Their arrival is met with moderate fan fair, most just relieved that they don’t have to deal with another front of monsters so much closer to home. Roxie is allowed by her mom to inform people of what happened and to then give the order to monitor the nest as she finishes her resting period. After, Roxie is picked back up and dropped into a hot bath, cleaned then dropped back into her cot in the hospital.

Roxie wakes later to Ox complaining as Gelga applies ointment to his face.

“Ah Roxie, sleep well?” Gelga idly asks as she dabs more onto Ox’s cheek.

Roxie laboriously picks herself up to a sit and wipes the sleep out of her eyes “Alright, I guess. Anything about the nest”

Gelga starts applying ointment to Ox’s shoulders “Your priority should be whether or not your actions yesterday has caused permanent damage to you”

Roxie rubs and stretches her neck “I feel fine”

Gelga shakes her head “You’ve got a watched fate Roxie, honestly, anyone else should have collapsed just getting out of bed after only a week of recovery”

Roxie twists whilst stretching out her wings, audibly clicking her joints “Nearly did. But that's because of that stupid yoga”

“You probably didn’t, because of that stupid yoga” Gelga pauses and gives her a long look.

Roxie un-tenses whilst looking away as Gelga gives a knowing smirk.

Gelga continues to dab ointment onto the remaining blisters on Ox’s body “They’ve killed three monsters from the nest already”

“That’s good to hear” Roxie lays back down.

“And your dad’s been told” Gelga finishes and closes the pot.

Roxie rolls over and grumbles “Oh crap”

Ox looks down “My apologies Roxie, I didn’t mean too—”

“Don’t worry about it” she waves dismissively “I just have to deal with dad doting over me. Mom too, but she has some self-restraint”

Ox perks an eyebrow but says nothing.

Roxie settles into bed and pulls a combat manual from the bedside counter to read as Gelga continues tending to the other patients, whilst Ox slowly eases onto the bed. After, Gelga returns home and Damien takes over, Roxie leaps out of bed, into clean robes and nearly out of the door before her legs involuntarily freeze.

“What are you doing?” Damien speaks up from behind her, a faint trail of black smoke connecting him to her.

Roxie twists around and smiles “To get something to eat”

Damien crosses his wings “You’re not going to visit the nest, are you?”

“Nooooo” Roxie says innocently as she widens her smile.

“Good” he waves a hand and the black trail recedes.

Roxie sneaks out from the door and into the open, she takes a quick glance down the dirt roads around the warehouse before closing her eyes and focusing her watchers sense outwards until the solid view of everything fades and it's nothing but a sense of who's around. She opens her eyes and starts confidently walking through the village whilst avoiding someone.

She weaves between the houses to reach the village hall. She stops outside and focuses inside the building for him but finds him missing and so dives in and makes for the alcove to the side where Skillet and Pan have setup a kitchen to serve the town.

“Ah Roxie!” a wizened voice calls out.

Roxie pauses and turns to find Elder a few feet next to her with a small harpy chick riding his back “Hey”

Elder is still a natural spider and is old enough that he has patches of missing hair over him. The pink harpy on his back calls out “Woxie!” whilst waving its wings.

“Hey Drandis” Roxie relaxes, leans down and shakes him by the wing tips.

Elder waits for Roxie to finish playing with him before asking “Could you be a dear and cart off the food for the others at the hospital, seeing as you’re heading back?”

Roxie reluctantly answers “Sure” then waits by the pushcart as Skillet fills bowls for the others in the hospital “Damien told you beforehand, didn’t he” Roxie throws the question out as she leans on the cart.

Elder turns and Drandis covers his mouth with his wings “What ever could you mean?”

Roxie turns and states incredulously “I know he and Gelga have summons, or familiars or whatever they are”

Elder crawls off without saying a word.

Roxie spits out “Bloody…”

Elder stops and looks back “What was that?”

Roxie cheerily responds “Nothing” before going back to leaning on the cart.

After a little more waiting the cart is filled and Roxie rolls it out of the hall and takes a more direct rout back, keeping her sense out in case. She quickly hands out the food to the others in the hospital before sitting on the edge of her cot.

Ox looks down to his bowl and eats a spoonful then idly chews on the spoon “Thank you. Truly thank you”

Roxie looks up with a “Huh?”

Ox turns to Roxie and asks, “Is there anything I could do to make it up to you?”

“Any good with magic?” she points her spoon at him.

he shakes his head “Afraid not”

“Then not really” she returns to her bowl.

“I can teach you how to use a sword”

Roxie stops for a moment then leans back, grabs the largest combat manual and waves to him “I know how to use a sword, most other weapons too”

“You will still need to spar to learn it” Ox sits up and straightens.

Roxie taps her spoon on her chin “There are plenty of Faulz and Titanoided beasts that willing to help out”

Ox slumps and looks away in thought.

Roxie smiles “I know what you can do. Get me into the adventurers, with a good team and challenging work” then points her spoon back to him.

Ox pauses and frowns “Certainly, but why?”

“You’ve seen the kinda shit we have to deal with. I need strength and you’re an adventurer. Whilst you showed a lack of intelligence—“Roxie gives him a pointed look “You’re undeniably strong”

Ox rubs his chin and mumbles “I can attest to your skill; you’ll skip the apprentice period but will probably still have to go through the gathering period”

“That’s fine, when will we get started”

Ox rubs his chin for a while “Three weeks”

Roxie smiles and pulls a thick and well-thumbed tome from the side counter and starts flicking to bookmarked pages.

The rest of the week passes without much note other than Roxie getting swamped by children whenever Meladon visited. At the end of the week Roxie is released with a clean bill of health and a warning to come back if any pain suddenly starts. Her new daily routine is to be woken up by her mom, grumble through breakfast then start her exercise routine before starting with powers.

She sits in her garden with the book of powers open in front of her as she gets a visitor “Hey Delilah”

She crawls closer “What’chu doing?”

Roxie finishes the redirection of waste energy going out of her body and into her stomach “Starting to gather chi”

Delilah starts reading the book upside down “Oh…. Can I do it too?”

Roxie opens her eyes and looks down to her “Sure, just don’t tell your parents”

Delilah raises and waves her front legs “Wooo”

“Alright, first you to look inwards” Roxie focuses her watchers’ sense on her.

Roxie watches Delilah settles down and a faint pulse start forming inside her body “yeah”

“Then look for a flow going through your body, it will be a certain colour depending on your personality” Roxie watches as the pulse becomes a constant glow inside.

Delilah takes a moment before answering “ok”

“Do you see it” Roxie leans closer and looks at her from a different angle.

Delilah quickly responds “No”

Roxie smirks “Focus on your heart until everything starts fading. Then try to replicate that motion and go outwards”

“Oh—“Delilah scuttles around to look at Roxie “Do I need to close my eyes”

Roxie shakes her head “Doesn’t matter”

Delilah scuttles around but freezes half way “Wait I think I see something….noo” then droops and slowly turns around.

Roxie gently pets her head “No, getting near is good. A single step is better than none”

She perks up and jumps around “ahhh, you’re so wise”

Roxie laughs whilst shaking her head “No, I just read that somewhere. Anyways, keep trying”

She focuses again for a few moments more before saying “G-got it”

Roxie frowns and moves closer “You ok?”

Delilah shakily responds “There’s a ball in my stomach” with obvious worry and concern.

“Hmm—“Roxie starts flipping through the book and eventually places a finger on a page. She then focuses her watchers’ sense into her and finds the fist sized ball of green energy inside her, currently pulsing and much too large for someone who just started “Maybe you’re a pugilist”

Delilah crawls up to the book and starts reading through “What?”

Roxie scrunches her face and thinks on it for a moment “It’s someone who’s born with chi. It’s like me with my sense”

Delilah raises her front legs again “Soo, am I like a super fighty person”

Roxie looks down to her, deep into her eyes and bursts out laughing “No, you just started gathering chi when you were born”

She lowers her legs “Oh….what does it do?”

Roxie flips back through the book before reading through the page with a finger along the lines “Chi is basically used to reinforce your body; it can be used to seal wounds and ‘unlock the body’s natural potential’”

Delilah’s eyes practically light up with excitement “Ooohhhh. So cool”

Roxie leaps up “I’ll drag Ox over, he uses Chi” then vaults over the low fence around the garden and heads towards the hospital, pesters Ox as he gets dressed, then practically drags him back home.

When they get there, they find Delilah glowing and arcing green energy, then share a look.

Ox calmly says “Pugilists are very unfair” then walks around to go through the house to the garden.

Roxie meanwhile leaps back over and taps Delilah on the head “Hey”

“Aaahhhhhh!” Delilah screams and leaps onto her face.

Ox bursts through the back door to see the scene and the face of a very unamused Roxie as she pulls Delilah off.

She holds Delilah, who has curled up and is quivering upside down in her hand, then flips her and gently places her down. Roxie waits for her to turn around before a smirk crosses her face “You ok there?”

She turns around and lays down “Ye’h sorry”

“No problem. Hey, any tips for her!” Roxie shouts at Ox as he trots over.

Ox flinches away “Don’t need to shout, and yes”

“Good, because this book is say’s sweet f’ a’” Roxie picks up the book and closes it with a finger as a bookmark.

Ox groans as he crouches down “Should you really be using that language around her”

Roxie waves a hand dismissively “She’s heard me say worse”

“C---” Roxie quickly covers Delilah's mouth before she finishes the word.

“Ok Delilah. I’m gonna go finish my chi, I’ll just be over there if you need me” she then lightly jogs to the other side of the garden.

Roxie sits back down, cross legged and waits for Ox and Delilah to get started before focusing inwards herself. It takes her most of an hour to get a tiny drop of chi that can't even cover a hair, but it marks the start as the energy within that would go out as waste starts collecting inside by itself, growing the drop, annoyingly slowly.

Roxie opens her eyes to see Delilah sleeping on her lap, slowly breathing in and out. Roxie gently strokes her back and looks up to Ox watching the sun rise, prompting Roxie to do the same.

Delilah eventually wakes and stretches out before scuttling off the sleeping Roxie and back home. She slowly wakes as Delilah crawls under the fence, gets up and falls down onto the bench next to Ox.

“Like watching the sun rise?” Roxie questions as she stretches out, nearly batting him on the back of the head with a wing.

Ox seems to mull the question over for a moment “It's just. Nothing lasts forever, even the suns themselves,

so I like to take the time to appreciate them”

“Goblin'shit, really?” Roxie leans forwards.

“It's a theory” he seems to drift off for a second “Anyways, would you like some aid seeing as you brought me here” Ox leans backwards against the wall.

Roxie arches her back which makes several clicks “Not unless you have tips on hunting a mana beast”

Ox snaps around to her with a look of concern “You only just started with chi; you can't start with magic now”

“I know, eventually though. Eventually” Roxie lays her back against the wall with Ox and relaxes.

Dropping his shoulders with a sigh, he waits a minuet before asking “I heard that the spiders are the original settlers here”

“Uh? Yeah, my group were sent off to make another settlement” Roxie says this wistfully “I was born after, so it was my home” Roxie then stares and smiles into the distance “I’m so going to fuck up that dragon”

Ox blurts out “What!” with a face of shock.

Roxie flinches away in surprise “Fates, what?”

Ox stares at her wide eyed “H-how do you expect to kill a creature that can blot out a realm's sun”

Roxie straightens herself “It's only a pretender dragon, barely bigger than an old oak”

Ox continues staring at her, feeling more than a little silly, then backs off and holds his face in his hands “By the good gods what's out here”

Roxie starts listing things off whilst counting on her fingers “Necromancers—”

Ox mumbles through his hands “Told about those when i got here”

She then nods in the direction of the skinner nest “Monsters—”

Ox still doesn’t lift his head from his hands “Seen those”

Roxie looks up and thinks for a moment “A few pretender dragons—”

Ox points a finger at her “Just told about those”

“And..... The Alieons” Roxie looks at the count and sighs.

“Who?” Ox pulls his face from his hands and looks to Roxie.

Roxie leans back with her hands supporting her head “Angels who want the old gods back”

“Fuck sake” Ox then clasps his hands and starts muttering a prayer.

Roxie patiently waits for Ox to finish before asking “Who you praying to?”

Ox looks back to the sun “Oath, and any others who would listen”

Roxie looks up to the sun rise too “Should probably make one to Nezrilia when you can then”

Ox sighs and droops before reluctantly asking “Who?”

Roxie stands and opens the door inside “Why don’t you come see, we got a shrine behind the hall”

Ox perks up a bit “Oh. No one did give me a tour of the place” then stands up.

After taking the cynic route and showing Ox things like the baths, which he was especially grateful for, they reach the small shrine. The shrine itself is a statue of a large spider covered in enough sheer silk that it starts to become opaque, under a roof that is made from wood which is purposefully unevenly stained to make nonuniform wave patterns. Several spiders both Titanoid and not are socialising around the shrine, but despite sticking out neither Roxie nor Ox get more than passing glances.

The oldest priest crawls to meet them, wearing a light blue sash with Nezrilias symbol, a spider on a spiral, emblazoned on it “Greetings Roxie my dear, I haven’t seen you in days now”

Roxie grins wide before kneeling down and gently picking up the old spider into a hug “So sorry, you know how Gelga is. I was going to see you as soon as I could”

The priest curls its front legs around her shoulders and reciprocates the hug “You and I both know that is shit”

Roxie giggles as she lets the spider down “Sorry, I’ll visit twice next week” she stands and indicates to Ox “Anyways, he’s here to get protection for his daughters”

The priest raises one of his front legs for a shake “Ah, sir Ox I don’t believe I had the pleasure”

“No, umm, father?” Ox is slow to reach out his hand but shakes firmly.

“Please. I prefer speaker” speaker nods and pulls his leg back.

Someone calls from behind “Roxie” Causing her to jump and scream getting the attention of everyone, until they see who it is and go back about their business.

Roxie spins around and bares her teeth to Elder who now has a small sleeping Aqrabuamelu on his back “What in the abyss is wrong with yo-oh shit it’s adorable” she gently picks the child up and hugs it to her chest “Don’t think you've gotten away with that old man” she growls this with a pointed finger before turning to Ox and speaker “You ok here, I’ll just be with elder for a bit”

Ox and speaker nod before continuing with their business.

Elder stops his chuckling as Roxie turns back “I’m sure I haven’t. Anyways, he was one of our new arrivals two days ago, but his parents have left for our monster front yesterday—” he leans closer to Roxie “Came to tell you that they are relieving Tiltain”

Roxie's eyes go wide as panic sets in and immediately pushes out her watcher sense but retracts it as the child starts becoming agitated and tries to wriggle away “Sh sh, it’s ok. I'm sorry” she then returns it back to Elder “I think it’s best if you hold him”

He lowers himself so the boy can get back up “I don’t think so”

“Wha—?” before Roxie can finish, she's tackled and pinned to the ground as a cheery voice shouts out-

“Kitten!” Tiltain remains pinning Roxie to the ground as he chirps “Did you miss me? Cuz' I missed you, a lot”

Roxie pulls her face from the dirt and reluctantly groans “Yeah, missed you a lot dad”

Tiltain gives her face a few licks, causing Roxie to spit and splutter whilst trying to bat him away, before picking her up by the scruff and trotting away from the shrine with her.

Roxie quickly shouts, “You know where I live if you need me!” behind her before she's out of earshot.