5. Late Stage Icebreaker

The rest of the day is fairly uneventful. We stop for lunch a bit after our bear encounter, and pick some more plants for the rest of the day. Supposedly we should be good to head back midday tomorrow, but first Bridget wants to sleep out here for the night. I guess a lot of clients might want to do that so it’s good practice, but it feels a bit unnecessary. Maybe I’m just weird, everyone else seems to enjoy sleeping a lot more than me. Well whatever, I’ll keep watch for the night.

I guess this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone else sleep. Maybe I’m doing something wrong whenever I sleep ... usually I just lie there with my eyes closed, but her breathing definitely slowed down. Well people tend to find it rude if I interrupt them while they’re sleeping, so I’ll have to remember to ask her about it later. It’d be nice to figure out, nights are usually so incredibly boring, and anything to make them pass faster would be helpful. Still for now I try to pass time like I usually do, mentally designing new illusions. Since she’s next to me I can’t even try out a few visuals without risking bothering her, but I can make do, otherwise I wouldn’t sleep at all.

Bridget eventually gets up and looks around. “Ugh, what time is it?”

I shrug. “Eight AM or something similar? My internal clock isn’t great, but it got a bit lighter out a few minutes ago.”

She gives me a look I can’t quite read. “How long have you been up? I thought you went to sleep after me.”

I think about it, I didn’t feel like sleeping the last two days dealing with all this chaos, and the night before that I don’t think I bothered, but I think I slept the night before that. It was incredibly boring, but Alex seemed to think I looked tired, so I figured I should see if sleeping would help. “I’ve been up for three days, give or take. I guess it would be closer to three and a half days if you include last night.”

She stares at me for a good few seconds. “Are you … tired?”

I raise an eyebrow at that. “Am I seeming tired again? I can sleep once I get back if it would help.”

She gives me another confused look. “I … this might be a stupid question, but are you certain you aren’t a Light Mage? If you have life magic I could understand skipping out on sleep like that.”

I … beyond everything else wrong with that statement, I’d have to use magic intentionally if I wanted to do something with it. “I’m … very sure? I had my magic tested by the church, and I have absolutely no affinity for Light Magic, beyond that I’ve tried exercises on my own to channel Light Magic and none of them worked. Also If I’d been using Light Magic like you’re suggesting I’d know it. I can’t just use magic accidentally.”

Her facial expression stays exactly as confused as before. “I … you are remarkably lucid if you’ve been awake for the last three days and change. Is it just stress? You can take a rest if you want, I’m not going to judge you for getting some rest in while on a job, and I can wake you if something goes wrong.”

I’m … more than a bit lost. I’m getting the distinct impression that we’re talking past each other to some degree. “I mean, I can take a rest if you want me to, but I’m fine skipping them. Sleep is kind of boring isn’t it?”

She definitely looks as lost as I feel. “How about you try it? Just take a short nap and you’ll probably feel better.”

I shrug. “How about I take a nap for about an hour, and when I don’t feel better we’ll figure out what the miscommunication is?”

“Sure, you do that, and if you want to sleep for longer I won’t stop you.”

Great, I’ll waste an hour on this. Even if I somehow felt like sleeping again I’d much rather be in my bed rather than lying on the lumpy ground. Well, no reason to be picky now. I lie down and immediately feel the aforementioned lumpiness dig into my back. Ugh. I go to sleep, that is to say close my eyes and start thinking of something else, mostly visualizing how a being of darkness might look peeking out of the dim lights of some near abandoned moonlit back alley.

After I think an hour has passed I open my eyes. Bridget’s staring at me, although I guess I’m not all that surprised. She seems a bit startled seeing me staring back at her, so maybe I got the time wrong. “Sorry, was that not an hour? My internal clock isn’t all that good.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

She’s still clearly a bit dumbfounded. “I … are you sure you were actually asleep? You didn’t just lie there with your eyes closed or something?”

Well now I’m confused … at least that’s almost certainly the source of the miscommunication. “What’s the difference?”

She just stares at me for a few seconds before shaking her head. “Do you want to discuss this while working? I’m getting the distinct impression that this is going to take a while, and I’d like to avoid keeping you stuck in this forest an extra day because of whatever this is.”

I stand up and brush the dirt off my back. “Sure, I am a bit curious as to the answer to that question though. That’s how I’ve always slept, is there a better way?”

She starts walking into the forest and I follow. “I mean this as politely as possible, but I’m at this point completely unconvinced you know what ‘sleep’ means. In your life, have you ever gone completely unconscious while sleeping? Like you start ‘sleeping’ then time seems to suddenly jump forward and it’s suddenly morning?”

Unfortunately no, I’ve never figured out why people find sleep makes time pass faster, it’s just not amusing enough for me I guess. “No, I never got the hang of that honestly, at least for as long as I can remember.”

She pauses for a second before sighing. “Ok, so no. You’ve never actually slept before. That’s magic. I have no idea how magic’s involved if you’re not using it, but there’s clearly something magical going on. Did you get blessed at some point? Cursed even? It would be a pretty terrible curse, but it would also be pretty weird to bless someone without telling them what it does.”

I … what? “Ok … I’m not sure I’m fully onboard with your explanation, but in a practical sense I don’t remember anything that could be either of them, when I was younger someone could’ve slipped something in while I was being checked for Light Magic, but that would have to be a random unexplained blessing. Obviously something could have happened when I was too young to remember it though.” It goes unsaid that I don’t have anyone I could ask about my childhood either, the guild took me in when I was a kid, and never found my parents even though someone had apparently been taking care of me.

“So … maybe you got a blessing when you were too young to remember. It’d be a pretty weird blessing to just throw on someone, but I can see the utility. You get eight or so extra hours of time every day.”

That’s … I don’t know what to think about that. It would admittedly explain why everyone else seems to sleep more often than I do, but … it’s so random. Who would bless a random child? “I … ok? Sorry, I don’t really know how to respond to that. Why would that even happen?”

She spots a burn root and starts digging it up. “No idea, none of it makes all that much sense honestly ... it’d be an interesting thing to investigate though. Oh sorry, that’s probably a bit insensitive.”

I shrug even though she can’t see me from the direction she’s looking. “Eh, I don’t have any memories of my parents, curiosity’s really all that I've got left regarding them. The problem is that I wasn’t exactly found in a random city, my guild found me in the middle of the wilds while they were chasing something else, and I don’t have the skill set to hike out into the deep wilds on what could very easily be a wild goose chase.”

I can’t see her face from this angle, but based on the pause she’s definitely thinking about something before she responds. “Hmm. I know enough people with the right skills, but I can’t really afford to hire them all for something like this. Still, if you ever end up with a ton of disposable income I can rustle up a few reliable people.”

Where did THIS come from? I feel like I’m learning a lot more about Bridget from this trip than I expected. “It’s not a particularly pressing priority to be honest. I think you’re more attached to it than I am at this point.”

She finishes yanking the burn root she was going for out of the ground. “It’s fascinating. Plus I have an idea for you that happens to align with you meeting those people.”

Huh? Why has everything related to this trip been so ominous? First one of her friends accosted me outside her shop, now she’s casually throwing around the phrase ‘I have an idea for you’. “That’s … ominous. I don’t suppose you’d care to explain any plans you’re devising for me?”

She turns back towards me with a mischievous smile on her face. “Now what would be the fun in that?” She studies my face for a second before continuing. “Oh relax, I meant you should get to know a few people outside your guild. Just because the people in your guild mostly take church missions doesn’t mean every guild does, and for other types of missions your skills are far more ideal. Hopefully I’ve at least demonstrated that much about your abilities.”

I pause for a few seconds. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s really not wrong. I’d really rather work with my own guild, pay them back for saving me all those years ago … but if I want to actually pay them for housing ... “You’re right. I’ll at least try it.”

She sets a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll set something up after we get back, trust me you’ll do great with the right support.”

“Well … I hope you’re right.”