PART VII - THE MANY MISADVENTURES…

Following Pixyl joining them, once she was mostly dry, wrapped in the blanket and warming up with some tea, the evening with Pelidri became quite enjoyable. It led off with Callie starting to share the story of the Bogwump mission, beginning with triangulating the location on the map and assembling her team. Despite obviously being provided an overview of the mission by Xera and the other officers, Pelidri still seemed quite taken aback by how quickly that overall plan had come together, and asked some very pointed questions to understand Callie's thinking in some of her planning decisions. Still, his mood was light, becoming much more so when told of how Callie and company forced Thorn into having a party for him, and then Tazrok's Ogre war chant.

"It's interesting that your Tazrok was able to lead a magical war chant," Pelidri said, rubbing his chin. "I've been part of several on the battlefield during my early days, but they must always be led by a chieftain of some form. There are largely not any of those around any more."

Callie and Pixyl looked at each other, both furrowing their eyebrows. "The Major said he has a skill called Chieftain's Inspiration," Callie said carefully. "Every time he's asked about it, he says he has no idea what we're talking about, even to the Major. That's strange."

"That is, indeed," Pelidri agreed, his face becoming even more insightful. "Historically, he'd likely be too young to be a chieftain of any tribe, and if he's from Imor proper, they've long abandoned tribes and warbands, anyway. Except for a few outlying clans far to the west, or the ones far in the mountains of northern Cillisant, the old ways of the Ogres have largely disappeared. As for this mysterious skill, your description makes it seem similar in nature to Command Aura, or the Beastmaster one your fellow Ranger has."

"I wonder why he d-d-doesn't want to talk about it?" Pixyl said.

"I don't know," Callie said, shaking her head. "He's been very adamant about that, though. Either he legitimately has no idea what people are asking him about, or he really doesn't want to discuss it, like he's ashamed or something. And then he gets a big headache every time he uses it. It's weird."

Conversation regarding Tazrok continued, detouring to talk a little bit about his many animal forms, before returning to the Bogwump fight, where said forms were shown to be incredibly effective. Pelidri was fascinated by the big Ogre's Guardian spider form, and its ability to see and fight in multiple directions at once. He'd seen Tazrok sparring against the other Druids, but that was just that, sparring, and not really the Ogre going all-out against his opponents. If he'd been trying, Tazrok could have really injured the other three.

Eventually the recounting of the Bogwump fight concluded. The Arkan continued his questioning, this time digging into what Callie had been thinking and feeling as a result of Reynard being injured. It was almost as if he didn't really care about the fight details very much, but instead was only focusing on what was going on in Callie's head. This was even more-apparent when he circled back to review a few more key decisions she had made during the chaos of the fight, again digging deeper into how Callie arrived at the various conclusions she had.

At some point, one of the Arkan's people came by with a tray of cheese and jams. Apparently he was going to check in earlier, and saw Pelidri was entertaining through the window. Despite the rain, he took it upon himself to get refreshments for the three of them, which also included a couple bottles of wine. The Arkan didn't invite his assistant in to join them, and in turn the younger soldier wished the Arkan and the girls a pleasant evening before disappearing back into the downpour.

The three took a few minutes to get situated with snacks, Pelidri getting new cups for everyone and then pouring. As they all nibbled the nibbles and sipped the delicious wine, Pelidri probed into how Artemis came to be part of the picture after Callie was forced to down the foal's mother. That led to pondering generally whether the unicorn might have created Jesca's Beastkin class, or if it had been there all along and somehow Artemis was able to be the catalyst to revealing it. Callie didn't have an answer, or even a guess as to that, nor did Pixyl, and ultimately the conversation moved on, chalking it up as one of life's magic mysteries to be solved another time, if ever.

The topic of Artemis naturally led to what happened with the unicorn blood, forcing Callie to detail what she did and why she did it. Callie tried to explain she was honestly just trying to do something nice for Rowani and Maugra, and the Arkan proved far less emotional and angry than Xera had been about what she'd done. This, in turn, led to a discussion about the unintended benefits for the army, and Pelidri concluded the topic with a somewhat reserved approval, even if that result was unintentional.

Continuing, while Callie hadn't been leading the Elemental fight, outside of coordinating travel and logistics, the Arkan seemed even more interested in this mission, compared to the first. He did probe Callie a few times as to her mindset regarding this or that, but when the horde of Elementals came alive, and especially during the boss fight when she had to take over for Vanis, Pelidri became riveted by every moment. He slowed down the conversation, making both Callie and Pixyl go step-by-step through what happened, asking questions constantly. He was particularly keen to know what they saw, when they saw it, and how that affected their thinking, as well as how Callie assembled the final sequence in her head for the coordinated attack that ended the fight. He didn't just ask this of Callie though, also posing the same questions to Pixyl as he worked to get into her head a bit, too.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Callie, with a little help from the wine, blushed in embarrassment at the Arkan's huge grin as she and Pixyl took turns telling their side of the fight. They skipped the kiss, though. Callie wasn't sure what the Arkan's reaction might be, and Pixyl was already half-hiding in her blanket from the attention, so she decided it was for the best. She was pretty sure Pelidri knew about that ending anyways, but he didn't press for details.

Attention then turned entirely to Pixyl, with Pelidri wanting a complete accounting of that first day when the Demon had been summoned, and her heroic actions. He asked a lot of questions, like he had with the other encounters, wanting to get into Pixyl's head. It was agony for the little Pixie, and her stuttering worsened as she became more and more nervous and embarrassed, having to admit to the Arkan that she simply forgot she was wearing her suppression brands. Despite her discomfort, Pelidri politely but firmly pushed, and while there was 'no rank' in the room, there was very definitely rank in the air, and Pixyl was forced to endure.

Coincidentally, during the discussion it came to light that the Arkan and Pixyl had almost crossed paths a little over a year previous, at least one-sidedly. He'd been in Marindine, and happened to meet up with Trainer Terrin and other mutual friends. In fact, Terrin and Pelidri's passing friendship apparently went back decades. Well, Terrin had suggested the fights as something to do, even mentioning about a Pixie Demon fighter, but alas it turned out to be a night where Pixyl wasn't fighting, so the Arkan never actually saw her in action.

Pelidri probed Pixyl, leading to a strained conversation between the two about Pixyl's life before being Conscripted. She was mortified at having to share personal details, glancing at Callie several times in shame or embarrassment, her stutter in full force and just making it worse. Pelidri paid Pixyl's state no mind, either not seeing it or not caring, and as a result Callie learned a lot of background detail about her girlfriend. Pixyl had always been very coy about that time, and Callie had promised not to press her on it despite dying of curiosity. Still, she did learn that Pixyl was even more of a dervish than she'd imagined, often headlining nights of action.

Callie also found out for the first time that Pixyl had money, earned from her fight-night proceeds. She revealed that she'd built up a decent nest egg, in part because she had no friends or close family, and no life, so really had nothing to spend it on. It wasn't an obscene amount of savings, but she was frugal and had enough that she could retire from the pits, afford a small plot of land and a home if she wished to, or get an apartment in a city, and learn a different vocation. Unfortunately, compared to most of the other headline fighters, she'd been taken advantage of monetarily many times, either tricked or simply underpaid, or she would have been even better off. When Pixyl had finally realized how poorly she had been financially treated and demanded her fair share of the profits to keep fighting, she was coincidentally drawn for the Conscription lottery. While she couldn't prove the connection, she knew the pit bosses had the kind of clout to make something like that happen. The bitterness in her voice was evident, and Pelidri echoed the sentiment.

Despite the rank, age and life-experience difference, Pelidri seemed genuinely interested in their stories, or if he was indulging them, he wore it well. For Callie, it did almost feel in a way like she was talking to her grandfather about her adventures, and while it made her feel a little homesick, telling the stories alongside her girlfriend also made her feel even more like she was home where she belonged now.

Eventually, it grew late, the snacks were gone, and a solid dent had been made in the second bottle of wine. Pixyl forced her way back into her still damp clothes, thanking Pelidri for the blanket. The Arkan, ever polite, in turn thanked the girls for the wonderful conversation, adding he looked forward to another one someday in the future when they had more 'adventures' to share.

Callie and Pixyl walked back to Ogre House in the ongoing downpour. It was well past eleven, and Callie giggled most of the way back, dodging from tree to tree in order to 'sneak between the raindrops', although it didn't help in the slightest and she was quickly drenched. As for Pixyl, Callie had suggested she simply fly back, or use Dash or even Flashstep, but she'd stubbornly refused, not wanting to leave Callie's side. It didn't take long before Pixyl returned to looking like the same water-logged cat she had earlier, her wings drooping as the chilly rain streamed off the end of them.

"Pixyl?" Callie asked as they arrived at Ogre House, stepping up on the porch and under the overhang to get out of the rain.

"Hmm?"

Callie frowned, not sure how to word what she wanted to say, but then sighed and just said it. "I know you told me you didn't want to talk about your life before you got here, and I'll respect that. But I just want you to know that you can. I won't judge you if you made mistakes; we all do."

Pixyl frowned, started to say something and then clamped her mouth shut again.

"I love you," Callie continued, "and I want you to know you can share anything with me." It wasn't just out of curiosity, though, but also because the person that Pixyl was now was woven from her past, and knowing it all would help her know all of Pixyl. Okay, there was a lot of curiosity, too.

The tiny Bladeweaver looked down on the wet wood. "Everyone I've ever loved eventually rejected m-m-me," she finally said quietly. "Family, friends, others. It's hard for me to let p-p-people in."

"I know," Callie said. "When you're ready, I'll be waiting. You can take your time." She tilted Pixyl's head up so they could lock eyes, and then kissed her gently. "I'm not going anywhere. Well, we will be separated when we get sent to the front, but I'm going to find you again as soon as we are done."

As Pixyl blushed, Callie opened the door and they walked inside their temporary home, being as quiet as they could so as to not wake their wonderful temporary family, although Xin seemed to be out and about still. They each shimmied out of their rain-soaked clothing and into a minimal something dry, before crawling into their make-shift Ogre-bed blanket fort. Snuggling tight, enjoying the mutual body warmth fighting off the chill of the rain, Callie and Pixyl needed no more words before eventually drifting off to sleep.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.