Combat Artificer

Valteria laid down next to Xander, still holding him. Slowly, Xander wormed his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Cuddling feels better with a real body," Xander admitted.

"Good," Valteria replied.

As the day wore on, Xander received visits from the rest of the team, each in turn coming to check on him. The occasional werewolf drifted in and out, grabbing something from their personal effects stored in the long house. Xander spent the time basking in Valteria's comforting presence and practicing small movements. He wiggled his toes and fingers, made fists, rotated his shoulders and shrugged. He was starting to feel like he was getting the hang of moving again. Perhaps tomorrow he'd try sitting up and maybe even walking.

As darkness began to fall, more and more of the displaced werewolves began to filter into the longhouse, retiring for the day. Xander didn't mind sharing the space, though. After all, he had made the place for them, not himself. The open rows of bunk beds did remind him a bit of basic training, though. He smiled to himself as he imagined Jerik in a drill sergeant's hat kicking in the door and making them all do pushups for some minor screwup.

Xander lay in the darkness for a few more hours, just daydreaming and snuggling Valteria, who had already fallen asleep, when he had a realization. He didn't just have to lay there daydreaming anymore through the night. He was supposed to sleep now. He opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone else seemed to be asleep. A few of the werewolves snored, but nothing too egregiously loud. He sighed to himself. He wasn't particularly tired, as he hadn't exactly exerted himself at any point in the day. Still, he was curious about sleeping again. It had been so long, he hardly remembered the feeling of waking up with the memories of a dream slowly slipping away. He figured he should try, or else he'd be miserable in the morning, and that just wouldn't do if he planned on trying to walk. He decided the best way to get to sleep would simply be to relax and pretend to be asleep. It took some time, but he eventually fell into a comfortable sleep, loosely holding Valteria.

Xander woke up to Valteria gently shaking him. "Good morning sleepy," she said softly, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Mmf," Xander grumbled out. "Morning to you too."

"Thought I'd wake you since everyone else is getting up, too," Valteria explained.

"Thanks," Xander said. He'd almost said, 'Thanks, babe,' to her, falling into old habits from Earth. He paused, thinking. "You know, I just realized that I don't really ever hear pet names used here," he admitted.

"Pet names?" Valteria asked curiously. "Like, naming a pet? People name their pets all the time, Xander."

"No, uh, like nicknames for your girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse. It was something that was more common on Earth I suppose. Referring to your significant other as babe, or baby, or honey, or having a nickname for them. Like calling you Val. Kind of indicates that you're more comfortable with the person than you would be just using their formal full name? Sort of. But you wouldn't necessarily do it with someone you weren't intimate with, except for maybe the name shortening," Xander tried to explain.

"Mmm… pet name itself sounds a little degrading," Valteria admitted. "And so does being called a baby. Why would you call someone you love a baby?"

"Uh… I'm not sure, exactly. Because you cherish them? Like you'd cherish a baby, I suppose?" Xander thought out loud.

"I do like honey, though. I think that one is sweet." Valteria chuckled. "Like honey is sweet. And Val is nice, I like the sound of it."

"I'll remember that, and try them out," Xander affirmed.

"So what's the plan for the day?" Valteria asked.

"Well, I kind of want to try sitting up and walking," Xander admitted. "I've got the little movements down well enough – I spent a lot of time last night just wiggling my feet and hands."

"I noticed," Valteria said with a hint of grumble. "It made it a tad bit more difficult to get to sleep."

"Sorry," Xander said laughing. "I just wasn't tired for a while. It was hard to get to sleep. Ah, I missed sleeping. I feel so… refreshed." He stretched, practicing his movements once more.

"Do you want to try now?" Valteria said curiously, "Or do you need to prepare some?"

"I think I'd like to try now. I'm kind of hungry, actually," Xander admitted.

"Let me get up and out of your way," Valteria said, sitting up herself and getting out of the bed.

"Shit, I'm still naked aren't I?" Xander realized.

Valteria winked at him and said, "It made you extra comfy to snuggle up to. Your skin is awfully soft."

"Let me… there we go." Xander said as he concentrated on manifesting a set of clothes onto himself. It was significantly easier than moving was, as the process hadn't changed any. He'd opted for his camouflage army uniform, since it was comfortable and relatively loose. It was also sturdy, and would hold up to any falls he had while practicing.

"I'm always jealous of that," Valteria said lightly. "I hate getting dressed."

"I hate it when you get dressed too," Xander said teasingly, sticking his tongue out. "Okay, here goes." Xander braced his arms and slowly levered himself into a sitting position, tightening his core as he went. It was wobbly, but he succeeded. "Phew, that was close," he admitted.

"But you did it!" Valteria said excitedly.

"Shall we try standing?" Xander asked himself. "I think so," he confirmed with a nod.

Xander twisted, bringing his feet to dangle off the edge of the bed. He scooted forward 'til his feet were firmly planted on the ground, but he was still sitting on the bed. He placed his arms on the bed and lifted himself up as high as he could and engaged his legs. He managed to stand, slowly. He swayed a little from side to side and he got a feel for his balance again. Valteria clapped her hands in celebration. He stood there, slowly getting acquainted with the feeling of balancing and pondering out the next step. Literally. He was thinking about the logistics of raising one foot and stepping forward. It was simple in theory, but somehow seemed more complicated than it should have been when he thought about it too hard. He opted instead to stop thinking and instead just try taking a step forward. He managed it, but he had to raise his arms up to balance himself partway through.

"Balancing is hard," Xander complained.

"You'll get there," Valteria encouraged.

Twenty minutes later, and Xander, somewhat stiffly, walked out the door of the longhouse in search of food. He didn't have much in his inventory, just a few trail rations and MREs that had been rattling around in one of his bags stored in his inventory since before he'd been disembodied. He was going to have to carry around more food from now on. Snacks included. He'd rather see if anyone on the team was cooking anything, though. He didn't want his first meal in years to be an MRE.

His walk had loosened up, slowly coming back to his natural gait as he and Valteria made their way over to the tents that the team had set up. There they found Atrax, Gabrelle, Frazay, and Graffus sitting around a campfire, cooking. Freyja and Trion were laying nearby in the grass, still snoozing through the morning.

"Xander! Valteria!" Gabrelle called out, being the first to notice the two.

Xander waved a bit awkwardly, the motion still not coming quite naturally to him yet. "Hi everybody," he responded as the rest of the team looked his direction.

"It's nice to see you up and about," Graffus said. "Worried you were going to be laid flat for a good few days yet."

"Glad it didn't take me that long, I think I might have gone crazy being in bed for that long," Xander admitted.

"What was it like?" Atrax asked, leaning forward. "When you ran off, I mean. We were worried we might not find you out in the woods."

"It's pretty hazy," Xander admitted. "At first, there was just so much pain. Maybe that was my new body forming? It gets fuzzier after that. I remember running through the woods in flashes, and that's about it. I'm glad Freyja came with me… I was out cold when they found me."

"Mmm. Interesting," Atrax said, pulling out a notebook and scribbling something down.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Whatcha noting down?" Xander said, craning to look at the notebook.

Atrax didn't try to hide the notebook, though Xander had some trouble reading his handwriting and occasional shorthand. "Ah, just taking some notes is all. Reincarnation is, well, rare. You're not the first, by any means, but it's a rare occurrence and there isn't much documentation on it. At this point, someone could probably write a book filled with the rare occurrences that have happened to you," Atrax laughed.

"That's fair. Writing your own book?" Xander probed.

"Not any time soon, but maybe someday. In the meantime, having notes is good enough for me," Atrax said, stashing the notebook back into a pouch.

"Enough food to share?" Valteria asked, bringing Xander back to his original purpose.

"Of course!" Gabrelle said happily, passing some sausages over to Xander and Valteria. "These still need to be roasted, so find yourself a stick and help yourself."

Xander breathed in deeply through his nose. "Ahh, I never really thought about it, but I missed just smelling. Everything smells so good. Especially the food." He created two small, metal roasting spits for himself and Valteria, allowing them to skewer their sausages and start roasting them over the fire. "I can't wait to eat something. Maybe I'm just not used to being hungry anymore, but I feel like I'm starving this morning."

Xander cooked his sausage for what he decided was the minimum amount of time he could get away with – just barely crispy on the outside. He let out a groan as he took his first bite. "Mmmf, god that's good. Ah! And hot," he opened his mouth slightly, trying to breathe out the hot air and cool down his bite of sausage.

Xander's too hot bite gathered a few smiles and chuckles as he struggled to cool down his mouth. "Careful," Valteria chastised him lightly, "You'll burn your tongue."

"Too late," Xander said, his mouth still full.

"Welcome to the land of the living again," Graffus congratulated Xander with a pat on the back. "We need to get you in a tavern and have a real celebration."

"Ooh, I agree," Xander said excitedly. "I'm looking forward to wine. I missed wine."

"What do we do now that Xander's [Quest] is done?" Gabrelle asked the group.

"I think we have sufficiently resolved the situation to claim that reward that the guild was holding," Atrax posited.

"I say we head back to Breks and celebrate at the tavern, claim our reward, have a sleep on a real bed for a night or two, and then head back to Rock's Bay and see what contracts we can pick up next."

"I would like to check on the shop," Valteria admitted.

"Sounds good to me," Xander agreed. "Oh! We still need to visit Alesse, too."

"Oh, yes! We have to visit," Gabrelle enthused. "Last we saw her was… at the capital," Gabrelle said, her enthusiasm trailing off.

Frazay made a face. "Ugh, what a bloodbath that was. I'm glad she was one of the ones that got out."

Xander looked between the two, hoping for more, but neither was forthcoming with information about the fall of Dardin's capital. He was too polite to ask, as he knew it had left a mark at least on Gabrelle, but he was terribly curious. Maybe he could get the story from Alesse when they visited, since she'd been there.

"Where did the letter say her estate was?" Graffus asked, reorienting the topic back to visiting Alesse.

"Uhm, let me double check," Xander replied, pulling the letter out of his inventory. He briefly reread the letter, before folding it back up and stashing it away. "The letter says, 'West of Rock's Bay, past the town of Longfeld.'"

"Hmm, let's see, Frazay said, pulling out her map." Xander looked at the back of the now rather well worn map as Frazay consulted it, thinking that he ought to get a map as well so they had a backup in case something happened to Frazay's. "Longfeld is… here," Frazay said to no one in particular, placing a finger on the map, "And we're here, so, it looks like we could stop by Alesse's estate on the way to Rock's Bay."

"Oh good," Gabrelle said with an excited clap of her hands. "It will be a good opportunity to visit and relax, and for Xander to get his feet back under him fully before we take a new contract. No offense, Xander," she said, giving him a slightly guilty look for using him in her request.

"None taken, I would also like to feel one hundred percent before I get into any more life or death fights," Xander admitted.

It was decided that they would, in order, head to Breks, collect their reward from the guild, celebrate at the tavern for dinner, and then take a day to rest before heading towards Longfeld. First however, they would say their goodbyes to Jerik, and let him know that they would be leaving the village. It wouldn't do to simply disappear. After breakfast, they ordered their things together and packed up their tents before going to find Jerik. Jerik was out and about in the village, but considering how small it was, it was not difficult to pinpoint his location after asking a few of the townsfolk.

"Jerik!" Gabrelle greeted the elder werewolf, being the first to spot him.

"Ah, hello," Jerik returned the greeting, ceasing his amble through the village. "What can I do for you all?" He asked, noting that the entire team was present.

"We wanted to let you know that it's about time we headed back to Rock's Bay," Frazay answered. "We didn't want to just disappear."

"Oh, well, we're sorry to see you go," Jerik said with a hint of sadness, "But I understand. Your line of work takes you to many places, and none of them for too long. We are honored to have hosted you, and we will always be thankful for the aid that you rendered us. You will always be welcome in this village, all of you."

"Thank you," Frazay said with a nod of her head. "Maybe one day we will meet again."

"I hope so, though under less dire circumstances," Jerik agreed.

The trip back to Breks was short in the APC, leaving plenty of light left for the crew of mercenaries to park in an empty lot at the edge of town and walk to the Mercenary's Guild Hall. There, they were met by the same clerk that had greeted them on their first visit. The guild hall was much the same as it had been before, a few disparate mercenaries perusing the limited amount of contracts on the wall, who turned their eyes to the team walking in momentarily before returning to their reading material.

"What can I do for you today?" The clerk cheerily asked as the team walked towards the counter.

"Well, we came to see if you'd consider the situation with Antre and Antellina sufficiently resolved," Atrax replied.

"Mmm, I suppose I did say that you'd receive payment as long as you resolved the situation. I certainly didn't think he'd take things so far, though," the clerk said.

"I would argue that having him turned over to Lord Brant has resolved the situation," Graffus piped up.

"Yes, yes, I suppose it has," the clerk agreed. "I've no compunctions against paying you out the reward. Hopefully things will return to normality soon, once Lord Brant appoints a new mayor for the town. Let me just mark the contract as complete and file away the papers and I will be out with your reward."

The clerk leafed through some papers at the desk, open contracts if Xander had to take a guess, until they found the sheet they wanted, pulling it from the pile and bustling off to another room out of sight.

They soon returned with a pouch of coins, the promised reward for the contract. Sliding it over the counter to them, Frazay carefully picked up the pouch and counted out the coins quietly to herself.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" The clerk asked, in a customer service tone of voice.

"Oh! Ah, I should update my status," Xander said, reminded by the clerk's question that he needed to update the guild after his brush with life.

"Of course, I can do that and send it out to the rest of the branches to update their files. Whenever you're ready, just show me your status and I'll get to it," the clerk said, reaching down to a cubby set in the desk and setting some blank paper down.

Xander opened his status window and flipped it around to be visible to the clerk, who took a moment to read it. It was amusing to see their eyebrows raise further and further at the list of Xander's titles and the record of his time as a spirit and subsequent resurrection. "I see…" the clerk said quietly, "This certainly does warrant a status update." They quickly began scribbling down Xander's status sheet, copying it word for word. Xander always found it interesting to see how fast professional clerks could write in this world. It was easily at the pace of typing back on Earth. The fact that skills could enhance even writing spoke to how critical it could be to obtain a class and skills in one's chosen field.

Frazay had finished counting out the coins in the purse and had divvied them up to an equal amount for each member of the team, passing them out as the clerk worked on copying out Xander's status. Xander absentmindedly took his coins from Frazay with a thanks, as he watched the clerk work. A short time later, and the copy was complete, filed away on another portion of the desk for distribution. Xander wondered what kind of magic was used to disseminate information like that across the various guild halls so quickly. I must be similar to how the banks communicated, he thought.

After thanking the clerk for their work, Xander and the team headed back to the inn that they'd stayed at previously. There was still plenty of space for them, Breks not exactly being heavy in outside traffic. They each retired to their rooms to relax for the day, or at least until the next meal.

Xander and Valteria both got on the bed. Xander opted to lay down, but Valteria chose to sit on the edge of the bed. After a moment, Xander realized she was just staring at the wall, seemingly lost in thought. Xander sat up and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Valteria sighed and leaned back into Xander, who wrapped his arms around her. "I just… thought it would be different, is all. Harder, somehow, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Xander asked, curiously.

"Killing, I mean," Valteria clarified. "I don't like how easy it was in the moment. There wasn't really any thought to it, just the rush and clamor of the fight, and the moving on to the next fight, and the next. I thought that taking a life would be more… well I'm not sure. Momentous doesn't sound right. It's not something I wanted to celebrate. But I don't like that it had such little impact on me in the moment."

Xander hugged her tighter. "I understand what you mean. It was like that for me, too. So sudden, acting more on instinct than anything else. Most of the time, battle doesn't give you time to think. To stop and think is to open yourself to danger in a fight, and we reflexively avoid that, I think. But the fact that you're thinking about it now, that you're trying to process how you feel about it, means that it did make an impact on you. And that, I think, is a good thing. It's a complicated thing to process, and everyone has to handle it in their own way. You know how I process it. It might be good to talk to the rest of the team, too, and see how they handle it, if it keeps bothering you. But I want you to know this. Who we fought were not good people. They were willing to burn down a village full of men, women, and children. They'd have done worse if we weren't there and hadn't stopped them."

Valteria nodded in agreement. "Objectively I know you're right. I don't know if I'm ready to go so far as to say they deserved to die, but surely they had to expect there'd be some kind of resistance to their actions. But I still feel a little… dirtier than I did before. If that makes sense?"

"I think so," Xander agreed. "Merc work can be dirty, though we try to avoid any contracts that seem unethical. But even so, there's a lot of sweat, blood, and tears involved. Try not to let it eat at you, but don't feel like there's a rush to figure it out, either. We're all here to help you figure it out."

Valteria nuzzled further into Xander's hug and nodded. "Thanks," she said.

Xander kissed her head in response, and they continued to sit like that, him embracing her from behind, for several more minutes before Valteria finally disentangled herself from the hug and moved to lay beside him on the bed.