Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 214, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 95 –

“This is…” Calam inhaled deeply and then whined in a drawl: “Boooring!”

“Harvesting the midnight primrose or scanning the local wildlife for signs of mana corruption?” asked Terry drily.

“Yes!” groaned Calam.

Siling chuckled. “I do not mind a relaxing mission now and then, especially if they pay well.”

Today, the group had arrived in Corsteau and registered for taking part in the perpetual mark and recapture mission. They paired it up with two open gathering missions for aspected herbs.

“Relaxing is one thing, but today I feel more like a farmer than a Guardian,” complained Calam.

“The work is important,” stressed Terry. “Remember what Instructor Khaled said?”

“Yeah yeah, it needs to be done.” Calam grimaced. “But why does it need to be done by us?”

Terry believed Calam was only half serious. Whining simply helped Calam feel better, which was why Terry refrained from pushing back too hard. He deflected to another topic instead: “Wait until we are back in Cannington. The mana corrupted hunt may appeal more to you.”

“Woohoo,” exclaimed Siling and pumped her fists into the air. “Bloody frogmouth hooray!”

Even though Terry had aimed to improve Calam’s rather than Siling’s mood, he would take what he could get. Luckily, Siling’s anticipatory excitement was contagious and Calam’s complaints quickly ebbed away.

“Found a numbered hare,” announced Siling. “That way. Looks tasty, according to Birdbrain.” She shrugged. “In case you were interested.”

“I don’t believe we are allowed to eat the subjects,” quipped Terry. “For now.”

***

A few days later, they had settled their scheduled missions and were back at the location where they could find the bloody frogmouths. They had prepared what they needed and today they aimed to hunt.

However, when examining the challenge right in front of them, Terry could only sigh with a grimace. “We didn’t really think this one through, did we?”

They had gathered information on the bloody frogmouths from the local Guardians. No one had been surprised that the mana-corrupted birds lived in trees. What did surprise them, though, was that the reports had described those gigantic wooden pillars plainly as trees. As Terry saw it, their sources failed to put the appropriate emphasis on just how enormous of trees they were dealing with. Those wide wooden pillars resembled trees in the same way a terror grizzly resembled a kitten.

The after mission reports they had purchased had led them to believe that their timing was perfect for going after the bloody frogmouths. The birds had recently entered their cold season phase and spent much of the time in torpor. That should make the hunt easier, or so they had thought.

“Sniffles could creep up there,” offered Siling.

“And do what?” questioned Terry.

“Maybe its stench attack can make the things fall unconscious?” proposed Calam.

“Not likely,” refuted Siling while squinting up at the tree crowns. “The bloody frogmouth has a similar stink move. Weaponized diarrhea, essentially.”

“Seriously?” exclaimed Calam. “Another stinker?”

“A pattern has emerged.” Terry teased. “You got a preference for stinky creatures?”

“Why else would I join up with you two?” retorted Siling with a smirk.

Terry blinked in silence. “…walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.” Calam patted Terry on the shoulder and then looked reproachfully at Siling. “The part I don’t understand is why I had to be involved as collateral damage.”

Terry returned to the main topic. “Sniffles could get up there, but even if they don’t notice its approach, I figure it would stun one at most before the others become wary. The delay between its stun attacks is too long, isn’t it?”

“Should we get a bow?” suggested Calam.

“For what?” Terry scrunched up his face. “Are you able to use one properly?”

“Nope,” admitted Calam.

“Me neither. Never had much interest in archery.” Terry looked at Siling, who also shook her head. “How did you hunt the falcons for Birdbrain?”

“Baited noose traps, mostly bal-chatri,” replied Siling.

“Do you still have some?” asked Calam.

“Not with me, no.” Siling frowned. “Even if I had, I don’t think that would work here. Definitely not more than once. The bloody frogmouths are more intelligent than common falcons. They can even remember faces.”

“So either we take enough of them down fast or we won’t get a good chance to strengthen the new soul immediately?” Terry thought out loud.

“Yeah, unfortunately.” Siling became increasingly downcast.

“No reason to mope, is there?” Calam attempted to cheer Siling up. “Even if we only take down one, you would still get access to life sense, right? In the worst case, we can come back later.”

“I say we give it our best shot first.” Terry grinned.

“Got a plan?” Calam perked up his ears.

“Not yet, but I do have an idea,” said Terry. “What is the current range of your Kinetic Pull?” After Terry outlined what he had in mind, the group hatched a plan together. Their plan required them to purchase some items first and for that, they had to return to Cannington.

Back in the city, Terry sent a message to his family through the Guardians. He did not want to worry them if their return trip got delayed further.

***

“Pa Bjorln will get a kick out of this when I tell him the story,” murmured Terry while continuing his work.

“I’m still not sure why we needed more rope,” said Calam with creased brows. “Didn’t you have plenty in your dimensional bag?”

“Not the right kind,” stressed Terry.

“There are kinds?” blurted Siling, while swiveling her eyes between her two companions.

“Yes,” replied Terry. “Don’t use the same rope for climbing as you would for pulling up a bucket in a well. The Guardians explain that to you when you pick a mission in the mountains. Pa Bjorln likes to collect some ingredients himself and took me climbing a few times.”

Terry retrieved some of his prepared rope and separated it into three piles. “Climbing in the mountains often requires the rope to cross over a ledge. If you climb up from under the ledge, that means pressure on the rope where it meets the ledge. Your movements will cause the rope to move around sideways. Movement plus pressure means cutting. Proper climbing rope has to be specifically prepared to be resistant to cuts.”

Terry looked up at the enormous wooden pillars and shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea if the same applies to climbing trees, but better to be prepared than not.”

Terry pointed at the second pile. “Safety rope needs to be elastic, especially with longer drops. If you do fall, then the elasticity makes sure that your fall gets slowed down gradually instead of forcing you to an abrupt stop. If you tie a non-elastic rope around your foot and fall, then all it would achieve is you losing your foot before you splat on the ground.”

Terry pointed at the last pile. “The other rope is thicker and more comfortable for climbing. It has not been specially prepared. I will use the cut-resistant rope when securing the climbing rope to some other branches. The interwoven rings in the climbing rope are for securing ourselves with the carbine of our safety rope. We will have a safety rope between us and always one of us secured to a ring. It may take longer, but it will be safer.”

Terry turned to face Calam and Siling again. “Everyone clear on the primary objective?”

“Not splat on the ground?” offered Siling.

“Yes.” Terry rolled his eyes. “Aside from that?”

“Get as many of them into the air as possible before making our move,” replied Calam. “Ideally, they should be clustered close to each other.”

“According to my mana sense, I believe this tree should work best,” said Terry, and patted one of the thick trunks. “Of course, I can’t be certain that the mana signatures are actually bloody frogmouths before getting up there. Fingers crossed that the creatures don’t hop around too much until we are ready.”

Terry sharply exhaled a breath of air. “Alright, the first stage is mine. If you see someone falling from the sky, that is probably me.”

“Not funny,” grumbled Siling.

“If you do fall, then we will catch you,” said Calam. “Or at least throw a Kinetic Push in your face.”

Terry laughed with a snort. “Whatever slows me down.” He exhaled sharply again. “Hope that won’t be necessary.” He looked up. The tree measured around three hundred feet. Its first branches only appeared a third of the way up. The first challenge was to get to those branches.

“Be careful to not get hit by the falling metal plates,” warned Terry. He took out his training rings and prepared a spell. He used a brief burst to jump as high as possible. Up in the air, Terry ignited the spell structure and was now hanging on the transfixed ring in the air.

With his free hand, Terry retrieved a metal plate from his storage bracelet. It was tertium again, but a much smaller version than the slab used for the earthen press plan.

Terry pulled himself up on the ring and placed the metal plate under his feet. He activated Immovable Object on the metal plate. He prepared another spell while continuing to inject mana into the transfixed plate.

After the next spell structure had been shaped and primed, Terry used a brief burst to jump, and the sequence started anew.

In theory, Terry would have been able to climb up to the branches using his normal training routine with the gymnastic rings, but incorporating jumps was more practical. The jumps cut down the number of required Immovable Object activations and therefore allowed Terry to conserve mana.

Jump by Jump.

Spell by Spell.

Terry ascended into the open sky until he reached the lower branches. He secured himself with rope and then took a moment to gather breath and recover. He was pleased that most of the mana signatures in the tree’s crown were indeed bloody frogmouths.

Terry searched for a good branch and then prepared their primary climbing rope. He secured everything to his satisfaction and then climbed down.

***

“This is humiliating,” whined Siling from Terry’s back. “More so than I expected!”

“Would you rather climb up yourself?” asked Terry towards his back where Siling was tied and secured. Both of their backs facing each other. The elven woman was more than a head shorter than Terry and her legs were now dangling freely in the air.

“Nooo,” grumbled Siling and pouted.

“Pfft…” Calam tried to suppress his laughter, but he did not try very hard. It was an entertaining sight.

Siling glared in response.

“Couldn’t you give me a piggyback ride?” whined Siling. “That would be way less deelvenizing.” She frowned. “I feel like luggage.” She raised her head, which bumped into the back of Terry’s. “You can’t tell, but I’m batting my eyelashes at you very persuasively.”

Calam exhaled an amused snort. “Mhmh, yes. Very. Pfft.”

“I don’t need your arms in my face or legs in my way when climbing,” grumbled Terry. “This way, you can keep an eye on our surroundings, too. You can cast spells if necessary. Would you rather have a piggyback ride or increase our chances to not splat on the ground?”

Siling grimaced and apparently had to fight an intense inner battle before she could bring herself to answer. “…hah, fine. Better to be deelvenized than to be delifed completely.”

Terry took a deep breath. “Alright, onwards then, luggage. Tell me if you notice anything important, my backpack.”

“Hmph.” The backpack pouted.

***

The group had arrived safely in the branches.

“I learned something today,” announced Calam anxiously while peering down. “I really don’t like heights.”

“I thought you were looking forward to the jumping spells?” questioned Terry, who was currently working to elevate Siling from her status as luggage.

“Sure,” admitted Calam. “They come with companion spells for changing direction in the air and slowing down a fall.” He grimaced at the ground far below. “I also see little need for jumping this high.”

“Alright, welcome back to the world of people standing on their own two feet,” quipped Terry.

“Much obliged.” Siling tried to maintain a deadpan expression. “I figure this direction for our net trap?”

Terry nodded. “I thought the same. Sniffles can go rampage around other locations as long as it stays out of the way.”

Siling nodded. “Good that most of the foliage has already fallen.”

They made their way through the branches and fastened a big net between them. Afterwards, they moved so that the net was positioned between them and the target area.

“The show is yours, you two,” declared Terry. “Siling?”

“Ice Spike is primed and aimed,” reported Siling. “Sniffles has a target in sight and is ready to pounce. Calam, whenever you are ready.”

A few seconds later, Calam nodded. “Ready.”

Siling ignited her spell structure and hit the first bloody frogmouth. At the same time, the air-coated cloud badger soul spirit pounced on one creature and released a shock to stun it. The bloody frogmouth fell towards the ground and the cloud badger darted to its next target.

Calam released a prepared Kinetic Push that was intentionally weak – just enough to jolt the mana-corrupted birds from their torpor. They were lifting off from the branches in order to take flight, and then he released his empowered Kinetic Pull spell.

The airborne mana corrupted were pulled towards the net and unable to put up much resistance.

Siling prepared a Share Mana spell so that Calam could continue and further empower his spell without having to worry about mana.

Terry counted the bloody frogmouths pulled into the net and as soon as they hit their number, he pulled on a rope in order to close the net.

“Yippie!” exclaimed Siling giddily. “If we were on solid ground, I might jump for joy.”

“That worked better than I thought,” remarked Terry with pleasant surprise.

“Eww, what happened there?” asked Calam while squinting at the net.

“That would be the aforementioned diarrhea attack,” explained Siling while holding her nose.

“Glad that we did not put the net too close to us?” asked Terry amusedly.

“Wastes yes!” agreed Calam. “Disgusting. Those poor normal birds trapped in the middle.”

“Come to think of it, we should probably have checked below first,” mumbled Terry. “Or maybe put up a warning sign. I hope no one was walking down there.”

Calam grimaced and glanced at Siling. “I hope you have a water spell for washing that off, otherwise—”

“Basic spell Water Sprout,” assured Siling.

“Thank mana.” Calam heaved a sigh of relief.

“Since we caught them alive, you can choose if you want to do your thing up here or down below,” said Terry.

“Solid ground, please,” declared Siling instantly.

***

“Hahh. Beloved ground,” exclaimed Siling. “I missed you.”

“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Calam.

“Technically, one of you is not quite on the ground yet.” Terry disentangled himself from his elven luggage. When he was finished, he grabbed the climbing rope again. “Alright, I will go back up to retrieve the remaining rope. Watch out for falling Terrys.”

“Still not funny,” grumbled Siling. She and Calam collected the frogmouths that were killed by the soul spirit and Siling’s spells.

***

High up in the sky, Terry was sitting on a tree branch. He had already returned the rope into his storage items and was now preparing himself for the way down.

Terry had used the safety rope to create himself a simple body harness. The ends of the elastic rope were leaving the harness at his shoulders, and they were tied to some of his metal gymnastic rings. This left around seven feet of rope between the rings and the harness.

Terry took one ring in each hand and prepared Immovable Object spells. When everything was ready, he took a deep breath and jumped from the branch.

He allowed himself to fall.

He activated the Immovable Object spell on one ring and released it. The ring was transfixed in the air. The safety rope tightened and brought Terry to a stop.

Terry activated the spell for the other ring. He kept the spell active until he had the first ring back in hand, as well as another spell structure ready and primed before letting go. He continued his descent until he heard a scream.

“Watch out!” screamed Siling.

Terry looked down and saw that his companions were not alone anymore. Right next to them, a big white creature had surfaced from the earth. The icicle echidna was hurling some ice spikes at Calam.

Siling saw the echidna hurl sharp icicles at Calam who did not appear to react at all. She did the only thing she could think of. Before the icicles could impale her frozen companion, an air-coated white cloud badger jumped in front of Calam and took the hit in his stead. Fortunately, Sniffles’ felted pelt and thick skin provided good defensive capabilities against piercing attacks. The badger soul only received some minor injuries and counterattacked.

The icicle echidna displayed an inexplicable hatred for the cloud badger soul whenever Sniffles began its lightning charge. Siling exploited the opportunity to draw the creature’s attention. She activated her own air coating and cast Entangling Roots on the mana-corrupted creature while running next to her companion’s side. “Calam? Calam!”

For some reason, Siling’s voice sounded very far away in Calam’s ears. When he did not react, Siling pulled him away in order to get some distance between themselves and the icicle echidna.

“I-I’m okay,” mumbled Calam faintly.

Further up, Terry sped up his descent. He summoned a tertium plate and activated his spell. He used the plate in order to propel himself into the direction of the icicle echidna.

During his fall, Terry tried to estimate the remaining distance to the ground. He went into full burst to stimulate his defense and regeneration. If his sense of distance was off, it might save his bones.

Now.

Terry activated the Immovable Object spell on one of the roped rings connected to his harness. His momentum maintained his current course and the transfixed ring was left behind while stretching the elastic rope.

He summoned a shield from his storage bracelet and prepared another spell.

The safety rope tightened, slowed his fall, and Terry arrived just in time to use his shield to block another barrage of ice spikes. One icicle penetrated the shield slightly before he successfully activated his spell. The Immovable Object protected not only the shield from further physical damage. It also gave Terry a hold so that he would not be pulled back by the elastic rope towards the ring that was still transfixed in the air.

Calam jolted out of his daze and threw a Kinetic Push at the corrupted creature to stop its next series of icicle projectiles.

Siling moved Sniffles further to the back.

After the gymnastic ring had dropped from the sky, Terry dispelled the immovable effect on his shield and threw it to Calam. He retrieved another shield and tossed it to Siling. He mentally thanked his past self for stocking up on cheap non-magical equipment when he had experimented with Immovable Object.

Terry retrieved his barrier spear and disentangled himself from his safety rope harness. He looked around to get a grasp on the situation. The icicle echidna was about as big as Siling’s bear soul. The icicles on its back made it hard to inflict damage on its body. His short spears were unfortunately too short.

The only way to use them on the spiky body was to throw them. That left the head.

Maybe not… Terry formulated a plan.

“Calam, get a Kinetic Push ready,” shouted Terry. “Siling, prepare to call back the Entangling Roots. Same idea as with the frogmouths, but with a push. Prepare to push the thing towards me.”

Terry ran around the icicle echidna so that the creature was now placed between himself and Calam.

Siling moved towards Calam and prepared a Share Mana spell.

Terry summoned throwing needles from his storage bracelet and cast Immovable Object. He cast the spell repeatedly and when he had four throwing needles transfixed in the air, Terry signaled his companions.

Siling dispelled the entangling roots.

Calam smashed an empowered Kinetic Push into the creature and kept the pressure on.

Siling started to share her mana with Calam.

Before the creature made contact, Terry fed the transfixed needles another round of mana. He did not know how long they required the needles to stay in their position.

The icicle echidna was forced onto the needles. Calam’s spell kept pushing it further and further until the needles sank deep into its flesh.

Eventually, the mana corrupted stopped its death throes.

The icicle echidna was dead.

“Hope that covers your thirst for excitement.” Terry laughed shakily.

Calam wheezed out a dry chortle.

Siling stomped over to Calam. “What gives?! You froze up! You nearly got yourself killed!”

“I-it wasn’t that bad,” protested Calam. “The cloud badger armor would have blocked the icicles.”

Siling’s face contorted with fury. “Unless, you know, THEY HIT YOUR WASTED HEAD!”

Terry had never seen his companion that angry before.

“Th-that would not have happened. I-I…” Calam stammered until his mind settled on a defense. “I was already preparing a Kinetic Push. That’s right. If Sniffles hadn’t gotten in the way, I could have blocked the ice spikes by myself.”

Siling was huffing in simmering fury and wore her doubts openly on her face. She had noticed no movement of mana with her mana sense. However, she could not be a hundred percent certain. She was not sure, and that allowed her to calm down.

“Come on. Don’t you want to get going with your new soul capture?” prodded Calam and went to the net with the captured bloody frogmouths.

Siling shot Terry a glance and Terry saw a mixture of anger, concern, and doubt in her eyes. After a moment, Siling resignedly shook her head and followed Calam.

“Here,” Siling handed Terry back his shield. “I should really buy a shield for myself. I thought it would make more sense to save until I can afford a fancier one, but well…” She glanced at the dead icicle echidna. “I’ve changed my mind.”

“Wise are the folk who learn from experience or something.” Terry chuckled. “You can use that one for now if you want. It is only average quality, though.”

“Thank you.” Siling pulled back her hand and kept the shield. “First thing in Arcana, I will buy a shield with at least an intermediate-level barrier imprint. The monster core embeddings can wait.”

“Look for a high-quality shield, then,” advised Terry. “I could quote you the lecture that Ma Isille has given me, but suffice it to say it’s wasted long.” He raised up his brows. “Bottom line is, one should never have too much of a gap between the quality of the material forging and the level of the spell imprint. Saves money in the long run.”

“Appreciate the short summary.” Siling grinned.

The two arrived at their net trap. They killed the first bloody frogmouth and Siling captured its soul that now took the spot that had been occupied by the falcon soul before. As soon as Siling felt the connection and the ability to activate life sense, her mood improved considerably.

They continued to finish off the captured bloody frogmouths one by one so that Siling could continue to strengthen her new soul spirit. When Siling finished the last of the corrupted creatures, she already perceived diminishing returns of the soul strengthening, which meant the caught soul had reached its inherent limit.

After everything was done, Siling recalled Sniffles and summoned her new soul spirit. The bloody frogmouth that appeared was white with purple markings.

“It does not look happy,” remarked Calam.

“That is just its face,” said Siling. “Going by our spirit link, it is actually ecstatic. Apparently, our net also caught a lot of…” She used air-quotes. “‘Tasty’ insects, spiders, and slugs. It is requesting permission to gorge itself.”

Siling shivered in disgust. “I always found it peculiar that the spirits retain their previous tastes even though they don’t derive any nourishment from the food anymore.” She examined her new soul spirit. “I am not sure if I should call it Grumpy or Tasteless.”

“Grumpy,” voted Calam.

“Tasteless,” voted Terry.

“Wastes, thanks for the help. That clears it up.” Siling spoke with mock-sarcasm but immediately had to laugh. She was very pleased with the day’s results.

They sorted out the remaining occupants of the net and released all the non-magic animals. Afterwards, they collected the remains of the icicle echidna and made their way back to Cannington.

They went to the local Guardians branch in order to retrieve the corrupted culling rewards, as well as to sell the remains of the mana-corrupted creatures. In addition, Terry submitted an after mission report and the Guardians appreciated his effort.

After going over the report, the Guardian receptionist speculated that the icicle echidna had targeted their group, because a lot of the other creatures caught up in the net were part of its diet. In particular, there were some dark blue beetles. Apparently, those beetles were mixed aspect creatures and considered a delicacy by the icicle echidnas.

They explained that the icicle echidna was particularly focused on the cloud badger soul spirit because of the electro sensors in its beak. That little tidbit was part of the standard information material on icicle echidnas.

Terry and the others decided to rest for the day in Cannington and to start their return trip to Arcana the next morning.

***

“No.” Bjorln was the first to respond, and his voice was firm. His tone lacked his usual warmth and softness.

Isille and Bjorln looked about as happy as Terry imagined they would be, which was saying: Not. At. All.

“I thought we already talked about dungeon work,” barked Isille gruffly. “We said that this is a topic for later.”

“It is ‘later’ now,” retorted Florine.

“You know what I mean,” stressed Isille testily.

“You also said,” interjected Jorgen. “That we could choose one of the advanced introduction classes ourselves. Introduction to dungeon work is our choice.”

Terry was impressed and, above all, surprised by Jorgen’s calmness. Usually, it didn’t take long for him to lose his head in a serious disagreement with their parents.

A variety of emotions ran over Isille’s face while the seconds passed in silence. Her teeth clenched and relaxed. Her eyes closed for a breath and then opened again. A look at the table in front of them. At her husband. At their children.

Isille was maintaining eye contact with Bjorln when Florine could not stand the silence anymore. “The Guardians have rated it as an advanced class. We are just following the Guardians’ rating.”

Bjorln closed his eyes and took a deep breath. An unspoken conversation seemed to have passed between him and his wife.

“It is true,” admitted Isille. “We did say that.” Her gruff tone had changed to one as hard as stone. “It is your choice and you have the right to make it. We won’t forbid it. We won’t prevent it.” Her face softened, and she pleaded: “Nevertheless, we ask that you reconsider.”

“Please,” added Bjorln in a hoarse voice.

“Please,” echoed Isille.

Terry felt as if he had a lump in his throat and even Jorgen’s calm was shaken.

“We can’t,” replied Florine firmly before becoming slightly flustered and correcting herself. “I mean we won’t.”

Her answer helped Jorgen rediscover his resolve. “We made our choice. Our minds are made up.”

Bjorln clenched his fists, stood up, and left for the living room without a word.

“Pa!” exclaimed Jorgen and stood up as if to follow. Florine was not far behind.

“No! You stay here.” Isille stopped them. “Give him some space. You do not realize what—” She interrupted herself and took a deep breath. She looked inside the living room. “Let me talk to him.”

Bjorln was sitting silently in his favorite armchair. The armchair was old and way too big for him. From the dining area, Isille could only see the back of the chair. Merely Bjorln’s hand was visible on the armrest. Isille did not have to see her husband’s face to know the look in his eyes as he stared into the fireplace.

“Leave the living room to us for the day,” demanded Isille. “You prepare. You have made a choice and don’t you dare to half-ass it.” After Terry, Jorgen, and Florine had left, She walked into the living room. She kneeled next to the armchair and took Bjorln’s hand in her own. She watched him and waited.

Bjorln kept staring at the fire in the fireplace with a distant look in his eyes. Eventually, he glanced at Isille and raised one corner of his mouth. He returned his sorrowful gaze towards the fire. The fire that held his memories. He shook his head slowly. “Jorg reminds me so much of him whenever he is like that.” His voice was trembling.

Isille gently caressed Bjorln’s hands.

“Then, in my mind, I see Olgorn’s face.” Bjorln stared at the playful flames in front of his eyes. “The singed beard. The half-missing eyebrows. That cheeky grin…” He sniffled. “I can even smell the scent of burned hair. I—” His voice cracked, and he teared up. “I just don’t want them to end up like him.”

Isille stood up. “I’ll be here.” She crawled up on the armchair and snuggled up to Bjorln from his lap like a cat. “I’ll always be here.”

For a while, the two dwarves hugged each other in silence while watching the fire.

“Nama, my life,” whispered Bjorln.

Isille kissed him again. “You know, my pa always said to prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child. We have done our best to prepare them for whatever road they may take.”

Bjorln patted Isille’s shoulder and hugged her tighter in response.

“Still…” Isille watched the fire. “For as long as they are within our reach, we may as well make sure the road does not get too hazardous. We are Guardians, too. We could volunteer to accompany the class.”

Bjorln considered the idea, and his expression brightened. “Maybe we could ask Whaka Samuel to take over the class? Nearly no one in Arcana has more experience in dungeon work.”

“He would certainly be qualified, but…” Isille bit her bottom lip. “Are you sure that he would want to?”

“There is no way Samuel wants to do it, but I think he will do it.” Bjorln nodded once to himself. “Knowing Samuel, he may even insist of his own accord if he learns that Terry and the chipmunks want to enter a dungeon. Only…” He shook his head and took a deep breath. “I would feel guilty about him having to do it.”

Isille squeezed his hand. “We are all adults and can make our own decisions. No need to feel guilty.”

Bjorln rubbed the tip of his nose against Isille’s and gave her a soft kiss. After a moment of pause, he raised his eyebrows. “Or maybe Whaka Samuel knows some nefarious-but-useful spell from the lower system for getting rid of crackbrained obsessions?”

“Like what?” Isille chose to entertain the nonsense of her husband if it helped cheer him up.

“Don’t know.” Bjorln shrugged. “Make them believe they are small again? You know, when they were still cute and not trying to get themselves killed…”

“At least not quite as often,” corrected Isille. They smiled at each other, and she was relieved to find her husband in a joking mood again. “Perhaps we should have encouraged the bakery option a bit more…”

“Hah, the benefits of hindsight.” Bjorln clicked his tongue.

***