“Oh, stop being such a baby. It wasn’t that bad.” I looked at my master piece one more time. Amy’s tattoo was on her upper arm. I had planned to put it on her shoulder because it would be more hidden but, before I even began, I “knew” that if people could see it that it would work better. After that, I had to ask her where she would prefer it and explained why it should be a place people could see. She had decided on her upper arm but balked at the yellow dot tattoo had I planned. She didn't want such a stupid tattoo so it ended up being a golden halo with with a vertical "beam" of light that was also gold running down the center. A human silhouette floated in the center of it while at the bottom of the beam was a weighing scale made of black thorny vines; on the scales were a bandaged heart on one side and a skull on the other. In between the scale base and the halo were different medical herbs. Honestly, I only expected to be able to make the halo and was only humoring her but my hands seemed to move on their own and the whole thing came out beautifully. It was well beyond my drawling skill level of doodles and stick figures. I comforted Amy again even though I had already healed her arm.

To distract her, I asked how she did on the ranking test. She had gone at night under the guise of a leopard-kin. I cast 'Masquerade before she entered and choose a cheetah beastkin. I had wanted to give her some battle advantage so I chose an animal that was both fast and strong. Although, I could only give her one attribute, I figured short bursts of speed couldn’t hurt. It was just that she really, really sucked in combat and even with the speed boost, she still only ranked at ‘D’ level. I wasn't sure that if she had done any better, even if I had finished the enchanted tattoo that gave her regeneration. I looked at my crystal card that held my ranking saw the:

Priestess: Healer

Scouting: D

Melee: F

Ranged: F

Resilience: SS

Magic Power: SSS

Spell Craft: S

Talents & Abilities used: A

Rank: SS

... and decided to not tell her how well I did. There was no reason to rub salt into her wounded pride. In theory, I could go into the dungeon by myself with that ranking; where she could barely enter with hers.

However, it seemed for this dungeon, we needed a group of people or I would need to summon monsters if we were going to defeat it. I hadn’t forgotten what that man had screamed this morning and apparently the word on the street was that his group wasn’t the first one to wipe out inside it. It seemed that the mortality rate was indeed higher than it should have been, so finding people that wanted to take the risk was going to be hard. Finding ones that didn’t want to sleep with us was going to be harder. The few adventurers I did find , offered me a bigger share of the profit if I was willing to “check” their bodies whenever we rested. I gave up after a while in hopes that Amy would, by some miracle, get a high rating and make it so we would not need a group.

Now with her poor rating I wasn’t sure what to do. Honestly, my summoned monsters seemed to be a safer option than a random group of men. Luckily, it wasn’t just my choice to make. We discussed it over dinner at Marge’s place. The elderly couple didn’t mind our company and we needed a place to crash so it worked out. Marge seemed to be amused by our conversations on what we should do and what we would need to get before going into the dungeon. She claimed that it “brought back memories” but I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t something else and she just didn’t say. By the end of the meal, we decided to risk summoning monsters. I would make some mana potions to ensure that I could keep them summoned at critical times as well as pre-casting a few spells into the druidic rocks, making some salves and enchanting a few waters. It would take a few days but the dungeons I had been in had taught me it was better to be prepared.

I had a few dreams that night.

One of a family sitting around a table. The mother looking at her son thanking the Goddess Alice for restoring his life while the father and son kept their heads bowed in prayer.

Another of a teenage boy stood standing in the middle of his friends holding a talisman, that looked like a circle made from yellow twigs, with an upside down ‘T’ inside of it, while his friends fought a group of normal looking wolves. His lips were moving and I could hear his words as if he were standing next to me, “Goddess, please take their pain and heal their wounds. I beseech you.” I smiled as I placed my hand on his shoulder. It was nice to see people willing to help each other.

And a third one was of the shopkeeper’s wife, her face more bruised than before. She laid huddled on the floor with the shopkeeper standing over her yelling. I could feel her fear, feel her pain and knew deep down he was going to kill her tonight. I felt her despair and helpless anger and I wanted to help. A golden circle began to glow on the shoulder I touched when we last parted, and I saw her eyes glowing red before I woke up alone…

Amy and I both went shopping the next day. We went separately since the last time trouble happened we were together, so the towns folk were looking for a pair of girls. In reality, Smelt had already told the towns people he had run us off but he failed to mention that to us so, we were still taking precautions about being noticed. I picked up some alchemy supplies and a few extra vials, metal tins and water skins; while Amy bought some camping gear and a medium sized crossbow with some bolts.

After that we stayed inside the house. Amy was making things. She just told me that they would help in the dungeon and left it at that. I got the impression that she thought I wouldn’t understand. I, for my part, brewed a few potions and salves. The enchanted water had a shorter shelf life so I was going to cast those spells on the day we went into the dungeon. The next day I enchanted the druidic rocks and gave them all to Amy. Like a nervous mother, I would keep repeating what all of them did. This one will increase your strength, this one will create a wall of thorns, this one makes you harder to hit and so on. She just smiled at my antics until I finally finished.

The days passed quietly but my nervousness grew as if something big was going to happen.