After delivering his news about how the combined forces of the Uprising were currently on the move, the Agent left us. He was apparently going to be both leaving immediately himself in order to link up with the main host, as well as send messages to various outposts about the success of our mission. He had told Grey that he hoped to inform the various noble houses who had children and members held hostage that they were free now.

From what he had told Grey, the main host wasn’t anywhere near Helstein yet. Apparently, the Duchy of Helstein was located closer to the exact center of the Herztalian lands, in a notoriously mountainous region. The Uprising had yet to to reach it, and had issued polite requests for Grey to bring the former hostages with him when he rejoined them. Our destination was someplace in the region named Silvercrest, apparently a sympathetic town in a Duchy that was otherwise hostile to the cause.

Uh-huh. I think everyone saw what they were doing. By taking the former hostages in, the Uprising was hoping to bring the noble families that had been effected to the table in order to regain their support. A bit underhanded, but they seemed to be desperate.

Wait. Was I getting used to all this political back and forth?

I don’t know if that was a good thing.

Moving on.

Around the time the Agent was leaving, Sylvia was emerging from below decks with the people we had freed from Caer Drarrow. Among them was Renauld, who had unsurprisingly chosen to come with us.

“I don’t quite think I’m suited to the sea life, friend,” He told me with a wink. The two of us were watching as the prisoners were ushered off of the Thorny Reef and into Sancthaven, and guided into what must be the guest hall. Looked more like a short fat tree with a door attached to it to my eyes, but what did I know? “All this salt air is bad for the fur, you get me?”

“Mmm,” I said noncommittedly. I kind of liked it, actually. I watched as Fade wandered off of the ship as well, and started to sniff around curiously at the strangely twisted dock we found ourselves on. My pup had long since recovered from his strange display back on Caer Drarrow, and was back to acting like a mostly normal canine. “Well, we’re not going to turn down another healer, so welcome aboard. I doubt Grey will have a problem with it. But, you do know we’re apparently heading straight into battle with the Uprising, right?”

Renauld shrugged his furry shoulders nonchalantly. “Well, I’m already a convicted and escaped prisoner in the eyes of the Loyalists, right? Might as well go all the way and just join up with the good guys.” He drooped then. “Besides, I don’t even know where the Throng is right now, even if I wanted to leave.”

I turned to look at Renauld curiously. “Throng?”

He gave me a curious look of his own. “What, never heard of us? What rock have you been living under, friend?”

Ah. I guess this was one of those things that someone from Vereden should know then.

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. “Might’ve just never heard that term.”

“Ah, well,” Renauld said, leaning on the staff that I never saw leave his side these days. “The Winding Throng is what my people call our caravan. We wander around the continent, setting down every so often in certain places. We don’t believe in owning land as a people, and so we try and stay out of the way and to ourselves. I miss it sometimes, but I would’ve missed the chance to attend the Academy more.”

“I see,” I said quietly. I don’t know if I could do that. I had been rootless for months now after being stranded on Vereden, and I was already starting to feel a touch depressed about it. I can’t imagine how that must feel for an entire race of people who had been here stranded for apparently millennia.

Our conversation was interrupted by Azarus wandering up to us with narrowed eyes, carrying a large crate. “The hells are ya two doin’? Tryin’ to skive off, eh? Not if I can’t! Grab yer junk off of the Reef and go settle down in the hall with the others.”

I rolled my eyes at him but did as he said. “Yeah, yeah,” I said before whistling in a specific way that I had started to train Fade to recognize. He perked up from his investigations, before trotting over to gaze up at me expectantly. I smiled down at him. “Let’s go get our stuff and say bye to Bella, okay boy? Renauld, I’ll see you later.”

Renauld nodded at me and then followed Azarus over to the guest hall, not needing to grab anything off of the Reef. It’s not like had much to his name right now.

I did as I said I was going to, grabbing my various supplies from my bunk in the hold of the Thorny Reef. I stopped a moment to gaze at my hammock in thought.

It was going to be a bit odd getting used to sleeping on land again, after weeks of rocking back and forth. I shook my head to rid it of such thoughts and then ventured out onto the deck in search of Bella. On the way, I ran into Pete, who had long since been freed from his underwater recon duty. The two of us weren't exactly close, but we still said our goodbyes, with him thanking me again for the rescue back in Marrowmist. After that, I spotted Bella speaking seriously with Grey up at the helm I passed Morlow and Laryn as I was making my way up there, and made sure to say my goodbyes to them as well. Morlow just rolled his eyes at me and grunted a ‘See ya later’, while Laryn clapped me on the back and winked his one eye at me.

Grey seemed to be finishing up with Bella when I exited out onto the deck, leaving the pirate Captain standing alone. Grey and I exchanged nods as we passed each other, before he left the Thorny Reef for good. Presumably to handle the refugees and Lords that were supposed to be settling She had a strange look on her face that she shuttered when she saw me approaching.

Surprisingly, she stuck out her hand at me. I grasped her forearm and squeezed it like I had gotten used to. Bella met my eyes with a slight smile. “I’ll see ya around…Nate. Ye weren’t too bad. I’ve had landlubbers on me ship before that were way more insufferable.”

I laughed slightly and nodded. “Well, for a pirate, I guess you’re not too bad yourself,” I teased right back before my smile faded slightly. “So, what’s the plan now? I should’ve guessed you wouldn’t be following us onto land. You’ve got the Reef and her crew to look after. I can’t imagine you’re going right back to Marrowmist.”

After all, it’s not like one of the leaders hadn’t outright told her she was exiled.

Bella snorted. “Nah, ain’t goin’ back there just yet. Whitegull was giving me directions on how to link up with the rest of the Uprising naval forces. Accordin’ ta him, they’ll take me in and ‘put me to good use’.”

“What, on the other side of the blockade?” I asked, startled.

“Ain’t gonna be the first time I’ve given the Navy the slip,” Bella said with a smirk. “And I’m sure it ain’t gonna be the last. Ye ain’t seen the last of me yet, boyo.”

Well, all right then.

“I’ll see you around then, Bella.”

“Count on it,” Bella reassured me. With one last squeeze of our still clasped arms, we separated. She wandered away to prepare the ship to set sail again, while I left the Thorny Reef behind for the foreseeable future.

Instead, it was time to go to bed down till we left for tomorrow.

I thought the guest hall was surprisingly cozy, actually. Despite essentially being a hollowed out tree, it wasn’t unpleasant or rough inside. Instead, I would call it more…rustic, but in a good way. It wasn’t separated out by rooms, but was rather just one big one. In the center of it was a large stone-lined pit with a strangely burning fire in it. I say strangely, because it didn’t give off any smoke that might have filled the enclosed space of the hall. There were bunks grown out of the circular walls of the tree as well, actual stuffed cots, and woven blankets for use. I’d tried one out and nearly moaned in pleasure, before stopping myself. As much as I’d grown used to the rocking of a hammock on the Reef, nothing beat an actual bed.

Speaking of, Bella and her crew had departed a few hours ago by this point, back the way we’d come in. A few of us, including Grey, Sylvia, Azarus, and I, had seen them off with some reciprocal waves. Strangely, even though the sun was setting, the village was still empty. This place was supposed to be inhabited, but I hadn’t seen hide or hair of any locals, even the Elder from earlier. I guess they weren’t too fond of outsiders.

Spooky.

Still, I wasn’t going to go poking my nose where it didn’t seem to be wanted. After seeing the Reef off, I’d retreated back to the guest hall and settled down by the smokeless, but still warm fire. Fade was dozing next me as well, horned head resting on his paws.

Now that we had a moment’s rest, it was time to do something I’d been putting off. I could consolidate the gains I’d from all the fighting on Caer Drarrow now that I wasn’t worried about pursuit by the Loyalists.

I called up my Status with Hidden Amidst the Spheres.

Hah, like I’d thought. I’d gotten quite a bit out of all the fighting that had gone down back at the prison. Not…quite as much as I would have thought, but still at least six levels. I’d been noticing for a while now that my leveling seemed to be slowing down a bit. I guess that made sense, though. Even with all of my advantages, I couldn’t expect to just continue shooting up in levels all the damn time. I still found it a bit morbid that I was gaining Status Aether from killing other people, but Vereden was harsh enough that I had to take advantage of whatever I could get ahead.

Not that I intended to start going on some kind of murder spree!

Oh, whatever.

I’m guessing that ‘Grinding Crimson Slash’ was the skill that I had stolen from the knight I had dueled before rescuing Honoka. The name was kind of…telling, as to its purpose. But what I’d gotten suited me just fine, actually! I needed a direct melee striking Skill in my repertoire.

I selected yes and braced myself. Last time I had gotten a regular class ability, it had been Ringed Mind. As much as I had grown used to the Skill, it had been damn jarring when I'd first acquired it.

Ugh, vague descriptions strike again. Still, that sounded promising enough to me. It was another activated Skill, and seemed like it could fit in with my repertoire…depending on what it actually did. I had two thoughts about what that description could mean. Either it meant I could teleport and attack and from shadows, which would be amazing. Or it meant that I could manifest some kind of attack from a shadow to attack people. That would be good too. Honestly, I didn’t know which one I’d prefer. I could see uses for both.

Wait.

Why was I just sitting around and speculating, when I could just try it out? I wasn’t going to do it inside the guest hall, though. This place was packed full of not only other people, but children as well. They seemed to be setting in alright, despite their recent traumatic experiences. Several of them seemed to be in a much better mood than they had been on the ship. Hell, I could even see a few groups of them playing in the flickering light of the hall.

I stood up from the fire, catching the attention of Grey sitting not too far from me. He raised an eyebrow my way, over the book he had brought from the Reef.

I shrugged at him. “I’m just going to step outside and try out a new Skill real quick.”

“Ah,” Grey said, understanding. “Well, try not to wander. We agreed to say with the grounds of the guest hall.”

I nodded to show my understanding and wandered my way over to the exit door. Stepping out in the night air, I was struck by a wave of hot, humid air. Over the tops of the trees, I could see the silvery form of Vereden’s moon, Elys, sitting full and bright in the sky. Around me, insects chirped and the distant calls of animals and perhaps monsters echoed into the distance.

Yet, I still didn’t see anyone else out and about.

Despite the heat and oddly empty nature of the village, I found myself smiling. Yeah, this wasn’t too bad. After a moment, I shook it off. I had something I wanted to do.

Looking around, I sighted a particularly deep shadow, cast from one of the…treehouses. Stretching a hand in that direction, I called for my new skill.

Shadow Thorn.

I didn’t instantly teleport to the shadow like I was half hoping. Instead, I felt a sense of awareness arise from it. I could almost feel something writhing inside. I called on it, directing it to climb out into the night air.

The shadow thickened, almost appearing to be a splotch of crude oil. Slowly, a familiar-looking crimson thorn crawled out of the inky splotch, attached to a very familiar thorny vine. It reared up like a snake, undulating in place.

I titled my head in thought and then nodded. Yeah, I could see a use for this.

I was startled out of my experimentation by an aged voice speaking up to my left. I jumped, losing concentration on my new skill. The thorn and vine slid back into the shadow and disappeared.

“I’d like to ask that you not use any combat Skills within our walls, young man,” I heard. Turning to face the voice, I saw that it was someone I hadn’t been expecting.

The Elder from earlier.

He was smoking a wooden pipe through a small hole in his mask, and looking at me contemplatively. After a moment, he tapped his pipe on the wall of the guest hall and snuffed it. “Still, this gives me a chance to speak to you. I was quite surprised at your appearance earlier, young man.”

“After all, it’s not every day you meet a Precursor.”