Chapter 465: Friends come, friends go

I’d made the connection, and I was starting to feel out of place. Artemis, Julius, and Night all had their own relationship with each other, independent of me. I’d gotten them all chatting again, things seemed to be going smoothly.

I made a brilliant excuse to deftly leave in a smooth way.

“Hang on, I think my phoenix is on fire.”

With that, I deftly slipped out, and returned home.

I settled into a pair of cozy chairs in front of a small fire with Iona and the rest of the Eventide Eclipse. Nina was included as a member, and Fenrir was shrunk down. Auri’s new favorite seat was inside the crackling flames, the tiny traitor. We’d just eaten with Artemis and Julius, so we simply had tea.

Hot chocolate was on my desire list, and I’d be planting more mangos come the spring.

A cozy place, a cozy moment, belying the topic of conversation. War and violence.

I spun a [Parallel Thought] off to start pondering. How many wars had been decided by Classers sitting comfortably by the fire, spending thousands of lives in a single sentence? That wasn’t what we were doing here, but the power, impact, and topic were similar enough to give it some thought.

“Brrpt!” Auri thanked me for my hard work getting her levels. Which reminded me that she’d gotten me a few levels.

“And thank you for your hard work getting me levels!” I cheerfully told the little pyro. Auri puffed up in pleasure.

Iona flicked a piece of jerky at Fenrir, who snapped it out of the air. Fenrir then curled up at her feet, making a small Ice wall between him and the fire. The two didn’t say anything to each other, but even I could tell they were recognizing each other’s efforts in a similar way. Nina looked interested.

“What’s the deal with animals?” She asked.

Iona and I communicated with a look. The Valkyrie wanted to handle it herself, given the way Valkyries and companions interacted.

“I’ll explain while we’re on the road. I want to spend a week gathering supplies and gearing up, then we’re heading out on our first round.”

Nina jumped up with joy.

“We’re going!?” She shouted.

Fenrir lifted his head and glared at Nina.

“Indoor voice.” I complained.

“BRRPT!” Auri shrieked in protest, having just realized that Nina had been calling her an ‘animal’. I petted her with a finger.

“She wasn’t trying to be mean.” I quietly tried to sooth Auri. “Biologically, we’re all animals.”

Now Auri was giving me the stink eye.

“Yes.” Iona replied to Nina’s question, possibly saving me from Auri trying to see if she could beat my Fire immunity. “The timing of Dawn’s last mission was poor, to say the least, but generally you’ll be coming along on everything we do. Given the scale of issues we’re likely to handle, we need levels on you sooner rather than later, and there’s no real substitute for just doing it. You’ve got enough fundamentals, and all of our bases are settled enough, that it’s worth building on now.”

I jumped in.

“Iona, worth noting that Arachne has something for the entire Sixth Legion in the spring. We’re all going to the Han Empire. I know we discussed going there after the School, there’s rumors of Valkyries being there, and if Nina’s got a few levels under her belt, this seems like an excellent opportunity for us? Think you can be back before we leave? It’s still a few months of training Nina, then it gets you into one of the best places for the Dusk Valkyrie to be… I think.”

Iona clicked her tongue.

“Maybe.” She stressed. “You’re right in almost every way. Historically, Valkyries haven’t attached themselves to armies, even when we believe in a conflict. Armies tend to misbehave, and we generally find ourselves needing to take corrective action.”

I winced at the loaded words. Iona was right. It would be far too much to expect the 4,000+ soldiers and all the attached support to always act in a way that she’d approve of, nevermind what orders might need to be given.

“Yeah, totally reasonable. Still, interested in being in the vague area? I’m sure there are enough problems to fight and injustices to correct without needing to directly butt heads with the Legion. That, and I’d like to think I’ve got some sway to correct problems without a throwdown being needed.”

Iona stared into the flickering flames for a few minutes, the rest of us letting her think. Well, Auri and Fenrir started to play some sort of game on his Ice wall, but the rest of us were silent.

“I’ll need to think on it more.” Iona said. “The premise is solid. I can’t point to any one thing and say ‘this is a problem’, but my instincts are screaming at me that it’s a bad idea. You’re right that we wanted to go to the Han Empire before deciding to come to Exterreri. Do you think you’ll have issues with [Oath]?”

I nodded.

“Fuck yes, [Oath] is going to cause me problems. But like. What’s the point in sitting safe and comfortable at home when others are suffering, just because it’ll cause me trouble? I don’t plan on spending my life avoiding the conflicts where I can do the most good. This lets me figure things out now. I should probably have some long talks with Night before we go.”

Night had been instrumental in helping me shape and work out how my [Oath] applied back in Ranger Academy. Long nights of slowly walking around the island, discussing the skill and its usage. What my beliefs were, the philosophy behind it and the various applications.

We’d discussed Ranger Teams against hostile people, of course, and minor rebellions were a thing. I’d even participated with Destruction in quelling one.

However, we’d never handled large-scale warfare like this. It had been almost inconceivable. Humanity had been on the brink against the Formorians. We just didn’t have big wars against other people. Closest similarity were larger goblin tribes occasionally rattling their spears, and that was a clean-cut problem.

Ish.

Mostly.

Sorta.

“Well, no pressure from me. I’d love you three to be around. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. Just know there’s always a safe spot for you near me, no matter if I have to fight my own Legion or not.” I said.

“Let’s not fight a Legion.” Nina piped up. “That sounds like a bad idea.”

We laughed at that, and moved onto lighter topics.

“Are you fine with Artemis and Julius crashing here short term, or maybe even long term?” I asked Iona. We built the place with way more space than we ever needed, in anticipation of having lots of guests.

Iona nodded.

“Completely. I know you’d be fine letting some Valkyries crash here, or even the entire Order. Who am I to say no to your friends? It’s our house.”

I grinned at her.

“Yeah, our

house, so I like to get buy-in from everyone.”

We all had things to do, and Iona went to Sanguino with Nina on some excursion or another. I wanted to take a day or two to relax, and I wanted to be home when Artemis and Julius came back.

I noticed Fenrir was digging into the side of the mountain again. Hard, without any proper forelegs. He used a combination of Ice magic, his powerful jaws, and the little hooks on his wings to slowly chip away at the rock.

“What are you up to?” I asked, having an idea but wanting to make conversation. Out of the entire Eventide Eclipse, I felt like my relationship with Fenrir was the weakest of all the bonds, and if I had my way, we’d be together for a long, long time.

I was fairly certain that Fenrir was Immortal, and even if by some tragedy Iona died of old age, Fenrir would still be around. He was tight with Auri, and I struggled to imagine him flying off somewhere else if she died.

“Cave.” He growled. “Home.”

Ahh, made sense.

“Want help?” I asked. “I can chip in myself, or see about getting some [Laborers] to help. Keeps progress going on your cave while you’re off with Iona.”

A Good Idea suddenly came to me. I could totally sprinkle a few gems or pieces of gold in the wall, then wander down to the Adventurer’s Guild and post a quest or something. ‘There’s an old Immortal hideout in my backyard please get rid of it or something’. Have them come, excavate the cave for Fenrir, then leave once it turned out there was no lair.

Quest complete!

…

Although, with my luck, it’d turn out there actually would be an Immortal hideout in my backyard, then they’d plunder it all and I’d be left sad, and Fenrir still wouldn’t have his cave.

Better to do things properly I suppose. Iona would disapprove of my plan.

Fenrir thought about it for a bit, the cogs slowly turning.

“Later.” He growled out. I patted his leg.

“Well, if you need any food, or want me to clear some of the rubble out, just let me know!”

I interpreted a snort as agreement, and left him to it.

Julius and Artemis came back after a few hours, and naturally we got chatting.

“Any idea what you’re going to do?” I asked.

“Nope!” Artemis answered without a care in the world. “Going to take a break, see some sights, goof off for a bit. Have a vacation. Then maybe we’ll find something we like.”

Julius gave me a Look. I tilted my head, and he flashed me a few old Ranger signs.

I flashed a quick response.

“I’m going to borrow Julius for a minute.” I told Artemis.

She waved us off.

“Just remember, he’s not your boss anymore!” She said.

The two of us moved to another room.

“Is this private?” Julius asked.

I figured I had time, and instead of pulling out one of my spellbooks I cast half a dozen privacy wards.

“Now it is!” I made a mental note to get a room permanently enchanted with privacy wards. Why not?

I did know why I wasn’t enchanting everything with them - mana cost, and plain old space to put the enchantments. A topic for another day.

“I’m struggling with what to do.” He said.

“Everything alright with Artemis?” I asked.

He hesitated, then nodded.

“Yes. Mostly. The issue is with me.”

“Your level?” I guessed.

He nodded.

“I took [Ranger-Commander] variants when I got promoted. In both classes. Why not? It was the natural extension of what I’d been doing, it was my job, it was the end of my career. I’d be in the role until I retired. It was perfect for me, in every single way.”

It sounded to me like Julius was justifying his choice to himself once again, rather than trying to convince me.

“It was absolutely the right call with the information you had at the time.” I reassured him. “Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

He nodded.

“Yeah. Problem is…” He spread his arms and looked hopeless.

“It’s a dead end now.” I confirmed. “Basically nothing you do is getting you good experience, and Artemis is massively outstripping you.”

“You understand.” He said. “I can’t keep up with her. I know she’s slowing down, taking on smaller risks for me. But it’s not quite working.”

There was a clear and obvious solution to this.

“Have you talked with her about it?” I asked. “Instead of me?”

“Absolutely. We’re in vague alignment over the problem and the solution. The issue we have is, we can’t find where to implement the solution. Something that works for both of us.”

“Well, maybe you’ll find it here. You’ve got Night in your corner now. If he can’t help you figure something out, nobody in the world can. I’m supposed to have a team, and I’d welcome you and Artemis on it any day of the week. Just let me know.”

Julius cracked a grin, and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you, Elaine. I am eternally grateful to you.”

I patted his hand, remembering the day, long, long ago, that I sang and told tales to Ranger Team 4, the day I changed Julius’s mind and got him to accept me as a tag along.

I grinned.

“Guess I was someone special and important, huh?” I asked, finally finding a moment to use his own words against him.

Julius snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Please, I stand by what I said. Every teenager thinks they’re special and important. I just hope I’m around on the day you make the same realization.”

In a week, with little fanfare, Iona and Nina were ready to leave, planning on traveling to Vollomond. There was the right mix of problems and safety to train a new [Page] on. Iona even privately confided in me that she hoped Nina would hit 32, and be able to get [Squire]! Leveling that fast was bound to come with solid achievements above and beyond being Iona’s squire, but even so, nobody was expecting greatness from the first level 32 class-up.

The two had spent the morning doing some last minute preparation, triple checking that everything was ready. Nina was getting an earful for forgetting tinder, which Iona had managed to catch.

“Lunch!” I handed over two lunches I’d personally cooked, seasoned with love. All of Iona’s favorites, along with a love letter and a risque picture of me. Something to remind her of home while she was out and about.

My only regret was I couldn’t see the look on her face when she found it.

Iona hopped down off the fully armored Fenrir, and strode over.

“Thanks, love! It smells delicious!”

I grabbed her in a hug, enjoying the height difference. Her arms wrapped around me.

“I’ll miss you.” I said, tightening my grip.

She hugged me back, kissing the top of my head.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” She promised.

“You better be!” I said.

We spent a sickeningly long time saying goodbye to each other, neither of us wanting to break the moment but knowing we needed to.

Auri, bless her little heart, finally managed to get us moving along.

“BrrrRRRRRRrrrrrPPPPTTT.” She made a disgusted retching sound, finally killing it.

Iona hopped onto Fenrir in a single superhuman leap, and Artemis and Julius came out to wave them off.

I had to be dramatic. I grabbed a silk and waved it as hard as I could, waving them off as they flew off into the distance.