“OK, thanks,” Sadie said, and lay down to swish the rabbit in the water, much as she had done to wash her hands. Then she brought down the bag, and rinsed that too, before putting the rabbit in it and standing up.
Danielle looked out across the river while Sadie was at it, and when Sadie stood up, she remained staring out at the fish trap, tilting her head to one side, then the other.
“You sure you’re OK?” Sadie said.
“Yeah, but – no way,” Danielle said. “I think there’s actually a fish in the trap already!”
“What?” Sadie gasped excitedly. “You’re kidding!”
“I’m not – Heather! I think you got a fish!” Danielle called. “It might even be two fish? There’s at least one mana source in your trap, possibly two close together.”
“Tell you what,” Sadie said. “You go help chop up the vine monster, and I’ll go help Heather get the fish out of the water.”
“Deal,” Danielle said.
Sadie and Heather armed themselves with pots, pans, and their knives, and carried them carefully across the river, where they commenced trying to catch the fish between the pans and the walls of the fish trap so they could stab it/them. (Danielle still wasn’t entirely sure whether it was one or more, and watching the first minute of their efforts didn’t clear it up.)
Danielle got her socks and boots back on, tucking her damp boot covers into the back of her belt. Then she got her hatchet and joined Akari. They pulled as much root as they could out of the ground, then cut off all the roots at the bulb and wound them up like they had done when collecting forest vines for materials. Akari had already done the same to the green vines, and collected the lengths that had been severed during the fight. Finally, Akari propped the bulb in an angle in the rocks, and chopped it in half. It took several blows, and when she had split it all the way through, it didn’t seem to have much structure to it, though Danielle could see where the woody spring started, down near the center of the bulb. Akari tied up all the pieces with one of the vines, making a reasonably tidy bundle, which she then hung below her pack by the woody spiral. Then the two of them rested and watched Heather and Sadie splashing around the fish trap.
“There’s got to be more than one, right? They’d be done by now if it was just one,” Danielle said.
“If they’ve already done one, where is it?” Akari asked. “I can’t see both pots, but I don’t see anywhere they could’ve put stuff down, either.”
They watched a bit longer, and then they clearly saw Heather stab into the trap with her knife, and Sadie use one of the small “camp fire cookware” frying pans to lift the fish out of the water. They brought up a pot a moment later, and Danielle and Akari could see a fish tail already sticking out of it as they poured the second fish in headfirst, leaving its tail also sticking out.
Danielle looked at her watch. “Well,” she said. “It’s almost 6, so now we actually have a problem. We’ve been here a bit longer than we meant to be already, and if we don’t move, we might actually be getting home in the dark.”
“I don’t think it’s really three whole hours,” Akari said.
“It might be if we’re tired and sore enough,” Danielle said. “And the main point is this: we definitely don’t have time to cook here. Do we even want to spend the time to clean the fish?”
“Better here than the woods right outside the Rooms,” Akari said. “Better in the light than the dark, too. I’ll do one, and you can do the other and learn how it’s done. You’re right, though, we don’t have time to cook. We’ll have to take them home and have Sadie purify them, and cook them there. We might actually want to get out one of those extra camp stoves. I know we can’t be dependent on them forever, but right now I’m seriously afraid to cook outside too much. I saw some people watching us from the balconies yesterday night.”
“Is that why you hid the fire?” Danielle asked, as Sadie and Heather waded back towards them.
“Oh, nah, that was just to put the coals all the way out, and maybe make charcoal,” Akari said. “Supposedly charcoal is wood that starts burning and then loses oxygen but it’s still hot? I’m not positive I’m remembering that right, but anyway, we buried the logs to cut off the oxygen, and either they’ll be charcoal or they’ll just still be charred logs. We’ll check next time we need firewood near the Rooms.”
“OK. Well, let’s go help them up the bank,” Danielle said, and went to return the favor Sadie had done her when she was coming out of the river. Akari took the fish pot and set it back from the edge, then did the same for Heather.
“I got five points per fish, and Heather got 25,” Sadie reported. “We have the same value for our remaining mana to level right now!”
“That’s great! Your reward is, Akari and I will clean the fish,” Danielle said with a grin.
“Hah! Your turn to get educated, huh?” Sadie said.
“Yeah. Then we need to get going, though,” Danielle said. “We’re going over our planned time a bit.”
“Oh – you’re saying we might have to hurry on the hike home,” Sadie said.
“Yeah, and that we’re going to be having a late dinner,” Danielle admitted.
“Let’s get going,” Akari said. “We’ll just dump the fish guts in the river – I think we can agree on not baiting the trap again right now, since we already got our fish for tomorrow out of it?”
“Does that mean we can stay in and rest tomorrow?” Heather asked. “I vote for that.”
“I can live with that,” Danielle said.
Danielle and Akari went back to the rocks, and Danielle got her lesson in gutting. She activated her Focus Skill to help her remember the salient points while not obsessing over the blood and gross, slimy – uncooked meat, she supposed, at least in part. It went on the pile of things to get used to, like it or not. “Soap” went on the list of things to remember to bring next time they came to the fishing spot. The fish heads, tails, and guts went into the river for other fish to deal with, and then everything got washed in the river – fish, hands, knives; but washed poorly, because they hadn’t brought soap. Still, it got the red off of everything and they could wash more thoroughly when they got home.
The fish went into the cats-print bag with the rabbit, which everyone agreed was probably the sort of thing you weren’t supposed to do if you didn’t have someone with the Purify Food Skill; but they did, and they also didn’t have any better place to put it – because they definitely knew that raw fish wasn’t supposed to go with raw tomatoes, and they hadn’t brought a second waterproof bag for meat.
“Add it to the list,” Danielle muttered to herself.
To her surprise, her System responded:
- > List not defined. Do you wish to add a list to your Planner?
Danielle stared at the prompt in shock for a moment, then whispered, “Yes.”
- > Provide List title.
“Title list, Things to Bring Fishing,” Danielle said.
- > Recite new entry for List: Things to Bring Fishing.
“Soap,” Danielle said. “Fish bag. Water bottles. Whetstone. Uh, no more entries for now.”
Danielle was briefly worried about how to exit the list, but fortunately, Planner seemed to understand that “no more entries” was not supposed to go on the list.
“Talking to the System?” Sadie asked.
“Yeah – figuring out how my new Trait works, a little,” Danielle reported. “I’m ready to go, though.”
“That’s good,” Sadie said. “Because I think there’s more clouds coming, and I don’t want to get rained on again if we can avoid it.”
“Me either,” Heather said, “and that’s why I’m holding Danielle to her promise to carry my bag!”
“Oh, right. OK, hand it over,” Danielle said. She put the second satchel across her body in the opposite direction from her own, just as they’d done on Decision Day, then repositioned her quiver strap over it. She suspected she looked a little ridiculous, with the satchel on one side bulging from the pot that didn’t really fit its profile, and the vegetable bag of cherry tomatoes sticking out of its opening, while the satchel on the other side seemed empty; but she felt more balanced, even if that did mean she had two pots banging into her hips now.
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It was a very long walk home, but it didn’t rain on them; instead, as they got into the ruined town and turned south, the western sky lit up red and orange to their right as the setting sun painted the looming clouds with flaming colors below and midnight blue above, against the lighter yet rapidly darkening sky behind them. Danielle wondered if there was a lore Skill for weather prediction. Then she remembered the System could hear her, and decided to get everyone talking about what Skills they’d like to have.
Sadie enthusiastically agreed that a weather Skill would be amazing, but also mentioned wanting more Skills to help her gather materials and make tools for crafting. Heather said she wanted the Skills that disinfected wounds, then went quiet for most of the rest of the conversation. Akari talked about Skills for making maps, but also reminded them that they needed to practice the Skills they had – Akari’s Tracking, Heather’s Find Edible Plants, Sadie’s Find Materials, and everyone’s weapons Skills. Danielle started a new list with her Planner Trait, and noted all the Skills Akari brought up. For herself, besides the weather Skill, Danielle expressed a desire for a water Skill that would let her remove water from her clothing, or perhaps an air Skill that could generate a dry breeze; and of course, she was excited to see if some work on her new mana enhancement Skill would allow her to unlock a whole related Skill tree. What if she could learn to make enhancements like the one that had formed on Heather’s staff? Or what if she could figure out how to enhance a belt to produce a speed effect?
That one was what finally brought Heather back into the conversation, with a very emphatic wish that she could unlock Trait: Speed Improvement. Sadie agreed to that one, too – not just because she was having trouble keeping up with Akari (let alone Danielle, who was walking behind her again on purpose), but also because she had noticed how Danielle moved in the fight.
“I felt like I was barely doing anything,” Sadie said with a frown. “It was stealing our food, and it wasn’t even that I couldn’t hit it, but I couldn’t get a solid enough hit to make a difference; and Danielle was just over there slashing and chopping so fast she was getting in two hits for every one of mine, and every one shook the whole plant. Sword isn’t really my weapon, and I’m sure if we get into long range stuff that’ll be my time to shine. Arrows aren’t right for skinny whippy vines that are right next to my friends. It’s just hard not to be jealous of that speed, though, and the – I’m not sure what, the decisiveness?”
“I guess that impression came from Combat Medic,” Danielle said. “It helped me push through and see where I needed to hit. Plus, it was probably boosting my speed too – I think that’s what Ranger Flo said, that it makes you faster at anything that’s combat-like or medical. So I was stacking speed boosts on top of each other.”
“It was impressive,” Akari said. “I might have to save up for one of those tokens myself.”
“At least you already have the Speed Improvement,” Sadie said. “Yours will level up when you do, and you’ll be caught up to her on Traits, at least.”
“True. At least, if pushing other Traits works like pushing Body. And until she levels it again,” Akari said.
“Hopefully we can keep your levels moving with fish and stuff, and you’ll end up catching up to me for real,” Danielle said. “I can stand back and let you guys have all the killing blows, except when we’re in a serious fight like this afternoon, and even then you’ll all have your moments, like how Heather almost got the plant-thing.”
“The plant-thing almost got you,” Heather said. “With its vine around your neck and all.”
“Hey, I got my arm up in time!” Danielle protested. “I’m glad I saw it before it could properly ambush Akari, though. And I’m really glad we were all there to keep it distracted, so it couldn’t whip me with all its vines.”
“Me too,” Akari said; and Sadie echoed, “Yeah, me too.”
They fell quiet after that, partly because of the subject and partly because they were reaching their usual spot to slip into the woods. As they approached the part closest to the buildings, Danielle said, “Hey, don’t panic, I’m going to try out my Class Skill that makes a bubble of silence. I don’t know if it’ll affect you or not, but most likely you won’t be able to hear me for a minute.”
“You barely make any noise anyway, when you’re just walking,” Akari said.
“Well, tell me if you notice a difference. I’m trying to figure out if I can use it to sneak up on things when we start trying to do bow hunting.”
“Ooh. Good luck. Can I buy a Skill token of it, if it works?” Sadie asked.
“Sure, if it works and when we’re past the catalog thing and free to save up the mana for it,” Danielle agreed, then activated the Skill.
Danielle could feel the bubble the Skill title mentioned; that was unexpected. It was hard to put words to what it felt like, except that she knew where it was, expanding out to a sphere around her, except along the ground where it pressed against the leaves and twigs and brush and took their shape. It also pressed against Sadie, in front of her, then snapped around her and resumed its sphere shape in that direction. Danielle could still hear her own steps and Sadie’s, which she counted as a good thing; she had been expecting that, but wasn’t completely sure it would work that way. On the other hand, she could also hear everyone else’s steps too, which was not what she expected. Was it even doing anything?
She paused, and the bubble settled around her. Sadie kept moving, and walked into the wall of it bare seconds after it had gone around her. After what felt like a token attempt to stretch around her, it snapped back to the plain sphere again. Heather, meanwhile, was walking into the sphere from the back, with similar results.
“Heather, can you hear me?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. Is that supposed to happen?” Heather asked.
“You walked into the area of effect, so probably,” Danielle asked, turning back to look at Sadie and Akari, ahead of them. “Sadie, can you hear me?”
Sadie kept walking, probably not realizing Danielle had stopped. “I guess it lets any sound in, but no sound out,” Danielle told Heather.
“That’s cool – we can talk to each other without scaring the deer or whatever!” Heather said, stopping next to Danielle. “I guess it doesn’t move, though?”
“I’m not sure,” Danielle said, stepping forward and putting her hand out toward the bubble wall that apparently only she could perceive. She pushed at it, and felt it stretch – not with her hands, though, her hands were not how she was feeling the bubble. It was a weird sensation, touching something with her hands, and knowing she was touching it, but not being able to feel it with her hands. She tried to use them to stretch the bubble in a way that wouldn’t make it just pop around her, like it had done to Sadie. It felt oddly uneasy, as if someone was asking her to do something she wasn’t sure she could accomplish – but she was the one doing the ‘asking’ so why did she feel like that? “I don’t know, I feel like maybe it could move, but it doesn’t want to? If that makes sense?”
“Your Skill doesn’t want to? Skills want things?” Heather asked dubiously.
“I don’t know – it has a weird kind of feedback, I’m not sure I’m interpreting it very well, and I’m even less sure I’m describing it right,” Danielle admitted.
Ahead of her several paces, Akari had stopped and looked back, and was giving her a weird look. Probably because she looked like she was waving her hands around in open space and mouthing words silently, Danielle figured.
“Say something to Akari,” she told Heather.
“Something to Akari!” Heather snarked.
“Hey Sadie, look,” Akari said. “I think Danielle might be stuck in her Skill or something.”
Sadie turned to look and frowned.
“Oh – I guess you better drop it so they don’t get worried,” Heather said.
“Yeah, probably. Actually, would you stay still a minute while I see if I can just walk out of it? I want to know if I can leave and it’ll still work, or if it’ll deactivate if I’m not inside.”
“OK, go ahead,” Heather said. “Maybe talk or something so I can tell if it’s working.”
Danielle moved forward again, and the bubble stretched around her, then reluctantly began moving with her. “Testing, testing, one two three,” she chanted. “Testing, testing, one two four; testing, testing, this is me, testing, testing, yet some more.”
About the time she was saying “this is me,” the bubble popped around Heather, and about “yet some more,” Sadie and Akari popped through to the inside of it.
“Can you guys hear me now?” Danielle asked Akari and Sadie.
“Yeah, we can now – more of what?” Akari said.
“More testing,” Danielle said. “This has a lot of potential. Let me take it down now, though.” The bubble reacted to ending the Skill with a feeling of popping. “Heather, did you hear me go silent?”
“Yeah, in the third line of the rhyme,” Heather confirmed. “Sounds to me like it works great! Let’s get moving again, though. It’s getting dark, and I’m tired. I want to be home.”
“We’re almost there,” Akari said.
They were almost there; they were passing building two when Danielle started the experiment. It was just a minute or three until they were in the woods opposite their room, checking for anyone who could obviously see them. Awkwardly, there was someone; Cassy was sitting on the retaining wall at the corner of the walkway, where she could easily see their door, reading one of the black leather-bound books from the bookshelves in the Rooms with a notebook sitting open to one side.
“What’s she doing there?” Sadie asked, sounding annoyed.
“Waiting for us, obviously,” Akari said.
“What are we going to do?” Heather whispered anxiously. “Should we just walk up to her? Should we sneak around and try to make it look like we came from the south? Should we – “
“People probably come back from hunting from all directions, Heather, calm down,” Danielle said. “Her roommates came back from looking for her from this direction on Sunday. I don’t see anyone else, so let’s just go and find out what’s up.”
“Yeah, maybe she’s just staying away from her roommates again,” Akari said.
“We’ll know more when we’re close enough to ask her,” Danielle said, leading the way out of the trees.
They barely got clear of the treeline before Cassy glanced up and saw them. She gave them a silent nod, closed up her book and notebook and tucked them under one arm, then slid down from the wall and stood waiting for them next to their door.
The four of them jumped down into the walkway, and for a moment, everyone stood around silently. Danielle was trying to think of a way of asking what Cassy was doing there that wouldn’t sound accusatory. Cassy was looking awkward and nervous, like she had something to say but hadn’t quite gotten up the nerve to say it.
Akari found her voice first. “Good evening. We weren’t expecting a welcoming committee. Did something happen, or are you just keeping your distance from your roommates again?”
“Not exactly,” Cassy said. “We had a talk yesterday after dinner, and came to an understanding, so I’m not afraid of them like I was before. My understanding is still that I’m officially not part of their group, though, and I need a group, so I’ve been spending the day trying to find one. I’d have talked to you a lot earlier, but apparently you left at the crack of dawn and stayed out all day?”
“It wasn’t the crack of dawn, that’s 5:30 in the morning, remember?” Sadie objected.
“Remember how?” Cassy asked.
“From Saturday. They woke us up and said it was right after sunrise, and it was 5:30,” Sadie reminded her.
“I do remember them saying it was fifteen minutes after sunrise,” Cassy said slowly, “but how do you know what time it was? I don’t think they said that part.”
“I have a watch,” Danielle said. “And we’ve got a crazy old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock. I’m guessing your room doesn’t have any clocks?”
“Oh. No, we don’t,” Cassy said. “I didn’t mean the crack of dawn thing literally anyway, I just meant you left really early. Listen, I don’t want to impose, but could we maybe talk in your room, where people can’t listen in just by walking down the hall? Or whatever you want to call this.” She gestured down the walkway.
“What do you want to talk about that you don’t want people to overhear?” Heather asked nervously.
“I – it’s no big secret, it just seems like it deserves some privacy? I want to join your hunting party,” Cassy said. “System org and all.”
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