“Dinner time!” Erden says, dropping a freshly-killed cod on the ground. Mortar immediately rushed to begin tearing into it.

“See? Isn’t that crazy!?” You point to Mortar. “She’s even going for the scales!”

“You got her to eat!” K’yoko grins. “I knew it had to be possible, but she never tried anything I gave her. She would just give it a sniff and move on to something else. I tried crystals and regular pet food, but never fish…”

“Huh?” You stand aback. “What do you mean ‘eat!?’ Carbuncles don’t eat food!”

“Most carbuncles don’t eat food.” K’yoko corrects you. “But ruby carbuncles are able to burn the food using their high body temperature to absorb the aether. Of course, they don’t have a digestive system per say, so…”

Mortar turned to the side of the fish and spit out a lump of dark gray goop, and resumed eating.

“So they have to spit out the spent nutrients.” You conclude. “I see.”

“I wanted to teach her how to hunt the wildlife around The Waking Sands, and it just so happens she’s taken a liking to it herself!” Erden rubbed her head as she ate. “A bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way-- she listens to me pretty well!”

“I should make a note of this…” K’yoko flipped through a notebook until she reached a set of pages with diagrams and drawings of Mortar. “I had begun to think that I had made some kind of mistake with the etchings on her gem-- I’ve never been able to follow my commands, but using food as a treat like that lines up with the pet training books I’ve been reading!”

“This seems like a lot of hassle.” You chuckle. “Brick has always been so well behaved just from the get-go for me.”

“Part of the personality divide has to do with the gem each carbuncle is made of, and obviously there’s a wide range you can get even keeping that in mind.” K’yoko says, sitting down. “You named her Mortar?”

“Yeah.”

“Does she know any tricks?” K’yoko began to pet Mortar, who didn’t seem to pay her any mind.

“I taught her to stand on my blade so I can throw her skyward, and then she rains fire down while she’s airborne.”

“That’s super creative! A lot of the time with carbuncles it's hard to teach them new spells because of the limited gem size for inscription, so you kind of have to work with what they’ve got.” She inspects Mortar’s gem. “There’s still some space here, though. And it looks like there’s no scratches, either.”

“I try very hard to make sure that she’s never hurt.” He says.

“...Right, of course.” She stands back up. “I’ve been a little more worried about my carbuncles shattering these past few weeks. The gems are well-cut and polished, but if you hit them right they’re pretty fragile.” She sighed. “Mina invited me along for her next expedition into Nym, but…I dunno. I feel like I’m not cut out for adventuring work.”

The silence hangs in the air for a little while before Erden speaks up again.

“I’m sorry, K’yoko.”

“...Hm? Why?” She asked.

“What happened to you back in Tam-Tara was my fault.” He takes a step closer to her. “I was so busy worrying about what would happen if I hesitated that I acted too quickly, and you paid the price for it. All adventuring work has risks, but for that to be one of your earliest experiences…”

“What are you talking about?” K’yoko shook her head. “I agree that you didn’t handle it the best, but that entire situation was my fault, not yours. If I hadn’t been so far back, I wouldn’t have been grabbed like that, and…” She stopped and cleared her throat. “...I’d rather not think about it, to be honest. I’m just worried that I’ll keep putting myself in danger, and if I’m in danger, then everyone else has to start worrying about me too.”

“Some people are worth worrying about.” Erden says.

“It isn’t either of your faults. It’s that cultist who did it!” You huff. “That man decided that hurting K’yoko was worth more than keeping his life, and he died for it. Him and all of his friends. It was a close call, but it would’ve been a lot closer if we hadn’t had you there with us, K’yoko. You and Olahr working together during the beginning made it so we had our full strength to fight at the end.

“If you both learned something from the experience, then that’s great. But blaming yourselves for something a lunatic did isn’t going to help anyone.” You cross your arms. “I’m just sorry that you’ve had to endure the emotional brunt of this all, K’yoko. If you don’t want to go to Nym, that’s fine, but you could still stand to grow from the experience, and you might even find some lost wisdom that could help you with your carbuncle designs.”

“Maybe you’re right.” K’yoko softly held her hand up to her throat. “I just think I need a bit more time...”

“I had a similar experience, a little while before we went into Tam-Tara together.” Erden leaned against the wall. “I fought a paladin and brought to death’s door, but Anah’to managed to patch me back up.” He shrugged. “It was a little scary, but not as scary as how angry he was at me when I woke up.” You roll your eyes, even if it gets a little smile out of you.

“How did you keep going after something like that?” K’yoko asked. “That sounds horrible…”

“Because the people I care about needed me to.” He said. “It’s not always easy, but if I take the hits then nobody else has to. If someone I love asks me to take another step forward for them, then that’s hardly a decision at all. I’d run to the ends of Hydaelyn for each of them.”

“I guess that makes sense…” She sighs. “Just the idea of needing to go and fight things, I never know what to do-- I freeze up.”

“It will get easier with time and practice.” You explain. “Eventually you find a sort of rhythm with what you do in a fight. Obviously you need to adapt to what’s going on, and keeping a watchful eye on your environment can give you an edge, but experience is the best teacher.

“If you’re comfortable with it by then, going to Nym would be a great idea.” You add. “Everyone is being very cautious to clear out the rooms methodically, and Mina gives out teleportation lodestones which you can break at any time to escape.”

“I can see what you’re saying.” K’yoko nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Oh! I almost forgot, we had a question about carbuncles.” Erden picked up Mortar. “Do you know if carbuncles can resist the effects of tempering?”

“Fundamentally, carbuncles are their gemstone.” K’yoko pulled a sapphire gemstone out of her pocket. “Since primals influence crystals’ aether, it’s safe to assume that they can’t resist it.”

“What if someone with The Echo, like me, summoned them?”

“Umm…The Echo is the thing that lets people fight primals, right?” K’yoko pondered on it for a moment. “I guess it would depend on how it works. Is The Echo bound to your aether? If so, its protection…might transfer into the gem. Even if your carbuncle took enough damage to revert back to its gem, the residual aether leftover would protect it too, for a little while.”

“I’m not too sure about the specifics. Maybe we could ask Phekda or Minfilia?” Erden looks at you. You shrug.

“There is some historical precedent here.” K’yoko sifts through a stack of books off to the side. “Here.” She presents a journal to Erden. “There is an account of someone who called themselves a summoner in this journal. They used carbuncles against primals, but they never detailed any methodology for protecting them. This…echo trait you’re talking about might have been the hidden key. Just handle it with care, information on carbuncles is hard to come by!”

“Thanks, this’ll be a big help!” Erden flips through the first few pages.

“Is Thubyrgeim in, by the way?” You ask. “I was wondering if she finished inspecting the lodestone I left here.”

“She left it in your quarters-- said it was a Fire crystal, I believe!”

“Heh, that’s…pretty convenient, I suppose.” You scratch the back of your head.

“We’re having a party the morning of the Starlight Celebration!” Erden says with a big smile. “It’ll be at The Waking Sands in Vesper Bay. Do you think you can make it?”

“As long as it’s in the morning I can; I’m gonna go see my family in the afternoon.”

“That’s great!” You turn towards the door. “I still have some shopping and gift-making I need to do myself.”

“Mmm.” Erden nods. “I have no idea what to get for S’olahr and Phekda.” He looks to K’yoko. “Or you.”

“Oh! Well, it’s pretty last minute, isn’t it?” K’yoko shifts in place. “I guess anything you’d think I’d like…? I don’t really have anything I need.”

“Sure, I’ll give it my best shot.”

You and Erden head to the markets and try to decide what exactly you’re looking for. You decide to invest in some new cookware for S’olahr-- the finest that you can reasonably afford. Erden orders several packages of softwood lumber, and while he’s busy giving order details you sneak off and secure a special bracelet which helps its bearer attune themselves to ice-- a sort of training wheel for starting mages. You stow it away in your pocket before reconvening with him to talk about what in the seven hells to get Phekda and K’yoko.

Erden seems to be cooking up something special with this lumber he’s just ordered, which leaves you on your own. You find little carbuncle earrings on sale for more money than they are worth (they look very gaudy,) but you get them for K’yoko all the same. Trying to think of something for Phekda forces you to confront the reality that you don’t actually know her that well.

“Does she like anything besides…being a red mage?” You ask Erden.

“Honestly? I’m not too sure.” He says. “She’s very work-driven, so I suppose anything that would help her get her job done would be appreciated.”

With how often she’s on the road, traveling from place to place, you decide to get her some teleportation scrolls and a new pair of boots, though it does remind you that you really ought to get to know her more personally. You’re risking your lives for one another, after all.

You know better than to use gil to get Mizu something. It’s likely she’s going to want the same thing she wants every special occasion-- a duel of fantastic proportions to decide once and for all (for the dozenth time) which is better: Astral or Umbral magic! It’s umbral magic, for the record, since Mizu always knocks herself out cold before she can wear you down. You will indulge her, of course, but you’ll also take the time to make a drawing for her. You’re an amateur artist at best, but she likes to see you try.

You’re happy to be done with your holiday shopping, though your wallet is a lot lighter than it was at the start of the day. The scions’ pay is alright, but it’s nowhere near the big gil stipend you were given by Limsa for your earlier published spells. You just haven’t…made progress worth reporting for more.

Tomorrow is another day.