Callie's Heroes

PART V: YOLO

"Lady Winafria is right, it is so beautiful here," Callie said. She leaned her head back, tapping it gently against the tree as she closed her eyes. The sun, now slowly turning orange as it started to think about setting, was beginning to cast some longer shadows on the ground. Soon it would disappear, and the sky would fill with unknown stars and the light of a foreign moon.

Not far away, Jesca had surprisingly fallen asleep in a final patch of sunlight, Artemis dozing next to her, while Iris did the same curled up on her hip. Callie's Catkin friend had been missing most of the day and had waved off any attempts to discuss what she'd been up to. She seemed quiet and introspective, and something was certainly on her mind. Callie was curious, of course, but didn't press the issue, deciding it was better to just be ready to be there when and if Jesca needed an ear.

"That's it, I'm full," Pixyl said, setting her plate aside. What was this? Her fourth? The picnic foods that had been put out a while ago were, like all things Pama, absolutely amazing, and the Pixie had gone back several times for more. She bore no signs of carrying a food baby, so Callie had no idea where she stored it all, considering her tiny size.

The picnic had quite the different vibe from the events of the night before. Where the previous evening had a great deal of formality around it, despite the dance becoming much less so as the event wore on, today's events were just … chill. It was a picnic, as advertised, so there was a great air of relaxation to it. Save for a few ladies in pretty summer dresses, including Rowani of all people, nobody was dressed up. There was no sense of needing to impress anyone, and thus, everything became less-forced, for lack of a better description. Even the music, once it started going, seemed cheery and happy in comparison to the night before, with something akin to square dancing taking place, as Deduxia and company played along with fiddles and other instruments.

And the food! Oh the food! No gourmet dishes or fancy presentations today. It really was just a picnic of comfort food, making Callie feel like back home in Chicago. People built their own sandwiches, adding various types of salads and sides to their summoned plates. Baskets of still-steaming rolls were continuously plied, and there were even a few iron grills cooking up this world's version of hotdogs and a few other fresh grillables that were real food, rather than summoned. They even had potato chips, or a near approximation of them. It felt almost like a neighborhood block party or a gigantic family reunion. Even conversations felt different, moving away from discussions of the war or the King Regents or politics or things that might be serious. Now it was talk of grandchildren and old stories of adventures or even misadventures. Jorin had even gotten a crowd to gather around him as he regaled people with stories from his Adventuring days, with Reynard occasionally calling bullshit when the stories got a little far from the truth.

Most of Callie's friends had spent the afternoon off doing their own thing. Ambria and the twins hadn't made an appearance at all until just a short time ago. Chown and Lhawni, after she had escaped her conversation with the Legate, had shape-changed into their animal forms so they could go running through the forest together, and had been gone for a while. Melga and Wallir had gone one step further, taking to the air and flying off to who-knows-where, returning not long ago.

"Hey! They're back," Callie said, gently bumping Pixyl with her elbow. Not far away, the apparent now-throuple of Vanis, Lena and Juniper were emerging from the woods, walking onto the field and off to where the food was staged for self-serving. The three looked … happy actually. Each of them were smiling, Lena now carrying the flower that Juniper had summoned the evening before. Vanis, being ever-gracious, motioned both ladies to go before him, Callie able to hear Lena pointing out he was only doing that so he could watch both of their rears, and Vanis conceding the benefit of being polite. There was certainly no sense of any kind of emotional tension.

"They look like they've worked it out," Pixyl said. "That's good, right?"

"I suppose," Callie said, "as long as Juniper doesn't get hurt. Vanis and Lena at least can deal with any feelings they might have, but I don't know if Juniper can." Then she shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong about Juniper, though. I hope I'm wrong, for that matter."

"Tazrok says they are in love with each other," Jesca said as she woke and sat up, lightly placing the still-napping Iris on to the still-napping Artemis.

"Who? All three?"

"At least Lena and Vanis." Jesca yawned and stretched. "He thinks they have been for a while, and just don't know it yet."

"Looks to me like they know it now," Callie said with a laugh. Then she added, "Good for them. YOLO!"

"What's that mean? Is that some Gnome word?" Jesca asked, yawning and stretching again as she looked out at the sun, still waking from her catnap.

It took a half moment to realize what Jesca meant by 'Gnome word', before Callie replied, "It's Gnome for 'you only live once'." Part of Callie hated to hide the full truth, but after the scare with Reynard last night, she needed to watch herself. She'd made a decision earlier in the day not to play any music tonight, not wanting to stand out again. She'd already stood out enough, and was going to try and just quietly muddle through the rest of the holiday and stay low-key. She also knew that could be a difficult task because … well … it was her.

"A good word, I suppose," Jesca said, her voice seeming a little down. She sounded the word out slowly. "Yoh-low. Maybe I need to start living my life a little more like that."

Callie was about to respond to Jesca with what would surely have been appropriately-smartass but certainly life-changing advice, but her words were cut off as her sensitive hearing heard an out-of-place sound. Frowning, she stood, turning slowly in a circle to determine a direction. Seeing Callie focusing, Jesca started to do the same.

"What is it?" Pixyl asked.

"I think it's someone crying," Callie said. In only a few more seconds, Callie determined the general direction and took a few steps to get a clear view, soon seeing the source. It was someone behind a big tree about one-hundred meters back into the woods from the edge of the training field. They were very obviously hiding, sitting huddled down, arms wrapped around themselves. As she watched, the person shook with another round of quiet sobs.

Jesca finally spotted the source, too, and then her face puzzled. "I don't recognize her."

"I do," Callie said. "It's Utora's sister." After seeing slightly puzzled looks on their faces, Callie clarified as a reminder for her friends. "The Gnoll that accepted her Radiant Star last night."

"Oh, that's right," Jesca said, as the memory came back. "She looks sad."

"Understandable," Callie said. "All the people around her are laughing and having fun, and all she sees are constant reminders of her sister. That's after being dragged all the way out here just to accept the medal. It's got to be hard for her." A few seconds passed as the three internalized the statement, then Callie said, "I'm going to go talk to her." She waved Pixyl and Jesca off when they moved to follow. "Just me. Too many people, otherwise. I'll find you both in a bit."

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Callie moved through the woods, her Ranger skills finding easy paths through the undergrowth. Upon getting close, she cleared her throat lightly and then purposely stepped on a stick to announce her presence. The Gnoll looked up, and then around, before seeing Callie approaching.

"Hey," Callie said, raising a hand. "Mind if I join you?"

"Uh, okay," the Gnoll replied as she used one paw to wipe the tears off her face. You could tell she really didn't want company.

Walking over to the hiding spot, Callie sat down next to her. "If you'd rather be alone, just tell me and I'll leave." After a long silence where neither said anything, Callie finally asked, "How are you holding up?"

The Gnoll girl's eyes went wide, and the several seconds of sobs she'd been holding since Callie got there all came out in a single blubber of surprise. "You're … you're the first person to actually ask me that question since I arrived. Everyone else simply says 'sorry for your loss' and then talks about my sister."

Locking eyes, Callie asked again, making sure to emphasize. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm getting by, mostly. I just got tired of hearing it and needed to get away for a bit."

"I totally understand," Callie said, trying to be comforting. She really did understand, because when her dad had died, she reached a point where she was so sick of hearing 'I'm sorry for your loss' that she was almost considering pummeling the next person that said anything. Instead, she went and hid and had a good cry instead. She'd had a gut feeling that was what happened here, and it was why she came over, to say the words she had never heard.

"I miss my family and home," the Gnoll continued, "but I'm actually finding I don't miss the city. It's so open and quiet here, none of the constant noises of people all around you. It almost makes me wish I could stay. That might be a bit strange, though, because everywhere I look is a reminder that my sister was here less than a year ago." She made a hollow laugh. "She could have even sat under this very tree. Or climbed it, for that matter. She liked climbing trees, for some crazy reason. She loved nature. Now being here, I think I can start to see why."

"I'm Callie."

"Jasryn."

"The Legate mentioned you were getting married?" Callie said. She assumed this was Utora's older sister, so the one who's wedding was on hold. Presumably the other would at best be seventeen, if not younger, so not likely ready for marriage.

Jasryn shook her head. "It ended not long after Utora left. I caught him with my best friend."

Callie made a wincing, apologetic noise. "Oof, sorry about bringing that up."

Smiling just a bit and with a tiny bit of laughter, she sniffled and then replied, "It's okay, you couldn't have known, and honestly, I'm better off for it. Besides, the bitch deserves his cheating, drimling ass!"

With that, they both laughed, rather uproariously actually, for a few moments. It was a good break from the tension of the moment. Jasryn eventually sighed, snapped off a piece of forest fern, and started idly pulling the leaves off it as she looked up through the branches to the blue sky beyond. They were quiet for a bit, the Gnoll soon wiping what remained of her recent tears away.

"What do you do, for work I mean, back in Imor?" Callie asked, just generally making distracting conversation. "Following after your parents?"

"No!" Jasryn replied emphatically as she shook her head. "My father wishes one of his children would, but none of us are interested in that. Same with my mother's work. As for me, I don't work at the moment, but I like numbers and organizing things, so I spend a lot of time keeping the accounts for my parents. It suits me, since my class is Scholar. I want to find work doing something like that."

"You mean bookkeeping? I have that perk."

"Really?" Jasryn said, her eyes lighting up.

"I like numbers, too," Callie said with a smile. "There's something about getting them to line up perfectly that just feels good, right?"

"Yes! Stars, you understand!" Jasryn's eyes went bright and excited now, a joy in meeting somebody who actually understood her passion. "Most people look at me as if I'm a little crazy when I try to explain how comforting they can be. There's no emotion attached to numbers, just simple, raw information and order. Who wouldn't want that in their life?"

"Right! Exactly!" Callie agreed.

Then Jasryn sighed. "I don't have the perk for Bookkeeping, though. We never could afford to get any of us formal study at anything. What I do know is largely self taught, although I have a Quick Study perk, so I learn fast."

Callie had never talked to anyone about what kinds of skills and perks the base Scholar class received, so was rather surprised by the one Jasryn mentioned. A simple perk to make it so you learned things faster? How would that work? If only she'd had something like that back in college! Then, she wondered if there was a way to actually learn the perk, despite being a Ranger. If so, it could be a good investment before trying to learn Culinar and Enchanting skills, leading to learning everything more efficiently. She needed to talk to Vanis about it, whenever he eventually came up for air.

"You know …" Jasryn said, interrupting Callie's internal musings as her sentence drifted off.

"What's that?" Callie asked.

"Utora received the Radiant Star, so the army lets her heirs inherit her worm. The Commandant told me about that yesterday."

"Utora was a Paladin, though," Callie said.

"I know, but in this case, we receive a commensurate amount of money instead, so the worm can be used by another army Paladin someday. It's enough money that I could easily get some formal training and maybe even learn that Bookkeeping perk. In fact … stars, I'm only a Scholar, so I could actually afford a worm of my own, plus one for my younger sister, too." Then to clarify, Jasryn added, "She's a Healer; just received her class about two months ago. She's quite excited about it. She knows one skill, how to block pain, and the silly girl likes to sneak up on people and numb some part of their body."

"That would be an excellent investment!" Callie agreed. "You'd both get plenty of work for the rest of your life in your chosen field if you knew all your skills. What about your brother? Would he want one, too?"

"He definitely wouldn't want one. He's a Warrior by class, but perfectly happy working as an apprentice glassmaker. I think he enjoys the sweat and labor, and the ability to be creative. With Utora gone, he's said he absolutely wants nothing, ever, to do with fighting or his class. Still, there would be money left over for him." You could see the wheels of a plan spinning in Jasryn's head.

As the Gnoll spoke, Callie's own wheels were starting to spin a bit, too. In fact, several of them were now spinning at once. Part of her was arguing against meddling, but the other part wasn't going to listen. It seldom did, and Jasryn's growing enthusiasm only seemed to encourage it. She had a couple thoughts on how to help.

"I can't make any promises," Callie said, "but a bit ago you mentioned that you'd like to stay, if you could. Were you serious? Because if so, there's a couple people we could talk to."

The lost-in-thought Gnoll blinked, her own scheming interrupted. "You're … what?"

"It could be a long-shot, so I want to be sure. Like you said, there's going to be reminders of your sister here. Even the name of the camp is going to be a reminder."

"Uh … maybe? It's rather sudden. I'm supposed to go back tomorrow, but …" Jasryn's words trailed off as she looked about the forest, a bewildered expression on her face. "Except for a few sentimental belongings, I don't have anything back in Imor of importance," she finally said. "I still live with my parents, so they'd be happy to have me out of the house. Well, they'd rather I was married off, but that fell apart. Maybe starting new is good?" Hesitantly at first but then with a little more vigor, Jasryn began to nod.

"Great!" Callie said. "I have an idea!"