Explorer of Edregon

Vin spent the rest of the evening regaling Lumel with stories of the different fragments he and his friends had been to. At first, he'd been worried that he was talking too much, but Lumel continued to reassure him that she was extremely invested in his stories, even going so far as to ask him all sorts of curious questions. Many of which he didn't actually know the answer to.

No, he didn't know how one actually became the elder of Sakis.

No, it hadn't occurred to him to ask Erik if the dryads had any plans on expanding the Sacred Forest once more after his people were saved.

And no, he'd never thought to ask any of the infernals if they had to keep their sharp claws trimmed manually, or if they just stopped growing at a certain point.

Vin quickly realized Lumel had a unique perspective and looked at these foreign fragments a bit differently than he did. She let him know that while she'd poked her head around here and there during her travels with the dungeons, she very rarely interacted with groups of people and usually just watched from afar. Because of that, it was his tales of staying within the different towns and villages and interacting with their people that she enjoyed hearing about the most.

Long after their food had grown cold, Vin decided he should probably call it an early night. His hope was to spend the day tomorrow figuring out False Life, and that they'd be able to interrogate Kyle's corpse and put a pin in the whole potential serial killer problem by this time tomorrow.

What a strange world Edregon was.

After a slightly awkward goodnight, where the two of them shared another light kiss after much silent deliberation, Vin turned in for the night, heading back to his room with his thoughts on the project for tomorrow.

Which meant he was more than a little surprised to pull open his door and find that his tiny room was packed to the brim with people.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed, staring in shock at all the bodies crammed within his room like sardines. Alka and Alice were sitting on his bed, chatting with one another in what seemed like a rather animated conversation. Scule was standing on one of the small stone walls Vin had summoned for him and Golrim to sit on what felt like ages ago and totally forgot to dismantle. The petian was currently brushing Reginald, who looked more than content to merely lie there and have his coat taken care of. Shia was pushed into one of the corners, sitting cross legged on the floor as she pruned a scrunched up Blossom, who was filling up practically a quarter of the room all on her own.

"Oh, Vin, you're finally back," Shia said, glancing up at him and giving him a welcoming nod. "How are you doing?"

"I guess one of the Earthers needs to learn how to make locks," Vin muttered, squeezing into his own room and closing the door behind him.

"Yeah," Scule snorted, shaking his head. "Like that would make a difference."

"Not that I'm not happy to see you guys, but I was kinda planning to go to bed early tonight," Vin admitted, looking around at all of them. "…This isn't some sort of intervention is it? I swear, I can stop learning new spells anytime I want!"

"No, it's not an intervention," Alice laughed. "Sorry, Vin, I think this is all partially my fault."

"No, it's his fault for not telling us the full story," Alka said, her flickering eyes narrowing at him. "You ran around asking all of us how we'd go about solving a murder, and didn't think we'd grow curious? Imagine all our surprise when we discovered you had asked each of us the same question."

"Sorry, Spur wanted to keep it a secret from everyone," Vin shrugged. "Obviously if you guys had directly asked, I would have told you the details."

"Well, after we realized something was going on, I asked Alice," Alka continued. "She gave us the full story."

Vin raised an eyebrow at his fellow councilor, who merely rolled her eyes. "Spur just said keep it from the Earthers, I saw no reason to lie to Alka."

"So is that what this is? You guys all came together to form a think tank and offer up solutions to figure out who murdered Kyle?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that," Scule said, waving Reginald's comb about. "See, when we all got together, we got to talking and realized something strange. Shia's been spending most her time meditating out near the forest-dungeon, and she spotted you heading in and out of it quite frequently these past few days. Alka's Slayer trainees spotted you grabbing two meals from the mess hall earlier this afternoon for lunch, and two more before vanishing for dinner. And Reginald here says he can recognize a certain scent on you that he's picked up before."

At this last bit, Reginald gave him a sheepish nod, looking almost apologetic as he covered his eyes with his paws.

Vin simply stared at the triumphant petian, looking around at his grinning friends in exasperation.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"…Seriously? You're all here to ask about Lumel and me?"

"Spill the dirt, beanstalk," Alka demanded, her eyes flaring with mirth and earning a quiet chuckle from Alice who looked just as curious as the rest of them.

"You guys are ridiculous," Vin sighed. "Look, the two of us realized we liked one another and decided to give a relationship a shot, we're figuring things out one step at a time. I know it might seem strange being the first interspecies relationship for our camp, but I'm not planning on spreading the word or anything. Lumel seems like a pretty private person."

"Oh, you're not actually the first," Alice spoke up.

"Wait, what?" Vin asked, very much surprised by the news. "Who is?"

"Who do you think?" she snorted. "Kelly started seeing one of the elves from the Sacred Forest a bit ago. From how she tells it, the two of them are practically soulmates."

"You know, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Vin admitted, quite easily recalling how excited his sub-councilor got when it came to anything elf related. "Shia, that's not going to cause any sort of problems, right?"

"I don't think so," she shrugged. "Obviously, you know first hand just how long the elves of the Sacred Forest have hated humans, but my people's love and worship of the dryads supersedes even that. Erik announced that your people were different from the humans we once knew and were to be treated with respect, so I don't see any serious issues arising. I'm sure plenty of elves will grumble quietly to themselves about the situation, particularly the older ones, but nobody would dare go against a direct declaration from the dryads."

"Well, that's good to know at the very least," he sighed, wondering if this was going to make Kelly start trying to prattle on about how superior and amazing elven culture was even more. He wouldn't have thought such a thing was possible, but he was sure she'd find a way. "Anyway, it's not like Lumel is joining our team or anything, so you don't need to worry about that. She's trying to better herself right now, and is rather busy investigating the Underside."

"Good on her for trying to improve," Alka nodded, clearly pleased by the news. "In that case, all I have to say is good luck, and let us know if she breaks your heart. I'll be happy to break something of hers in exchange."

"Alka!" Alice frowned, actually swatting the Slayer's arm of all things. "You shouldn't say stuff like that even jokingly. You're literally a killing machine!"

To Vin's utter shock, rather than turn and hit Alice back in retaliation, Alka actually hunched her shoulders a bit, somehow managing to look withdrawn despite the complete lack of facial features.

"Sorry," she mumbled, nodding apologetically toward Vin. "Obviously I'm not threatening to actually hurt your new girlfriend. I just don't want to see you get hurt after all this time."

"Thanks, Alka, I appreciate it," Vin smiled. He knew better than anyone that despite the fact that she had an exterior nearly as hard as the darthsteel coating her new body, the Slayer was quite caring when it came to her friends. "Bit of a change in topic, but seeing as you're all here, I might as well give you an update on the situation that started all this. With Lumel's help, we came up with a potential idea for solving Kyle's murder."

Vin quickly filled them all in on their strange meeting with the helpful Necromancer and the plan to use False Life to ask Kyle himself who had killed him. Everyone seemed to agree that the idea was sound, though the reactions to the plan differed quite a bit.

"Death magic," Scule shuddered, clearly not a fan of the whole idea. "Other than the few people who worshiped the God of Death, it was pretty much banned within the citadel. Can't say I ever complained about that rule being in place."

"It's not like I'm planning on raising an undead army," Vin pointed out. "But yeah, I get what you mean. The thought of raising someone from the dead, even temporarily, kinda wigs me out."

"Well, you won't be raising anyone from the dead. Not really," Alka said. "From what it sounds like, your spell doesn't actually mess with a person's soul. You'll basically just be making a temporary copy of their mind, and because you're the one controlling the spell, they should do whatever you say. I mean, do you think Kyle would ever help you by answering your questions?"

"No, he'd probably rather die all over again than lend a hand," Vin admitted.

"Then there you go. If he answers even a single one of your questions, that's all the proof you need you didn't actually bring him back," Alka shrugged.

"Huh… Thanks Alka, that actually makes me feel a lot better about this whole thing. I guess I forgot you know so much about the undead. And that souls are a real, proven thing now."

"A thing that you do not want to mess around with, Vin," Alka warned, a strange intensity overcoming her for a moment. "I'm serious, if you end up stumbling upon some wrinkly old man that offers to teach you the basics of soul magic, turn around and run away, understand?"

"Not all soul magic is bad," Shia countered. "Don't forget, Alka, if it wasn't for Madam Trebella's binding ritual, we would have lost your soul completely. You can do terrible things with any magical affinity, it's entirely dependent on the mage."

"Before you all start arguing about what magic is good and what magic is evil, I think I'm gonna head out," Scule said, tucking away Reginald's comb and stretching. "Bill and I are going to check the surrounding area and see if there are any herbs that bloom during the night around here. I asked Theodore if he was interested in joining us, but he said he'd pass this time around. Though I can't shake the feeling that he's planning to try and stalk us from afar just for fun…"

"Oh, you should talk to Casper if you haven't met him yet," Vin said, snapping his fingers as he recalled the man's name. "I met him yesterday, he's an Herbalist from the second wave, and a pretty chill dude. I bet he could help you guys out."

"Man, your guys' camp is just the gift that keeps on giving," Scule grinned, hopping on top of Reginald and patting the rat on the head. "Thanks, Vin, I'll do just that. Catch you all later!"

"Seeing as you're planning to spend the entire day working on magic tomorrow, the rest of us should probably get out of your hair as well and let you sleep," Shia offered, turning Blossom back into a staff and getting to her feet. "Alka, any chance your trainees would be willing to try fighting against my Living Giant? I'd love to try and get some practice in with the new spell before we need it again."

"Oh, yes. Yes, I do believe they would," Alka said. Despite her lack of facial expressions, Vin shivered as he perfectly pictured the wicked grin on her face while she and Shia started going over plans. Alice just smiled and shook her head, nodding at him before following them out. Once he was finally alone, Vin sighed.

Finally, he thought, kicking off his shoes and all but collapsing onto his bed.

...Maybe I should start just removing my door entirely at this point.