Chapter Seventy-Three - Denying Moronity

“Skipping,” I explained to Awen who was listening with rapt attention. “Is the very best way to travel. Not only is it more fun than just walking, it also lets you practice your jump skill and it’s a bit faster.”

“Ah, I see,” Awen said.

Amaryllis shook her head, and unlike Awen, she didn’t start skipping next to me because she was just unfun that way.

The area around Greenshade, or at least to the immediate North, was flat, only marked by the occasional patches of trees or a jutting boulder or two. The ground wasn’t even though, with a slight downhill grade that made it hard not to break out into a jog. It would be hard to walk back to the city up the slight incline, but that was a problem for us on the way back.

So far, we’d been walking for a few hours, with only one or two little breaks. Awen’s first bathroom pause--behind a large rock--had left the girl quite red faced and embarrassed. I suppose she had never really roughed it before.

I had to be extra-nice to her to make up for it. The adventuring life could be a little harsh. I loved it, but not everyone would, and I didn’t want her to get disillusioned. If she decided that it wasn’t for her, then that would be sad, but I’d still do my best to make it so that she was happy while doing whatever else she chose to do!

We stepped to the side of the road as a caravan rolled past. It hadn’t been the first to move by, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. There seemed to be a fair amount of traffic so close to the city, but Awen assured us that it thinned out the farther we would go.

Most of that traffic came from the North, from the independent cities. Some came from other parts of Mattergrove, and still some came from the huge desert to the West, though the last was a bit uncommon.

“Look, flowers!” I said as I pointed ahead. There were, indeed, some flowers growing next to the road a little ways ahead. They caught my eye because they were a bright, cheery yellow, with hundreds of tiny flowers all clumped together at the end of a stalk.

“Can you identify it?” Amaryllis asked.

“Sure thing,” I said as I stopped near them. The flowers seemed to turn to face my way, so I didn’t dare approach them too much. “Insight.”

Common Goldenrod.

“Hmm,” I said. I moved to the flower’s other side and the plant shifted so that the flowers followed me around, aleit slowly. “Neat,” I said as I dropped my backpack and searched for my copy of Herbs for Healing, Plants for Power.

“This is, um, part of your mission, right?” Awen asked as she stopped nearby.

“Yup. I have the Gardening skill, so I figured it would be a neat mission to take. That, and I get to grind my skills a little. Gardening is approaching disciple. Not sure if I’ll put any points into it yet.”

“Have you decided on how you’ll distribute your early points?” Amaryllis asked.

I nodded as I rifled through the book. “Yeah. I’m going to get Cleaning to Expert. I have the skill points for it, but Cleaning isn't ready to rank up yet.”

“Expert Cleaning, huh?” Amaryllis said. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of anyone bothering to get it that high,” Amaryllis said. “What about you, Awen?”

“Awa? N-no. We have some maids who have Cleaning, and Albert has it too, I think.”

“Aha!” I said as I found the page on Goldenrod.

Goldenrod

A common plant found in open prairies and plains. The flowers will always face the sun or the nearest source of gold if said source is near enough. Some thieves plant this flower within cities to pick out people carrying valuables on their person. The stem and roots have uses as simple anti-inflammatories and cures for toothache. The flower can be used in the creation of the GoldenEye potion.

There was a recipe for a simple potion that would act as an anti-inflammatory, but nothing about the GoldenEye potion. I shut my book and approached the flower. It didn’t move my way, probably because my gold was in my pack.

“Thank you, miss flower,” I said as I bowed to the flower. I cut off a few stems with my knife and yanked out a few roots, then cleaned them up before turning it into a neat bundle that I slid into a pouch. “Ready to move on?” I asked the others.

“Yes!” Awen said.

I grinned at her enthusiasm. “Alright! Let’s go!”

“What did I do to deserve this?” Amaryllis asked the skies.

Giggling, I pulled at her taloned hand and started moving again. We had a few days of travel left, most of it over roads that seemed rather quiet. It would be a great opportunity to get to know each other.

“Miss Bunch?”

“Call me Broccoli,” I said. “We’re friends, right?”

“Awaa... th-then call me Awen,” Awen said. “You have the Gardening and Cleaning skills, yes?”

“I do,” I said.

“Um, are they important to adventuring? I’m not sure if my skills are good for this or not,” Awen said.

I shrugged. “They’re good for adventuring the way I like to do it, but that doesn’t mean they would be good for you,” I said. “I guess it depends on what your role in a team is, and maybe whether or not you intend to adventure alone.”

“I’d rather adventure with you, Broccoli, than alone,” Awen said.

“Aww, you’re just so cute!” I said as I grabbed Awen into a sidelong hug.

Awen shook her head, her cheeks warming up. “No, no I don’t have that skill.”

I froze up, then laughed. It might have sounded a little high-pitched. “Of course not, of course not. No one has that. Haha.”

“I’m just worried that I’ll slow you down, Broccoli,” Awen said. “I’m only level eight, and I know that I should be stronger, but I’m not.”

“No one’s worried about slowing me down?” Amaryllis asked. “Broccoli, pass Orange over to me. At least the cat’s indifference feels natural.”

I blinked, then smiled sheepishly at Amaryllis. “Don’t worry Amaryllis. You’re my best friend in this world. There’s no way I’d forget about you. You don’t need to be jealous!”

“I’m not jealous,” Amaryllis said... jealously.

I raised my other arm, an invitation for her to join the hug.

Amaryllis huffed.

I wiggled my arm in the air and let my lower lip wobble a little.

Amaryllis crossed her wings, looked the other way, and slowly walked in such a way that she somehow, through no fault of her own, ended up within hugging range.

Grinning so hard that my cheeks hurt, I hugged my friends close until Amaryllis huffed and pulled away and I had to let go of Awen because her face was turning very red. Was I making it hard for her to breathe?

“Anyway,” I said. “Don’t worry about your level Awen, you’re a level above me already, and we’ll only get stronger as we adventure!”

“Awa, I am?”

“Yup! I’m only level seven.”

Amaryllis eyed Awen for a bit. “Still, eight levels with your original class in... how old are you?”

“I’m fifteen?” Awen said.

“A year younger than me,” I said.

“R-really,” Awen said. “Oh, thank the world, I was worried that I would be so far behind.”

I snorted. There was no way she would be that far behind me, of all people. “So, what kind of skills do you have?”

“That’s a rather rude question to ask,” Amaryllis said.

I blinked. “Didn’t you ask me something similar not so long ago?”

“Yes, but you’re an incompetent moron who doesn’t know that it’s taboo to be asked that kind of thing,” Amaryllis said.

“B-Broccoli isn’t incompetent,” Awen said.

Amaryllis trilled. “You’re not denying that she’s a moron?”

“Awa! That’s not what I meant!”

I couldn’t help but giggle as Awen waved her hands in the air and made motions as if to deny everything. “I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have asked that,” I said once things calmed down. “I tend to be very proactive at sticking my foot in my mouth.”

Awen smiled at the ground. “That’s... okay. It’s endearing. Um. As for my skills, I don’t mind telling Miss Broccoli.”

We all paused as a carriage rolled up before us and rattled past on the way to Greenshade, the man at the reins looking half-asleep. When the dust cleared off the road we continued our trek.

“My skills aren’t very impressive. Um. I have Tinkering, as a starting skill for my Mechanic’s class. Um, did you want me to explain them as I go?”

“I’d love to hear about it, yeah!” I said. Learning more was definitely a good idea.

Awen flushed. She was probably the kind of girl that would have hated to make presentations in front of the whole class. “Awa, yes, well. I have Tinkering, as I said. That allows me to make things with more ease. Book Smart, which is to help me learn from reading.”

Amaryllis nodded. “That’s a good skill. I have it as a general.”

“Ah, yes. Um. Kitbash, which is to make things with... non-standard parts. Clockwork, which is a skill that helps make timed devices and that helps with, um, my timing?”

“So cool,” I said.

Awen flushed harder. The poor thing. She was like a puppy that had never gotten any love, and everyone knows that puppies deserve literally all the love.

“And, my last skill is Mad Scientist. It’s, ah, it allows me to enter a fugue state to build things. It’s a little strange.”

“It sounds awesome!”

Amaryllis looked at Awen for a bit. “That’s a rather focused spread of skills, I’m reluctantly impressed.”

“Thank you, miss Albatross,” Awen said.

“What about your general skills?” I asked. “I just got a new one called Physical Manakinesis, and I need to practice it a bunch soon to get good.”

“Ah, well, mine aren’t all that great,” Awen said. Her hands clasped together over her tummy and her head bowed a little more. “I have... Unnoticeable. It allows me to go unnoticed.”

She definitely needed more hugs. And maybe her parents deserved a stern talking-to.

“And I have Etiquette, Dance, Instrumentalist and Embroidery.”

Amaryllis made a happy humming sound. “Instrumentalist is impressive, that must have taken some effort to obtain.”

“What is it?” I wondered.

“It’s a skill,” Amaryllis began. “That allowed a person to better play musical instruments. It’s a merged skill. I think you need three separate musical skills to unlock it. Awen here must have spent some time learning to play different instruments.”

“Awa, the flute and the piano, mostly,” she said. “Um, uncle would bring strange instruments home too. I have... had a lute.”

“So, if we find you a new lute, you could play music for us when we camp?” I asked.

“Speaking of camp,” Amaryllis said. She gestured ahead of us, to where the monotony of the open plains was broken up by a little patch of woodlands. “We could set up there. It’s a little early for it still, but better to camp near a ready source of wood than in an open field where the wind will toss our tents away.”

“I’ve never set up a camp before,” Awen said. “I hope you don’t mind showing me how?”

“I’d love to!” I said. A look at the sky revealed that it was getting a bit later, with the sun well on its way to the horizon and the big mountain ranges to the East. We still had time for a bunch of campside fun.

I only wish we had brought some marshmallows that we could roast while talking around the fire. But that didn’t matter, we were going to have tons of fun!