FatElf

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Finding Biscuit wasn’t hard. Jenny moved back to the entrance from the orchard and from there to the berries.

Biscuit lay sprawled on the ground, paws up and twitching, belly distended to an absurd amount. The rabbit’s mouth, neck, and even ears were stained with berry goop. Around the critter were half-eaten berries and still whole clusters of uneaten ones.

“Biscuit?”

The paws twitched, and the ears moved, but the only response was a low, pained groan.

Jenny studied the rabbit. She looked at the berries and stains, remembered the parchment, and Biscuit’s characteristics. She also remembered that Biscuit had only one magic point out of eighteen. She picked up her pet, and Biscuit twitched some more, eyes half open but not really there.

Jenny shook her head; rest today and start tomorrow with the language problem. She moved back to the orchard, deciding there was as good a place as any to camp. Once there, she took the blanket from the bag, placed it on the ground, and sat atop it. She put the rabbit on her lap and seized the chance to deliver her apology through ear scritches.

In what followed, Jenny cast her mind back to the previous day, from meeting Ferdinand to the contract and the escape. Like her mother had taught, Jenny imagined herself in an empty room. Gradually, the room filled with mists, and from them, she reconstructed the scenes from her mind, casting herself as someone else. Jenny observed from outside, like watching a theater play.

Now distant from it, Jenny watched again the meeting with Ferdinand. Memory-Jenny’s checking out the man and the small, surprised smile at his appearance. He was beautiful in a way she had hardly seen in other men. Jenny watched while the two talked, the small gestures, the subtle body language shift, how the man led Memory-Jenny around. She saw the moment Memory-Jenny decided that marrying wouldn’t be the torture she imagined it would be.

Jenny shifted her mind’s eye to the man. The eager anticipation in his posture. How he kept glancing at her breasts, waist, and face. Jenny shook her head. How had she not seen it at the time? The smirk, the pointed jokes. It should have triggered all alarm bells in her head.

The image dissolved, and another formed in its place. In this one, Memory-Jenny was already wounded and waiting for death. Jenny saw the white-haired girl get up and re-settle the broken bone, something Jenny didn’t think herself could do. Then, the spells and the magic contract. The knowledge came quickly. The girl, or Biscuit, tried to heal Jenny and failed. The contract probably was a last resort attempt.

Jenny unmade the images and recreated the moment the girl appeared in the foyer. The scrunched nose, the detail caught Jenny’s attention. Biscuit sneezed in the lord’s office. She looked like she was smelling something terrible in the foyer; she sneezed again at the forge. Jenny went back to the girl, and the wide eyes of recognition when she saw Ferdinand. She knew who he was, which shouldn’t be possible. Biscuit was less than two months old, and Ferdinand hadn’t visited these lands for years unless he lied in the letters, which was a possibility. She made another note.

Lastly, Jenny recreated the shed, the man who wanted to capture her for money, the bolt, and the pained screams. Memory-Jenny had followed all the advice from her father. Aim for center mass, pull the lever as you breathe out, and don’t look at where you want to hit; look at where you’ll hit.

The bolt had hit the man on the shoulder. A small sigh of relief escaped Jenny. It was a painful injury but not immediately fatal. She wouldn’t mourn the man’s death if it happened, but she also didn’t want to kill for no reason. Greediness wasn’t that heavy of a sin on its own.

The image evaporated into mist. Jenny considered reviewing the training with the rusted armor but gave up on that. It was too recent of a memory. Instead, she returned to that day, ten years ago, when she first met Gizelda. It was her most cherished memory. Jenny had lost count of how many times she re-watched that day.

Yuki groaned, half in pleasure, half in pain. The fingers trailing her ears were divine, but her stomach ached intensely. She had eaten as many berries as she could. She was at eleven magic points, and with the daily regen, she’d be at thirteen, a safe enough amount of power. She opened her eyes and glanced at the provider of heaveness and owner of the divine fingers.

Jenny’s eyes were unfocused and dilated. The woman had that same skewed, not right smile on her face.

Yuki closed her eyes. Nope, nope, she didn’t see anything. Not a thing. She was just going to sleep this one out, enjoy the fingers, and not think anything else. Sleep didn’t come easy, but it arrived at some point.

Yuki woke up warm and safe. She opened her eyes and took stock of the situation.

Jenny was still asleep. The girl lay down on the blanket and hugged Yuki like a plushie. That was fair; Yuki would have done the same, her fur was top-notch. A slew of notifications blinked in the corner of her eyes. She willed them to show up.

Your familiar used a new Advanced Skill.

Proficiency detected, calibrating rate.

Advanced Skill [Memory Manipulation] set to rate 76.

Advanced Skill [Memory Manipulation] is above the first threshold.

Check Advanced Skill to select a suitable perk.

Perk? Perk, as in those ultra-powerful special abilities that are more like magic than magic itself? This system had perks. Why didn’t Yuki have any?

Jenny mumbled something in her sleep, then turned around, hugging Yuki even closer.

Yuki stopped and then thought about the previous days and everything that had happened. Yeah, there was no need to hurry things up. She and Jenny deserved a break. She closed her eyes, snuggled closer, and went back to sleep. She needed Jenny anyway to check the girls’ status page.  

FatElf

Hope you all had a good weekened.

Regret to inform that not many bugs were squashed during my weekend time, my fellow citizen bailed out after their first mission.

 

Thank you for reading. Next chapter tomorrow!