watch the performers. She and Zemmy were practically guzzling their tomato soup out of their bowls later. The Corumdon Beetle clacked his mandibles happily below as he danced on his six legs. The Battle Hamster just curled up for a nap.

——

Afterwards, Ulvama met a hoarse [Innkeeper] as she hopped off the stage. She was covered in sweat, and her half-grown hair on the left side of her head had beads of sweat dripping down. She looked…appropriate, though. Her multi-colored brown hair and the music fit, perhaps deliberately.

Ulvama couldn’t say; there were things about Erin’s world that kept surprising her, and vice-versa. But she put her hands on her hips as Erin strode over. Bowom and Matha were still accepting applause.

“You Numbtongue now?”

Erin laughed and coughed. Ulvama handed her a tonic she’d made for her throat and some water. She was recharged on magic, actually, despite all her crafting. Fraerlings were waving at her and Erin. Ulvama waved back and elbowed Erin.

“Well?”

“What? I just felt like bringing the mood up.”

Erin replied innocently. The [Shaman] glowered at her, folding her arms. The [Innkeeper] coughed again, but it wasn’t a sick cough, just a dry throat.

“Before I forget—[Boon of the Guest: Erin]. For Nerry.”

On stage, Matha stopped riffing and fumbled her chords.

“Aw—Erin!”

The [Innkeeper] wore a smug smile as she turned back to Ulvama. To her surprise, the Hobgoblin hugged her, then let go fast.

“Thank you.”

“Whaaaa? For what? Did you manage to make a few more charms?”

The [Innkeeper] tried to appear innocent until Ulvama put her in a headlock.

“Argh! I give up! C’mon, Ulvama, I’m really hungry, and I haven’t eaten since…wait, I forgot lunch. I wonder if I can use my new power to make food taste good for me?”

“Thank you.”

Ulvama turned, and Erin fell in beside her. She was blushing now.

“It was a lot of fun. I’ve never performed like that before. Like—in a band! It’s pretty embarrassing, singing like an actual performer on stage.”

The Hobgoblin gestured at the stage.

“You did…good. Your voice wasn’t as good as the Singer—”

“Thanks.”

Ulvama poked Erin, and the [Innkeeper] jumped.

“No, shush. Not as good as the Singer of Terandria. But you sang like it mattered. So it was the best. It worked.”

Erin smiled and ducked her head.

“That’s good. I’d almost want to do it again. But—nah.”

She peeked wistfully over her shoulders, and Ulvama was surprised.

“Why not? That worked well.”

Erin waved a hand.

“Eh, if you didn’t need—I’m not good at much, Ulvama. Just chess and…chess. And killing things. I never really had the courage to try new things. Or go to concerts—Grand Rapids had them all the time. But I never went. Or started a band. Heck, I’d never have dreamed of even trying.”

She glanced across the city, waved at Eurise and the others, before putting her hands in her pockets. Ulvama unknowingly copied Eurise. She bonked Erin gently on the head with a hand.

“Dummy. You do new things to practice them.”

“Ulvama, I can’t. I’m too shy.”

She actually had the gall to say that out loud. The Hobgoblin looked at Erin, and then Matha collapsed onto her back. The exhausted [Raider] lay there on her back, possibly overwhelmed with the novel concept of work.

Or maybe that was too harsh. Even Erin turned back to gesture at her.

“I guess she’s useful after all. But don’t tell her I said that.”

In the distance, Matha lurched back upright in a sudden shock. She leapt up and then raised her hands overhead.

“[Punk]! New class! Wooooo!”

The [Innkeeper] sighed and turned away. Ulvama began to grin and then saw a Fraerling girl staring at her, open-mouthed. The Hobgoblin hesitated, and Erin whirled.

“She’s got awesome teeth, right?”

“Yeah!”

The girl nodded, and the embarrassed Goblin laughed, and then she and Erin were walking through the city as Matha and Bowom ran to catch up. Ignorant of the goings on in the greater, bigger world.

But they weren’t aching to go back. They were quite happy enough.

Author’s Note:

It has begun! The short chapters are coming! Also Silksong is out, and I’m highly distracted. However, I have a few things to say!

Firstly, if you didn’t see the announcement I put up, I have an appeal to readers to subscribe to The Wandering Inn’s various social media platforms. Just so that number rises and we can work with brands or organizations who use it as a metric of success. The announcement is here if you want to read it where I explain the reasoning.

Secondly, thanks for buying plushies and requesting more of your favorite characters! I already have a few readers who have posed the plushies in awesome poses and I’ll feature them if you want to submit them via social media or on Discord! The first is a regal Bird riding either a Sariant Lamb or an Eater Goat, and I’d believe each one.

Lastly—chapters. I’m doing it. I’m writing short chapters, and it’s the hour of the Halfseekers!

…You may be wondering why Erin is here. Well, I wrote a short chapter with her as well, but she doesn’t ‘fit’ narratively into the Halfseeker’s push, so I decided we’re getting an Erin chapter to start this week of our Halfseekers!

Writing a chapter a day is hard. I don’t always keep it to 10k, and in fact, I only wrote one chapter under. Some are uh, 20,000 word chapters I wrote for 9 hours straight on stream. But I’m doing it! I’m around…5 chapters in? I’m aiming for 7-8, but it’s tiring as you can imagine. So I think I’ll release the next ones over the course of the week. Expect to see at least a few more dropping—it’s not going to be daily because I’m not writing that fast, and I am taking time to edit them! But I hope you enjoy a return to shorter but more plentiful chapters! Here we go!

Procession of Queen Bird I, by tatolord!