“S and Z are taken. Point L is in allegiance with V while F is after conquering V, but not yet directly threatened. H and E are both under siege by T and O who aren’t working concurrently. None of them threaten any players’ assets, but the F point is on the east continent. Keep that in mind this turn.” Vern announced to us as we played a board game, he, Zeke, Layla and me.

Layla cocked her head, “Um, Vern, what are our rankings? Nations overall, I mean.”

“Zeke is 715, yours is 513, mine is 701, and my sister is 1900.” Vern looked depressed as he read my total.

Layla, a newcomer to the game, looked confused. “How’d she get that big?”

Zeke responded, “We wasted the early parts on our turns wasting points on diplomacy to make easier alliances, while she went full barbarian and conquered C, D, I and K early.”

“That’s how she always beat me at home.”

I wasn’t the best player, but I had figured out my brother's strategies and had learned tricks on how to barbarian into civil early game from some guards in the castle. It wasn’t a pretty or reliable strategy against people who knew it, but it worked well against Vern and Zeke. Layla hadn’t learned exactly how to play, though she seemed to be slowly getting there. Also, I wanted to have territory that spelled DICK this game as well.

“Maybe you should try stopping me once in a while?”

“Look, you may not play by official tournament rules, but I prefer to. Barbarian tactics are rude and unsportsmanlike. Besides, we aren’t even on the same continent.”

“Build a boat.”

“Techs only a 17. Boats with that capability of sea travel while guaranteeing the safety of those men on board at a level I’m comfortable with is a 25.”

Zeke shook his head, “Take a risk, Vern or she’ll get onto South Continent in two turns and then she’ll have a nearly clear path to a victory.”

From across the room, Fredericka yelled, “Oh my word you nerds, I can beat Terra! How bad are you?” She could, we had a record of 3-3 in our heavily edit 1v1 version and had both won one in a game with Ulther and Callie.

“Stop reminding me, you supply hording woman.” He yelled back. He lost to a hilarious strategy that Fredericka had made up on the fly once and still wasn’t over it. Even after his current 30 game win streak against her. 

She flipped us off and returned to talking with Ophelia. We returned to the game and eventually, inevitably I won it. Handily. Deities, I loved that flawed, easily taken advantage of game.

“Damn, Vern, I can’t believe Terra is a better strategist than two heroes.”

“I wouldn’t call that a strategy. Or her a strategist.”

“She took advantage of the early games flaws and used it to her favor. I’m pretty sure that counts as strategy.”

I leave them to argue over the official definition of strategy and joined my roommate in her chair.

“Good afternoon, Terra.” She greeted me as she used me as a place to lean. That seemed to be what I was most useful for with her. We had settled into that routine the last few days after arrival.

“Ugh, why do you two always get the best chair?” Asked a groggy Sairah, looking like she had just woke up. She probably had honestly.

“It’s only fair I get the best chair after you kept stealing them back home.” Hayli pouted.

“And you, girl?”

“I don’t poke sleeping bears, I enjoy my limbs staying attached.”

“Smart. Much more than my rude disciple.” She glared at Hayli as she sat in the smaller and less comfortable chair opposite us. “Well, Hayli, how are you and Terra getting along? You enjoying yourself?”

“Well, yes, of course.”

“Have you done anything? I know you haven't done that, since you'd both be acting all weird, but have you at least kissed.”

“W-We haven’t kissed. N-Not on the lips at least.” She stammered..

Sairah shook her head laughing a little. “My, my. I thought you'd be trying to kiss immediately, guess you're purer than those stories you read." 

Behind us, Fredericka and Ophelia were in the middle of a card game of some kind, and by the swearing from Fredericka, she was losing easily. Vern and Layla had retired to a storage room to practice magic, since Layla thought he was a good teacher. Since her only other teacher was probably Ophelia, I could see why. I wasn’t sure how good a teacher would be since he really only knew Mirror Magic, and Layla couldn’t learn that. Plus I wouldn’t assume she’d need Plant Magic, since Ophelia could probably serve as her healer. I guess Vern probably did it to spend more time with Layla. (Hey, you can teach magic without being able to practice it. You can also learn it without being able to use it, as you should know- Vern) (And whose fault is it that I can’t?) (Not me, I was the younger one- Vern) (That literally means it was you dumbass.) Zeke and Amber were looking at some old scripts of fighting techniques, Amber looking outlandishly into it. She grabbed some swords from the corner of the room and dragged him outside to practice. 

Sairah yelled at them not to hurt themselves, before returning to reading a large book of scripture, torn and worn from years of use. Hayli read through the rough drafts of my journals. My privacy was nothing to her apparently. She had found them yesterday and had pestered me with questions, like “Why’d you leave this out?” or “What's with the twenty pages of dysphoria ridden angst poetry in the margins” or “What’s with the parentheses?”

“First- I can cut anything I want. Thankfully. Second- That was to keep me from putting how much I hated seeing my reflection every time I saw it in a window. Third- (I think it’s a stylistic choice?-Vern) (I guess, I mean I should move them to the footnotes in the final draft) it’s a rough draft.” I had answered late last night, wanting to sleep.

“Hmmm. Are these really dreams?” Asked Hayli as she flipped her way through my book. (It’s called wasting space to make it seem longer- Vern) (I learned from the best: Ulther. Also it's the best way to do flashbacks.)

I grabbed them from her. I had some edits I needed to make; I had written some things I didn’t want her seeing. Not at the current moment at least.

“Give them back, I wasn’t done!” She complained.

“It’s my stuff, Hayli. I don’t care if you weren’t done.”

“I’ll just steal them back later” She muttered before giving up and instead began to read Sairah’s diary. I needed to find a new lock for my chest.

I yawned and fell asleep, journals locked safe in my arms from any rude cute humons’ prying eyes.

A week and four days past by in a flash.

“Oh my deities. I am bored!” Complained Amber, laying on her back across the couch.

“Well, unless we get some news or orders from the King or High Mother, we are to stay here and wait.” Vern said, tying his hair back.

“Ugh, who made him king?”

“Divine Providence.”

I stared at the ceiling counting water stains.

Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen…

“We have done everything to do in this boring place.” Amber yelled.

“Read.” Zeke said.

“I’ve read all the books that won’t bore me to death.

Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen. Nineteen stains. That was a lot. “We could go raid the Shield House.”

The three of them stared at me as the realization came over them. “Oh. Yeah.”

And so, Amber, Zeke, Vern and I decided to see just what stuff was hidden in the Shield House.

“So, where is the guest house?” Zeke asked.

“A mile further inland, according to the maps.” Vern replied.

“That seems a bit too far from the Hero Mansion.” Amber complained.

“Keep separate the swords and shields, lest sharp blades become dull from scratching the barriers.” Zeke quoted some old general that had been a leader of a group of Heroes during the third Great War.

“That doesn’t make sense!”

Ahead of us, Vern slashed a path with a machete, since if there had been one before, it was now covered up by vegetation. We trudged through the forest. I really hoped Vern and I’s luck with wooded areas wouldn’t occur.

“So, are we certain the Shield Quarter will have more stuff?” Asked Amber, the bored.

“Maybe, Amum.” Zeke reassured her.

“That’s not very encouraging.” She pouted.

“It could be completely empty, it wouldn’t surprise me. Why would they waste time giving Shields like myself or Zeke things to entertain ourselves, anyways?” I chime in.

“That is the way it usually goes.”

“Aargh, stop it you two.” Groaned the red headed Hero.

“Stop harassing Amber, you two.” Vern reprimanded us.

“Ah, come on Hero, it’s just fun.” Zeke smiled.

“Look at her, she’s a mess.” Amber looked like she was ready to kill someone, though from her that was more comedic than threatening.

“I think that’s how she always looks like, hero.”

“That’s not- oh. We’re here.” He stopped and sheathed the machete.

Ahead of us was a two-story row house, like the ones you’d find in the older parts of a city. It stood awkwardly skinny, like a sapling compared to some of the trees near us. A protective, weed and moss covered wood fence circled it like a magic barrier. Ivy clung to the bricks that made up the building and a few grass horned deer-like creatures grazed happily on it until they noticed us an jolted off into the woods.

“I didn’t think we’d see animals that we’re so unique.” Vern remarked watching them disappear.

“What possible evolutionary purpose does grass on horns serve?” Asked Zeke.

Vern and I shrugged. “Camouflage?”

“Hey, dummies! Doors unlocked!” Announced Amber, tossing open the front door.

“I hope it’s unlocked because it’s empty.” Chuckled Zeke nervously as he broke open a light packet and tossed it into the barely lit building. It revealed a small upstairs of bedrooms, a small kitchenette and a sitting room with three whole shelves of books.

“Why do you all get three times as many books as we have?” Complained Amber.

“Probably because Shields learn to read before-” Began Zeke before being tackled onto the ground. The cold stone floor. 

I winched and turned away. “Let’s just raid what we can, before we get hurt.”

“I’ll check the ‘kitchen’ for food.” Zeke said rubbing his shoulders, a clear look of pain across his face.

“The books are mine!” Amber said sliding over to the shelves.

“I guess I’ll check the bedrooms.” Vern decided.

Cool, I thought, nothing to do. I began to sit down, when I was yanked by my choker by Vern and drug upstairs.

“Help me out with this, Terra.” He told me.

I broke free and gasped for air, “You can ask instead of choking me, you know.”

"What else is a choker for?"

The first bedroom was bare save for a half-finished bedframe and a stained mattress, no sheets or pillows.

“Huh. That is empty empty.”

“Prison.”

The next few rooms were just as bare, maybe even more so than the first one. The only bathroom was a cramped communal one, with the toilet just a hole and directly above the shower.

“Wow, this truly is the shortest stick in a bucket of twigs. What did you do to deserve this?”

“Agreed to be your Shield.”

“But, hey you have like 400 books.”

Ignoring him I asked, “Attic?”

He pointed at the ceiling free from cuts, “Unless they forgot to put a way up to it, then no. I don’t think we have one here.”

“Guess so.” I stretched. This seemed to be a nearly wasted trip. They hate us Shields that much, huh?

“Well, I don’t think the AZ duo is done downstairs yet.” Vern looked down from the banisters at the bottom floor dwellers.

“Should we carry some stuff over for them?”

Vern nodded and we walked down the stairs and stated our intentions. Vern was quickly saddled with a two large bags of potatoes and rice.

“Oh, goody, more rice.” Vern said without a trace of sarcasm, whatsoever.

I was forced into balancing a tall pile of books with names like “My Mistress: The Demon Queen: The True Story of Mia June” “Hard He Took Me” and “A Hundred and One Ways to Start a Love Triangle.”

“Are all of these romance novels?” I ask trying hard to not let any fall. It was not an easy task.

“Probably. Amum has been obsessed with them since she realized I got into a relationship before her.” Zeke explained.

“Well, Vern I’m blind, so lead the way, and make sure I don’t run into anything.” I said trying to balance while not tripping in my skirt.

Vern made a noise in affirmative, and we began our way back to the main house.

Over the next few hours and a half ferrying stuff from point A to point B, until exhausted from carrying all the stuff back, Vern and I collapse on each other on the sitting room rug.

Ophelia stepped over us, eating a fruit that we had determined was probably not poisonous and probably edible. “When did we get two Thornell skin rugs?”

From the kitchen I could hear the familiar sound of rice being cooked. I cried a little. We had rice as a part of every meal, and no matter how good Amber and Umber were as cooks, it was getting unbelievably old at this point. And we had just given them even more rice.

“Blergh.” I onomatopoeia-ed aloud and buried my face in the rug. It wasn’t a soft rug.

“Is this all you three found, Vern?” Asked Layla flipping through the “My Mistress: The Demon Queen” book.

“Yeah. Shield Shelter is a third the size of this.”

“That would be a lot of people crammed in there if everything was on course.”

“Yeah, there would be. Somehow.” Vern sat up.

“Three bed rooms, two beds, one and a half mattresses, one blanket and five pillows.” I mumbled still lying prone beside him.

“Are they big beds?”

“Is it possible to be smaller than a twin?” Vern asks.

“Deities, I wouldn’t wish that on my sister even when she really gets on my nerves.”

“Oh, and it’s only a few feet long from the top to the bottom.” Vern adds.

“I think my dad could learn a few torture techniques from that place.”

Vern smiled, “I hope not.”

I winked at Vern and removed myself from the conversation and laid down on the couch next to Ophelia and Fredericka and fell asleep.

Later that night Hayli and I were laying in bed, Hayli combing my hair while complaining at how bad I was at keeping it. I complained that it was way shorter two weeks ago but she wasn't having it. 

"Look, this is just something girls need to do. Like buying new bras or wearing makeup. Speaking of bras, you're outgrowing mine."

"Oh, jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous? I'll get to hold them." She winked at me. I covered my face in my hands for the rest of my brushing. 

When she was finished, we dressed and slid under the covers.

"Terra. Is all of this... still good?"

"The potion? Yeah. Not sure why I have to piss so much."

"Oh, that's a girl thing as well." She smiled and then used a drop of water from a glass near the bed to snuff out the lights. "Good. I'm glad. Night." She leaned over and pulled me into a hug before flipping over and putting me in that now familiar vice like tail hug. Soon I could hear her slight like snore.

I smiled and joined her in slumber.

(A week later:)

Morning. At least it was morning, but the sun had yet to rise when I got up and wandered downstairs. I wondered how I had gotten to bed, after passing out on the couch. Eh, it didn’t matter. As long as it wasn’t Fredericka, since she would say I owed her. I owed her a lot. 

I walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of what we had decide to call Coffee since the leaves we brewed tasted oddly like them. After adding milk from a wild goat species we had found and forcibly milked, I grabbed a book from the bookshelf that wasn’t the romance section. (I feel like I should have dated her it was so sad.- Vern) It (On second thought, I wouldn’t date her. She once killed a deer with her hands. For getting to close to her childhood friend’s house. She has a restraining order against Amber now. - Vern) was a tale about some detective, or maybe a private eye, that kept solving mysteries by utter accident seeing as he was, and I quote, “dumber than a brick wall.” I went back in the dining room to enjoy the “Coffee” in peace.

Amber and Zeke lumbered into the room, waved at me and sat down. 

“Morning.” Yawned Zeke.

“Morn.” I reply pouring some more “Coffee” into my cup. Amber motions for it, and I slide it over to her, and let her get a cup of her own. Zeke follows suit, though he doesn’t add milk like Amber and I, only adding a bit of sugar. 

“You’re up early, Terr-Terr.” Remarked Amber blowing on the cup.

“I am?” I say still groggy, slowly sipping on the cup.

“I mean for you; this is normal for us High Silin students.”

“Well, Earth, since you’re up,” Zeke stirred his sugar into the Coffee, “you can help us make breakfast.”

“Look just because I’m not the one who burnt down a kitchen, I am the bitch who made a guy faint with my overly liberal  and random use of seasoning. I can mess up as well as… well, not Vern. More Ulther.”

“Don’t worry, silly. All you have to do is boil the rice in the water. You CAN’T mess up.” Amber reassured me.

“Ha. Trust me, a Thornell can make anything into a mess.”

I did mess up, slightly by letting the rice cook a bit too long, but not enough to ruin the breakfast of bird eggs over rice.

Slowly the others gathered round the table, hungry for the meal of the same-old same-old. They divided into clusters and conversed amongst themselves. Sairah and Layla were discussing the geo-political climate of the desert lands, Ophelia and Hayli and Fredericka were discussing some play, and Zeke and Vern were discussing their favorite heroes. 

“Does it still count as rice if it’s this puffy?” Amber chastised me.

“Don’t be rude, Amum. Besides if we dry it out maybe we can make desert.” Zeke kind of defended me.

I ignored the others and scarfed down my food and finished early as usual. The conversations had shifted, and my interest (zero) in them hadn’t. I got up and shuffled myself into the living room and sat down. I had been a ninth wheel for the better part of the last week or so, ever since Sairah had held my girlfriend and I over a cliff above the oceans and nicely asked if me and Hayli would slow down, and perhaps not spend so much time together for a set of reasons only two of which were my fault, for once. I had expected it, Hayli was getting too PDA for the others to stand. She argued that nuzzling me and using my dress as a blanket while on the couch together wasn't PDA but that wasn't an answer that was going to work. For my part I was fine on my own and this just gave me an excuse to be by myself for once. Really good for my thoughts. I was also sleeping on the couch as a decided punishment from Hayli for agreeing to Sairah's request on behalf of the entire house.

I sat down on the couch and watched as the others slowly trickled in, with the keen eye of a woman who wasn’t actually paying attention at all.

Hayli sat down in one of the twin chairs opposite from me, staring at me for a bit before darting her gaze away once she noticed I noticed her.

“So, how exactly does your magic work?” Ophelia asked Sairah.

“You haven’t heard of Berserker magic? Basically, we trade our brain power for fist power,” She flexes her muscles. “I don’t actually have to use it much with these girls.”

Ophelia nodded and jotted something down in her small notebook before taking a seat next to me. She looked at it for a while then up at me for another minute before turning to Vern and Layla and started chatting it up with them.

I continued to read, not paying the other any mind. The power of ninth wheeling meant I could ignore everyone and just focus on the mediocre words in front of me. I continued this isolation even as we all got up and returned from supper and then as night fell, while everyone went to go to bed.

I pulled the blanket over the couch and piled the pillows up under my head.

"Wow, pulling a mom, are we now?" Vern asked, leaning on the back of the couch.

"Oh, please. Mom was drunk when she did that- and I'm sober."

"Yeah, this is more an Ulther and Callie move."

I laughed a little, "Sure."

"So... how long until you get the bed back?"

"Whenever Hayli decides to let me."

"Well, have fun on the divorce couch sis." Vern said as he went to retire upstairs after doing me a favor and blowing out the lights.

I pulled my blanked around me tighter until it was like a cocoon. I closed my eye at let my dreams wash over me.