Once Jack returned, they laid out their provisions on the table, tipping the owner generously for the extra time taken. The collection ranged from various trail staples to entirely impractical items that wouldn’t have made the trip save for Rory’s storage.

In addition, Jack laid down the final addition to their travel pack: a black iron plate, a foot across, deeply carved with runes.

“This is good craftsmanship, laddie. Yeh did well,” Maggie admired the Flame element.

“What’s it do?” Erin traced the runes with her fingers.

“It’s similar to Toben’s bowl. Just a disk runed to produce heat when someone puts mana into it. This one has a safety so it can’t become too hot,” Jack replied.

Rory watched with a smile as Layla’s mind churned.

“Does… does that mean, if you don’t have the safety, there’s no upper limit to how hot something like this can get?” she was making “that face” again.

“Aye, the limit is the material what it’s made of,” Maggie responded. “Black iron is a magical metal infused with Forge mana. Weapons made o’ the stuff can become hot enough ta cleave through armor like a cuttin’ torch. Cheap Flame elements eventually warp an’ break their runework from expandin’ an’ contractin’, but this wee bebbe will like’ outlast a human lifetime, wit’ the safety set in. If’n yeh dinnae have a safety, the limit is usually however much mana yeh have. The hotter the element gets, the more mana it takes ta heat it up.”

“Like diminishing returns?” Layla asked.

“I dinnae what that is, but Tyler used to use the word geometric a lot when he were talkin’ bout spells and mana costs,” Maggie replied.

“That’s actually very helpful, Maggie,” Layla smiled.

With that, they packed up and headed out of town and east along a logging and hunting trail that Maggie had used to get from her tunnel to Olvayn’s Lift when she emerged from hiding. The trip was an exhausting slow grade up the side of the mountain, and they only made about fifteen miles before the rearguard wanted to stop and camp for the night. Jack acquiesced, though Maggie and Erin made a fuss.

“I think Maggie is a bad influence on Erin. If those two had their way, we’d make this trip in one night, at a dead run,” Layla grumbled.

“I think you’re right,” Rory sighed and took his boots off.

“If ah fix yer feet, will yeh stop yer belly-achin’?” Maggie eyeballed them from across the small campsite.

“Yes,” they both blurted.

The dwarf rose and walked off into the woods. She was gone for about twenty minutes, during which Jack set up the mess and used the new Flame element to cook dinner. They had pan-fried fish-gator with seared vegetables, all soaked in butter and lightly salted and peppered.

Maggie returned bearing an armful of herbs and a cup of some kind of translucent slime. When Jack presented her with a plate of dinner, she dropped the entire lot and greedily devoured the lot.

“Ooohhh… ah have’nae had nemasuchus in so long, Jack. What did yeh do to it ta make it taste so savory?” she mooned over the dish.

“Butter, salt, wydas peppercorn,” he replied.

“Yeh have the cook class?” she squinted at him.

“Yeah, got it in the cave at the beginning,” he answered.

“An’ yeh actually took abilities from it?” she asked.

“Yeah, a few,” he responded.

She laughed aloud.

“What?” he looked up from the pan where he was preparing another dish.

“It just dinnae surprise me that yeh would… some would call it waste… one o’ yer abilities ta make yer friends happy,” she smiled gently at him.

“It’s not waste. It’s kept us alive. Living in the wilderness will break you down if you don’t have some kind of comfort, some hope,” he responded sternly.

“Many warriors will’nae take any ability nae ta do with their path. They’ll bring hirelings inta the field ta cook and hunt and what,” she chuckled.

“Well, we didn’t have any of that,” he grunted.

“Fair ‘nough, laddie,” she smiled again.

Erin spoke up, changing the subject.

“So, what’s up with the dwarven city, Maggie? I know we’re not going there, but we’ve seen a few dwarven inns and some other stuff, and I’d think it would be beautiful,” she asked.

“Aye lass, humans build fast, an’ elven things have their own brand o’ loveliness, but no works o’ stone and steel compare ta those of the dwarves in their Deeps,” she replied wistfully.

“What’s Canwynn like?” Rory asked.

“She’s modest-sized, which is why she’s a Caer an’ nae a Deep. She’s home to some thousand dwarves, mostly miners, forgemasters an’ their apprentices, traders, an’ supportin’ crafts. The Underneath b’low Canwynn is rich in materials. They sell most o’ their goods ta the merchants in Moryven, who ship ‘em out ta Valla Corsa, the Greenbough, an’ the Red Stone. They do a wee trade wit’ some o’ the more agreeable tribes o’ the Golden Sea as well. Some o’ the Caer’s goods even make it ta the White Empire, down the shippin’ lanes along the coast,” she lectured.

“You know a lot for someone who’s been exiled for decades,” Rory pointed out.

Maggie looked down at her plate, and mopped up the rest of the juices with a roll, stuffing the bread into her mouth and chewing slowly. When she finished, she looked up at Rory.

“Ah dinnae always stay where ah should. Ah poked me head out ev’ry now an’ then, ta trade things what ah found down in the Underneath fer warm food, or drink more often. The dwarves near the lift would gouge me fer the privilege of tradin’, but the humans dinnae know I was cast-out,” she responded.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” Jack asked her.

“Nae much ta talk ‘bout, laddie. Me clan cast me out fer travelin’ wit Brandon. They’re mighty traditional,” she smiled bitterly.

“Why just for that?” Erin asked.

“Well, yeh get a bit famous, carryin’ on wit the bloody Pirate King, don’cha?” her smile slowly became a sly grin.

“What does that even mean? The Pirate King?” Layla’s eyebrows rose.

“Just what ah said, lass. He conquered Valla Corsa an’ became king o’ the pirates,” she replied.

Layla pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered under her breath.

“What was that, El?” Erin asked.

Rory began to chuckle. Jack apparently had gotten the joke the first time around, as he was hiding his laughter behind his hand.

“What am I missing?” the dreadnought pressed.

“This chuuni asshole gets teleported to Noodle-Land and starts acting out the fucking plot to One Piece,” she groaned. “I bet he used to run around yelling that he was gonna be king of the pirates, didn’t he?”

“Goals are important, El,” Rory snerked.

“Ah mean, by the time I met him, lass, he was already the Pirate King,” Maggie replied, still mystified.

“How long did it take him to become the Pirate King,” she asked.

“Dinnae, really. Five years, maybe? He were always a bit reckless. Tol’ me once he died a dozen times in the first month he were here,” Maggie replied.

“And still managed to conquer a country in five years,” Rory shook his head.

“Dinnae get down on yerself, boyo. Yer over the first wall, and yeh been here, what, two months?” she smiled.

“Yeah, but we’ve muddled through quite a bit. Had some close calls,” he replied.

“Tha’s the way o’ the Chosen. Ridin’ the blade’s edge all the way ta glory,” she grinned fiercely. “If’n ah can keep yeh away from that monstrous bitch, yeh’ll be mighty enough ta conquer yer own kingdom in no time at all.”

Jack began to pack up the mess kit and smiled when Maggie lightly smacked his hand and took over cleaning up the meal.

“Get some sleep. I’ll take watch,” he grinned.

“Ah’ll stay up wit yeh, laddie,” Maggie absently offered.

“You don’t need to sleep?” Erin asked her.

“Nae fer nearly a month at a time, if needs. Ah still can, though,” she gave Jack a solemn glance.

The night passed, mostly uneventfully. A group of feral goblins scouted the camp but scampered off when Maggie killed their leader with a thrown rock. They spent the night talking, mostly about Earth. Maggie had lots of questions, and Jack eventually formed the impression that she and Brandon had had a very different relationship than the one that was forming between the elderly dwarf and this crop of Chosen.

He supposed that was understandable, given that she had met the movie-quoting anime nerd when he was “the Pirate King” and she met his group when they were “nobodies on the run from the monster Devil”.