System Lost: My Own Best Friend

Talla watches as I pace in a small circle around the spacious tent. The fact that fa'aun are so tall works out in my favor here, but I'm still a little dizzy from the magical strain, so I take it slow. I asked her to come back in to help us choose classes now that we're done fighting.

...

Done actively fighting. Ugh. The fact that it's Maggie, Evelyn, and me to coordinate our classes is already giving me a headache. I thought Maggie and Vi were a bad match, but this is somehow even worse. It's up to me to make sure this exercise helps to close the gap between them instead of widening it.

"Okay," I begin nervously. "Let's start by looking at the classes each of us are most interested in. Evelyn?"

"None of the classes available to us appeal to me," she grumbles. "What in the world did you do to unlock classes like [Hedonist] and [Pyromaniac]?"

"I think I can make an educated guess about the second one," Talla mutters sardonically. "And since it's got the Fire domain, it would make a good focus for your core class."

"I'd rather not lean too hard into the fire thing, if we can help it," I say. "What about you, Mags?"

"Tamer or Adept," she replies tersely. "Ideally I'd like to combine them."

"Already thinking ahead, huh?" I chuckle, plucking a light green silk shirt out of a pack and inspecting it. "Talla, would it be inappropriate for me to take some of Kiera's clothes? Ours are a complete mess."

"Yes," she replies tiredly. "But nobody's going to know. Do as you like."

I shrug and continue rooting through the dead priestess' luggage while we talk. I feel a tiny bit bad about it, but it's not like she's going to miss them.

"Personally, I'm thinking I should take [Teacher] or [Linguist]," I say as I sort through the clothing. She sure packed a lot. "It's great that we can understand Fa'aun now, but actually talking to anybody other than Talla is a huge pain."

Talla cocks her head curiously. "Why [Teacher]?"

"For Evelyn," I explain. "From what she's said, her education was very...specialized. I don't need the class to help fill the gaps in her knowledge, but it would let us take both [Teacher] and [Student] to quickly advance both of us."

"I see," she replies, nodding. "And scholar classes would mix well with [Tamer], [Adept], or [Linguist] later on. For what it's worth, I took [Student] and [Adept] myself when building my first core class."

"There is nothing for me to learn from outsiders," Evelyn claims. "I said that I would give you a chance, not become your apostle. I follow the teachings of the Goddess."

"Evie, I'm not asking you to abandon what you believe in," I say slowly. This is exactly the sort of misunderstanding I want to fix. "I'm only talking about teaching you stuff like math and language. Like...how many sides would an object have if all of its faces were the same size and shape, and had five edges of equal length?"

"What?! That's nonsense—nobody could answer that!"

"Twelve," Talla interjects. "And that's a pretty mean question. It only works for either five or four edges—three edges has three answers, and every other number of edges is impossible. Is that really what you consider 'standard' education?"

"How do you know that?!" Evelyn demands.

I shrug. "Maybe regular polyhedra are a little on the advanced side, but geometry is definitely standard education. Talla, you could answer it, and you're not specialized in geometry are you?"

"I suppose," she mutters. "I'm very curious to learn more about your world."

"What purpose does trivia like that serve anyway?" Evie asks. "It's just knowing things for the sake of knowing them."

"Well, didn't we already demonstrate that a good understanding of math is useful for engaging with the [World Engine]?" I point out.

"I...suppose you did," she concedes.

"I could teach you how to do that," I offer. "I'm sure you can learn it with the right foundations. I don't want to pull you away from your Goddess. On the contrary, I think this will bring you closer to understanding her creation."

"And you're willing to set aside your pursuit of language for this?" she asks. "I question your motives."

"I'm not abandoning anything," I explain patiently. "I can learn languages or teach you without the help of the [World Engine]. But if you're willing to work together, I think we can master our [Teacher] and [Student] classes pretty fast."

Plus, building trust with Evie will go a long way, and if we're already studying together she can help me with language too. It's win-win!

"Very well," she sighs. "It's not like I have any better options, and I'd rather coordinate my classes with you than the chaos witch."

Aw dang it, and we were doing so well, too.

"I know you think it's some kind of own to call me that, but I don't think you realize how badass 'chaos witch' makes me sound," Maggie jeers. "And I'm shocked you didn't insist on taking Adherent."

"Hmph!" Evie scoffs. "I'm not interested in a pale imitation of my true calling. I am a priestess, not some common follower."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Whatever, I guess I'll take Tamer then," Maggie relents.

"Really?" I ask. "Not [Adept]?"

"Someone's gotta take it," she says. "Besides, I have my reasons."

Well, she has generally been the one in charge of Nipper's training, such as it is, so I guess it makes sense. I'm a little surprised that she passed up a magic class so readily, but if we've managed to reach a conclusion without another huge fight, I'm not going to complain.

"So I'll take [Teacher], Evie takes [Student], and Maggie goes with [Tamer]," I summarize. "And we're all agreed?"

I receive a chorus of affirmative responses and nod with satisfaction. "Great! What do you think, Talla?"

"It all sounds good to me," she confirms. "I'm not sure what exactly it will look like, but [Teacher] and [Tamer] should make for a good combination, and [Student] can go with [Linguist] or [Adept] later."

"Sounds like a plan!" I agree.

In the meantime, I've finished sorting through the first of Kiera's luggage bags and found a few good pieces. Fa'aun clothing is pretty baggy, even on them, but if I do a bit of artful tying I should be able to get Kiera's shirts and skirts to fit. Although a skirt's not exactly mountain climbing material, so maybe I'll stick to the jeans for a bit. There's some nice cloaks in here too, since they seem to be a fashion staple for Fa'aun.

"Hey," I muse idly while folding the clothes I've chosen together. "How come you and Kiera have regular clothing, but that Goro guy only had a grass kilt?"

"Hm? Oh, he was clanless," she answers, as if that's all the explanation needed.

"Uh...Draga is clanless too, but I don't see him wearing a leaf toga," I point out.

Talla shrugs. "He did when we first met," she says. "His career with the rangers was quite successful."

That gives me pause. "Was?"

She winces and looks away. "It's a bit complicated, but Draga and I both agree that he's likely to lose his commission over this. He's a talented ranger in good standing, with an excellent record. But...he is clanless, and Kiera was a Gaa Baanu. Somebody must be held accountable, and Draga thinks it should be him."

Oh crud—politics. I know barely anything about this world, but a low status person being scapegoated to save face for higher ups is an evergreen classic.

"Is there anything we can do?" I ask.

Talla sighs and shakes her head. "Probably not. Draga and I have gone over all the options. The Gaa Baanu will want someone to blame for Kiera's death, and even if we were willing to drag poor Saban's name through the mud, they won't be satisfied with that.

"I could try resigning my commission, but that will pit the Gaa and Goa families against each other and Draga—since my family will want to save face as much as Kiera's. It would just add to our problems. The only other option is..."

"Me," I conclude solemnly.

"The truth, you mean," Evelyn interjects.

"The truth," Talla argues, "is that Kiera and her team insisted on conducting their delve without ranger support, encountered a convergence break, then broke protocol by engaging instead of retreating. If I'm wrong, then I invite you to correct me, Miss Evelyn."

The specific form of address Talla uses is hard for me to translate, but it's sort of a polite way to refer to someone of lower status. Blegh, am I going to have to learn honorifics, too? Oh, and obviously she pronounces Evie's name correctly.

"My recollection of their actions before I fully awakened is hazy," Evelyn admits. "But it wasn't the priestess' party who struck first. The nomad man was incapacitated by the chaos witch's treachery."

"That was an accident!" Maggie insists. "And that spear guy still only attacked after I tried to apologize."

"Insincerely."

"Well excuse me for not feeling genuinely concerned for the armed and aggressive people actively threatening me!"

Talla scratches the base of her horns—she does that a lot, I've noticed. I wonder if it's a particularly sensitive spot, or if it's a gesture with specific cultural relevance.

"Blood and acid there's a lot to unpack there," she sighs. "First, incapacitated? Allie, you said that you'd put them on edge with [Message] but you never mentioned that part."

I cough awkwardly. "Ah, right. Um...well, he went down after Mags tried to use [Message] to translate a whole introduction, including her name. Kiera seemed pretty mad at Goro when he collapsed."

Mad enough to kick him with her hooves, which must have hurt.

"Right, okay, normally giving your name in a message isn't recommended because it includes your entire status—every last class, skill, and attribute point. But I don't see how that would incapacitate someone."

"Our core class is infinitely recursive," Maggie points out. "Or was. I don't know why it's suddenly behaving so nicely, but it was a real problem before."

I rub my temples recalling the headaches I got from trying to look at it. "Yeah..."

"Fair enough," Talla says. "But they still should have fled after that. Especially if it meant bringing back critical information about a potential break. Even if they assumed you were some kind of monster or demon, we're supposed to have protocols for this."

"What if they didn't?" Maggie asks. "I've been thinking about it a lot, and if that Reyna guy was so strong, what if he expanded the message too? What if he attacked us because we aren't a monster?"

Talla blinks, then frowns. "I'm...not sure what you're insinuating, to be honest."

"Meh, neither am I," Maggie admits. "Forget I said it. I'm just thinking out loud."

I narrow my eyes slightly at that. Maggie doesn't usually hedge her opinions like that. There's something more that she's not saying.

"Alright, then I have one more thing to ask of Miss Evelyn, if I may?"

I shrug. It feels a little odd to have Talla speak to the others through me, but I appreciate her asking. "Sure."

"How can I help you, my lady?" Evelyn responds politely.

Now that is interesting. Evie hasn't been all that positive when talking about Talla so far, but aside from her initial interjection, she's been downright obsequious in their direct conversations.

"You called Goro a 'nomad,'" Talla says, furrowing her brow. "But the desert tribes haven't moved from their current encampments in decades. The way you speak is also oddly archaic and formal. Don't take this the wrong way, but you sound like my great grandmother."

"I'm sure it is an honor to be compared to one of such venerate wisdom," Evie replies coolly.

"Right, like that," Talla says, pointing. "I have to ask—how old are you?"

"Oh, um..." she hesitates. "I believe I was born during the four hundred and third revolution of the great wheel in the thirteenth millennium. I died during the four hundred twentieth."

Evelyn's age elicits three reactions at the exact same time.

"Hah!" Maggie crows. "You died in the year four-twenty!"

"Holy frick!" I exclaim. "You're only seventeen?!"

"Blood and acid!" Talla gasps. "That was two hundred years ago!"