Hope woke early the next morning, bringing her nose up from the bedroll and taking in the smell of hickory with a mix of spices and a hint of cinnamon. She followed the smell out into the main room where Raythor was cooking at the kitchen. Ryder sat at the dining table, reading through a tome with a focused gaze before he noticed Hope and said, "She's awoken! Maybe this time she won't eat herself into a coma?" She yawned and walked over to the counter where Raythor was busy cooking. 

"Go on, take a seat. It'll be done right quick, just need to make sure the meat's cooked well enough," He explained. She took a seat next to Ryder and stared into the familiar tome he was reading. "This is the healing tome from yesterday. No matter how hard I try, I can't pick up on it as easily as you did. Your taking to magic so easily is something I've only ever heard of..." He explained. Hope stared blankly for a moment before asking, "Ryder jealous?" Ryder's expression dropped as he admitted, "Yes... Ryder jealous, Ryder very jealous."

Raythor laid out three plates full of eggs, meats, and glazed cinnamon rolls. "You've outdone yourself again, Thor. If it weren't for how often we have to head out, we'd be the same size as each other with a fraction of the muscle," Ryder complimented. "Hope began to eat the moment the plate was sat down. "Careful ya don't hurt yerself again, girl," Raythor told her. She began to slow her eating to a normal pace. "That should do it," Said Ryder.

Raythor grabbed a wooden flagon and poured himself a cup of mead. "Hope drink too?" She asked. Raythor laughed and said, "Yer talkin' better by the day! I suppose I could share somma my own." He then poured her a cup before pushing the flagon ever to her." Ryder asked, "You... sure that's a good idea?"

Before he could reply, Hope finished off the mead, and pushed the flagon over and asked, "More?" Raythor replied, "That'd be 'more please' if ya wanna keep from pissin' off the wrong people in the future." She then asked again, "More... please?" Raythor filled her cup once again and pushed the flagon over to her. Ryder sighed as he watched with a smile as she drank flagon after flagon. 

After she managed to take down nine filled flagons, they watched as she continued as they felt buzzed after half of what she had. "Ya know, this one surprises me at every turn, I swear. She's not even a bit wobbly!" Ryder said with surprise, and a slight slur.

Raythor laughed as he gave her a tall jug filled with the honeyed mead, and she began to drink it without question. Ryder and Raythor laughed as they watched her down every last drop. "Goodness, what is this woman made out of? She's out-drinking you!" Ryder laughed before adding, "Hey, you think she'd be any good at a game of horseshoe? It's the easiest game we have." Raythor laughed and attempted to stand her up, saying, "Let's find out!"

She wobbled to her feet and followed them out into the backyard. "The fact she can even stand after taking down two jugful's of that mead is absolutely staggering," Ryder stated. Raythor brought her to the horseshoe pit and began to explain, ""Alright now, ya grab this bad boy and throw it at that there stick in the ground across the way, like this." He tossed the horseshoe and managed to land it perfectly his first toss. 

Hope grabbed a shoe and stumbled for a second before managing to hold herself still. She then tossed the horseshoe and landed her throw just as perfectly. Ryder laughed and asked, "That was perfect! You ever throw a horseshoe before?" Hope stumbled again for a moment and said, "Uh uh..." While shaking her head.

"At this point, I'm startn' to think she's just good at everything she does, besides talkin' of course," Raythor said. Ryder took his turn and tossed the shoe. The shoe spun on the stick before it landed a few inches away. "Damnit!" He let out.

They continued to play as they realized she hadn't missed a single throw the entire game. Raythor asked, "Aye, she's damn good at throwin shit, go grab me my throwin' knives would ya?" Ryder replied with a shocked expression, "You're going to let her use your throwing knives?! Fine, but I'm grabbing a shield too..." Before he went off into the house and coming back shortly after with a strap laden with damascus steel throwing knives and a tower shield.

They all walked over to a small field where several training dummies and archery targets were scattered about. Raythor began to explain, "Alright, look. You wanna grab the tip of the blade like this, and when you throw yer gonna wanna flick yer wrist the moment before ya let go, like this." He then threw the knife with expertise, landing the knife dead center of a training dummy head. "Here, your turn."

She took a knife from the strap, and followed his instructions. She threw the blade with such intensity that when it landed, they failed to see where the blade hit. "She miss or something?" Ryder asked as he peeked out from behind his shield. "I ain't too sure, let's go take a look.

Once they reached the dummy, they failed to see both of the knives anymore. "The fuck the other one I threw go?!" Raythor asked. "My Lord, there, look!" Ryder pointed at a tree not too far away. In the trunk, one knife was embedded in the wood, the other was lodged into the wooden handle of the other. "I ain't not never seen nunn like that in my life..." Raythor said in awe. Ryder replied, "If she starts to talk as bad as you, we're all doomed..."

Hope asked, "That a good throw?" Raythor replied, "Yeah kiddo, that was the best throw I'd ever seen before." Ryder pointed out, "Look, she's not even stumbling anymore. Is she sober already?! It's been like fifteen minutes!"

"Ya know, I'm gonna need more honey and cherries for my mead, maybe we could head to the market later, maybe stop by the blacksmith and pick er up somthin' nice now that we got a bit of coin. Myabe even head out tomorrow and go pokin' round the old temple again. She were wearin' some mort armor so I'm assumin' she done fucked some of em up."

"Not a bad idea, I might stop by the saloon and grab some dinner, we've been cooking so much lately, wouldn't hurt to get something for once," Ryder suggested. Raythor agreed, "Not a bad idea, I like me some cookin' but that Sadie can sure make a good meal once in a while." Ryder replied, "I cut some gemstones too, so maybe we could walk out with a little more coin than last time."

Hope asked, "Hope get more smell good soap?" Raythor replied, "Yeah, we can getcha some more soap." 

The three played some more games, and talked with Hope for a while, teaching her how to better speak some success, but not a lot. They helped her put together a decent belt and bag, filled with the essentials. They learned that she understands many words, but she had a hard time forming structured sentences.

"Maybe we could head down to the river, see if she knows how to fish decent?" Raythor asked. Ryder agreed, "Sounds good to me, we could use some more food in the bins, maybe smoke some in the shack depending on how many we catch." Raythor looked down at Hope and asked, "What's aboutcha? Ya ever fish before?" She looked back up at him with a blank expression, "Fish... fish..?" Ryder commented, "I... will take that as a solid no."

They packed up, and Raythor grabbed a few fishing rods while Ryder filled a small bag with some of his 'arcane' tools. Once they were ready, Raythor lead the way down to a small. As they walked, Ryder and Raythor watched as hope removed her shoulder-pad and fasten a section of the throwing knife strap to it without a problem. 

"She's got as much brains as she doesn't, and I have no idea what the fuck that means," Ryder said to Raythor quietly. "I getcha. I don't know what happened to er, but with how skilled she seems when it comes to scrappin', it musta been a shit show," he replied.

They continued down a ridgeline path through a grassy field, the sun hidden behind grey skies as the wind swept the land with a cool breeze. "If its this cold now, I can only imagine what the hell this winter's going to be like," Ryder stated as he looked at the clouds as they whipped by, a slight sprinkle falling over the land.

"Well whatever it gon' be like, we can take it. So long's the rain don't turn to fire," Raythor replied as they approached the river's edge. Raythor set up the poles and tackle while Ryder cast a bright green spell that resembled fireflies that descended into the water that caused the fish to become active at the surface. 

Hope walked walked and crouched down at the shore, staring at the few fish that began to swirl about. "Fff... fish..?" Hope asked. Ryder confirmed, "Yup, those are fish. A lot less seem to pop up every time we head out, and we only take what we need. I think whatever's been happening with the weather has something to do with it..." Raythor added, "Then lets start, an not go to hard, leave some for the future."

Raythor crouched down to hope and began to explain, "Alright now, I done everything else for now, so alls ya gotta do is this bloodwyrm on the hook. You can use pretty much any bug or meat or whatever the like to catch ya some fish. Once ya got yer hook baited, just cast yer line out like so and wait for the line to start tuggin' back. When that happens, yank back the pole, not too hard though, then start to bring yer line in. Ya understand?"

Hope looked up at him and said, "Mhm!" He looked back at her and said, "Nahnahnah, gimme some words now. Gotta get you speakin' sooner or later. She looked at him blankly for a moment before letting out what she could, "Ye... yeee... yup!" He laughed for a moment before he said, "There ya go! Gotta do that more often, maybe a little less stutterin'."

They all cast their rods and began to fish, not getting many bites for a while as Ryder cast the same spell from earlier occasionally. After a while, Hope managed to hook into a fish and followed Raythors instructions from earlier, bringing the fish to the shoreline.

"A decent sized trout there, one of these days I might take some back and keep the in some water just to get a better look at them, maybe figure out what's going on. Normally we'd have a full bucket by now..." Ryder explained. Raythor replied, "Yeah, maybe only catch a couple more and call it in. Ain't worth the time only catchin' just a fish or two."

Hope looked at the fish as it tried to escape her grasp and asked, "Fish? fish food?" Ryder replied, "Yes, fish is food. We try to make sure there's still some left for the future, but it looks like they've either slowed down, or stopped reproducing altogether." She smiled before continuing to fish for a while. They all only caught a few fish each, only keeping a few of the largest fish they could.

A few hours later they packed up and brought their catch back to the cabin. After they packed everything in, Raythor prepped a counter and began cleaning the fish as hope watched closely. Ryder made his way out of the back door, saying, "I'll get the smoke shed ready, don't hurt yourselves now..."

Raythor dismissed his words and showed hope how to clean the fish they caught, "Alright, when you start cleanin' yer fish, ya wanna take the scales of like this. Ain't good on the tongue, them scales. After ya got the scales taken care of, ya wanna take yer knife, and start cuttin' under the little fin behind the gills. Ya understandin?" She looked up with a smile and said, "Yup, understandin'!" Raythor laughed and said, "That's the spirit, we'll get ya talkin' right in no time. Hopefully."

After he finished the first fish, he had Hope try her own. She followed his instructions closely, and cleaned the fish without a problem. Raythor began to clean up as Ryder walked in. "Hey, you wanna teach er how to use the smoke shack?" Raythor asked. Ryder replied, "Alright then, C'mon, Hope." She followed Ryder after grabbing the fillets.

Once at the shack, Ryder grabbed a small, sealed bowl on a table next to the door and opened it, the cool breeze sent a sweet smell swirling about. "This stuff here is called manaberry paste, it helps preserve any meat we smoke, and it loosed that sweetness you smell right now. If you like the sweetness, just use it shortly before you pull any meat out of the shack. Thor likes his sweets, and I know you do too after you drank our entire barrel of mead. So we're gonna cover half in the paste, I'll let you do that, it's not too hard. Understand?" Ryder explained. Hope looked up and replied, "Yup, understandin!"

"Aaand it's begun, great," Ryder said under his breath before taking her into the shack after she covered half of the fish with the paste. "Alright, now with fish, we like to smoke it a bit faster than most things, so we just toss them on the grates here. Most other meats we follow the same routine we just did, but with other things, we set them up on the hooks above our head to smoke for longer," he explained. After she followed his instructions and set the meat out on a rack, he used a spell to clean both of their hands.

When he cleaned off her second hand, he asked, "You seem to understand exactly what we're saying, but how come you cant form the words yourself?" She stared at him blankly before trying to speak, "I... I- I...don- don't-" He finished her sentence for her, "You don't know?" Hope replied with a stressed expression, "Mhm, I don't know..."

He took a step back and said, "I'm going to do something real quick. Don't worry, you'll be fine, I just want to test and see if maybe, just maybe, you are cursed." He then held up his right hand while flattening his palm and touching his pointer and thumb together. He whispered an incantation, "Marahk Akham!" Before a blue light emitted from his hand and swirled around her. The blue light faded into a bright gold before the darkness sunk to the floor.

His eyes widened as he kept his arm extended for a moment, "That's... there's no... no way..." Hope asked, "I'm cursed?" Ryder lowered his arm and replied, "No, nonono, quite the opposite... I think? We should take you to a friend of mine tomorrow, she lives a day's hike away on foot so it'd be too late to head out now. If the light fades to white, you are fine. If it fades to black, your soul is cursed. If it fades to red, you are a deadra. If it fades to gold, you are a divine, but..."

Hope pointed at herself, "I'm divine?" Ryder replied, trying to remember something, "I- I think so, I never thought I'd use that spell so I want to take you to my friend when we can. She'll know for sure. For now let's just head back in, Raythor probably want's to head to the saloon soon." She followed him back into the cabin, Raythor had just finished cleaning up the counters and had a small sack of coin sat out on the table. "So, you two ready?" He asked. Hope replied, "To the saloon?" Raythor replied with a shocked expression, "Now don't mind me if I'm still fucked up from the mead earlier, but it almost sounded like she done spoke another full sentence." 

Ryder replied, "She's getting better, that's for sure. She'll be speaking somewhat coherently in time." They gathered a few things, including the coin, before heading out. The skies even darker with the setting sun, and the wind even cooler. As they walked, Ryder began, "Something happened in the shack, and I want to bring her to Sakura tomorrow." Raythor looked at him in confusion and asked, "The fuck happen to make you walk all the way out there?! She ain't touch yer manly bits now did she?" Ryder sighed and replied, "No, she didn't touch my fucking 'manly bits.' I cast a spell to see if she was cursed, but it turns out she might have something a lot different going on. The light shone gold, gold! If I remember correctly, that means she's a divine!"

Raythor thought for a moment, "Huh... divine. You mean like the Gods?" Ryder replied, "Exactly! But how could she be a God in her state?! Maybe she's some other form of divine? Maybe a thrall of a divine? I don't know, that's why I wanna take her to Sakura." Raythor looked ahead with the same confused expression, "Yeah... might just have to look into it..." They continued to walk for a while as the skies grew darker, the cool wind never letting up as it swirled through the trees and over the fields. The path cut through a large field and into a wood-line. 

The trees that stretched over them, smothering what light there was even more so as they became more and more dense. The hoo's of the owls began to echo through the forest as they walked further. Only a few lanterns lit the way, not casting much light.