Chapter Four Hundred and Sixty-Six - Operation Level-Up

I blinked, then nodded. "Anything you need, I'll give you," I said.

Booksie sighed with a shake of her head. "You can't just say that, Broccoli. At least hear me out first? Oh, and pass the pepper. Rhawr likes his food spicy."

I found a small basket filled with peppers and passed it over, then when I saw that Booksie was preparing to chop them into smaller bits, I grabbed a knife and started doing the same. "So, what's the favour, then?" I asked.

Our chat was accompanied by the click-thunk of knives tapping against the cutting board. I made a mental note not to touch my eyes, even with Cleaning magic--I didn't want to experience pepper juice in my eyes.

"Rhawr and I spoke a bit, and I think I'm going to take up his offer for training."

"Training?" Amaryllis asked. "I can't imagine what sort of training you could do with a dragon. Though I suppose he might be knowledgeable enough with magical matters."

"He knows a fair bit, but a lot of it is instinctual. Dragons aren't the apex just because they're massive, highly magically resistant, grow quickly, live for a very long time, and can fly." Booksie paused. "I mean, none of those things hurt. But they're also born with a keen understanding of magic and the World itself."

"The world?" I asked.

She nodded. "It's why, I think, dragons tend to avoid eating riftwalkers if they can."

I blinked. Well, that was useful to know. I did remember that when we first met Rhawrexdee, he had given me a sniff and called me out on being from another world. At the time, he could very easily have gobbled me up. Actually, I was pretty sure that was still the case. I was proud of how far I'd come, but I was nowhere near the 'fight a dragon' level.

"Why do they care about riftwalkers?" I asked.

"Because they're summoned by the World itself to address a crisis," Amaryllis said with a nod. "It makes sense. The World is ... the World. Whether you're a dragon or a harpy, it is still unimaginably far beyond you. A dragon will respect its wishes, just as much as I do ... even if I sometimes question its choices concerning who, exactly, it picks to bring over."

"Is that about me or about Rainnewt?" I asked.

Desiree gasped, then pointed at me. "You are an otherworlder!" she said. Her tails swish-swished behind her in excitement. "I knew my keen senses had not fooled me from the moment I laid my eyes and tails upon you."

"You did?" I asked.

"Indeed! I once said something in my beautiful and most artistic native tongue, the Noble Tongue, and you responded in kind. I suspected that you were a well-educated traveller, but you seemed utterly ignorant of my people and culture!"

"Oops," I said. Then I shrugged. I wasn't very good at keeping secrets, and this one was mine, so it didn't hurt anyone but me if I let it slip. Besides, Desiree was a friend, and friends should know a bit about each other's past and such! "So, ah, does that mean that the dragons won't help with Rainnewt?"

"Oh, I think Rhawr can look past his instincts just fine," Booksie said. Somehow that came out as very scary.

"So, this training, it's not in magic then?" Amaryllis asked. "Instinctual casters make for poor teachers at the best of times."

"No, what he wants to do is something called powerlevelling," Booksie said. "The basics of it are relatively simple. When you're in a group and fighting against something, the experience earned for defeating that thing is shared. If your contribution is tiny, then your portion will be equally small, however."

I nodded along. I had an inkling of where she was going with this.

"Still, a small portion from a large pool is still worth it. There are wild drakes to the north, gryphons to the west, and a large number of very powerful, very old swamp monsters to the east. All well within a morning's flight."

"You want to go hunting with Rhawrexdee," I surmised. "And that'll give you a heap of experience, even if you're only helping a little."

"Exactly," Booksie said. "That, and I think it's high time that I find myself a second class."

Desiree gasped. "You've yet to challenge your first dungeon?" she asked.

"I haven't really needed to," Booksie said. "And this is where the favour comes in. I know that you've tackled a number of dungeons. Rhawr would help, but dragons... are quite a bit larger than some dungeons would allow. There are a few that dragon-kind know of and share the location of that allow even someone as large as Rhawr to slip in and complete the dungeon, but those don't offer classes I want, and are all very far."

"Wouldn't want to miss your own wedding," Amaryllis said.

Booksie grinned. "Exactly."

"Did you pick out a dungeon yet?" I asked.

"Oh! I have. Can you watch the eggs?" Booksie rubbed her hands on her apron as she slipped out of the kitchen. I checked on the eggs in the meantime. There were so many in this omelette that it was hard to get them cooked evenly. The peppers were all chopped up, so I started sprinkling some into the mix just as Booksie returned with a large book. "This is a copy of the Exploration Guild's Dungeon Guide," she said as she placed the book down on the end of the counter.

"You have your own copy?" Amaryllis asked.

"It's several years out of date, but yes," Booksie said. "It's hard to sell this one, owing to how it's liable to be outdated in a few spots. Still, it gives a decent idea of what to expect." She flipped the tome open to a page that was already bookmarked. "Here!"

Amaryllis leaned over. I was a bit too far to make out the text and didn't want to abandon my spot in case the omelette got burned on the bottom. "A cooking class?"

"It's an exceptionally strange class, actually," Booksie said. "It's a legal and cooking class."

"What's it called?"

"The Sue-Chef," Booksie said. "I think it'll be a nice combination for me. I enjoy cooking, so a few more skills in that direction couldn't hurt, and my business... well, it's a business. Having a good grasp of the law can only help with this kind of thing, I think."

"Oh, uh, right, that makes sense," I said. I wasn't sure what to think about that name, so I decided not to think about it at all. That was an important skill, sometimes. "Where's the dungeon anyway?"

"Mattergrove. So to the west and south. It's not too far from the capital, actually," Booksie said. She winced. "If I wanted to go there on my own, it'd be a week by airship, but mostly because I'd need to go around and change ships midway. If I go with Rhawr, I can make it there in an afternoon, but it won't be a comfortable flight, and I'll arrive at the dungeon with no one to help me through it."

"Oh," I said. "Well we can definitely help, then!" I said.

"For a small fee," Amaryllis added.

"But with a friend discount," I added on top of that. "A big one!"

Amaryllis rolled her eyes. "I suspect we could get the fees out of the guild at this point, just for keeping an eye on you. We might even get a bonus mission out of it if the dungeon hasn't been examined in a while."

"I have a bit of money," Booksie said with the kind of wince I'd expect from someone who really didn't.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," I said. "Maybe we can double-dip with the training after? I'd love to level up a few more times, and it'll be a lot more fun as a group!"

Booksie nodded. "Don't tell Rhawr, but flying with him is a little harsh on the rear-end."

I giggled. "What about a saddle?"

"Oh, he'd never accept that," Booksie said. "Dragons have plenty of pride."

"Well, we could follow along in the Beaver. It's not nearly as quick or nimble as a dragon, but it does have beds and a kitchen and a washroom."

"All of which are exceptionally good selling points, yes," Booksie agreed.

"When are you planning this trip?" Amaryllis asked. She was always the one looking out for the logistical part of things.

"Ideally? Very soon. The sooner the better, even. I'd like to get that new class up and maybe a few levels before the wedding, which would mean departing... well, today would be nice."

Amaryllis sighed. "Today. That's... possible. But it's not comfortable."

"We could go tomorrow at dawn," I suggested. "It'll give us time to get everyone onboard and prepped, and to plot a route, and to check our supplies. Awen hasn't finished fixing everything, but this'll be a good excuse to hire some help from the port so she's not alone with the repairs."

Amaryllis sighed. "I swear, my life is one disaster after another, isn't it?"

Desiree regarded her strangely, then turned toward me. "Forgive me, but I must enquire as to whether this bird lady is always so melodramatic."

***