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  [colpse]Chapter Seventy-Four - Dibs oing

  Setting up camp was something of an adventure.

  We had found a nice spot a little ways off the main road. Close enough to hear the few carts still moving about, but not so close that we could see anything. It was a niough spot, with a ft bit of ground on the downwind side of a little hill. lenty of trees all around us, and no animal trails that we could see.

  Awen had beeo guard the camp while Amaryllis and I sged branches and such for a fire. Really, it had been an excuse to let the pirl sit down and rex. Her feet had started to blister from all the walking and I think she was minutes away from just colpsing. Her previous lifestyle hadn’t included half-day-long walks and trekking through forests.

  Amaryllis and I made a few trips until we had a nice pile of sticks to work with. Some ing magic took off any moss and such from them and I set about preparing a campfire while Amaryllis pitched a tent.

  I stacked the wood as ly as I could, two pieces on ead serving as walls to hold all the brahat I chopped into foot-lohs ihen I stripped some bark and made a pile of it to one side.

  Digging a small pit was easy because I had a spade. I found it mildly ironic that I had done a lot of things with my spade, but it was only now that I was using it for actual digging.

  A few rocks picked from around the campsite served to lihe sides of my little firepit, then I tossed in the bark and a few smaller branches.

  The eime, Awen looked at me with fasation, as if I was doing something really cool instead of just starting a fire.

  I pinched my toween my lips and brought my hand up as I crouched before the fire. Mana poured into my hand with just a tiny bit more ease than it usually did. A byproduct of Physical Manakinesis, maybe? Then I started to form a fireball.

  It was slow going, carefully crafting first the ball itself, then the e, then I aimed it at the firepit a loose.

  A few branches and some bark flew out of the pit as my anemic fireball burped.

  There was a distinct ck of fire when the dirt cleared, and Awen had her arms thrown over her head for cover as little bits of wood rained down around us.

  I pouted. Had that been too weak? There was certainly some sort of kiipoo the tiny fireball, and a bit of an explosion. Maybe I o think hotter thoughts?

  “What kind of moronic idiocy are you up to now?” Amaryllis asked as she stomped over to me and pced her talons on her hips so that she could gre down.

  “I’m starting a fire?” I tried.

  “The only spells you know are Fireball and a plethora of ing magiow, seeing as how I’m the oh the braiweewo of us, I only guess that you’re trying to start a fire with a Fireball spell.”

  “Uh, yeah?”

  “A spell meant to kill things, with fire, as opposed to o to light things on fire?” Amaryllis added.

  “Uh, I mean, it should work, right?”

  She sighed and for a moment looked like someorying to suppress a headache. Then she bent down, picked up a bunch of sticks and tossed them i. Her hand glowed for a moment and then a small, trolled jet of electric-blue fire shot onto the wood. Whe it off a momehe sticks were most definitely on fire. “Don’t try that again. There are spells for starting fires. What you tried was like... cutting toast with a cymore.”

  “Ah,” I said. “Well it’s a good thing you’re here to help!” I said.

  Amaryllis huffed. “Moron. The tent’s set up. We’ll o squeeze in two at a time. Are we doing three watch rotations or..?”

  I thought about it for just a moment before shaking my head. “No. Two. You and I are both a bit more used to this. Awen needs more time to recover.”

  “Awa, I, I do my part. I wouldn’t want to rob you of sleep.”

  I shook my head, a grin pstering itself ay face. “Nuh-uh. Tomorrow will be your first full day of adventure. You don’t want to miss it because you’re a little tired. And besides, Amaryllis and I weren’t pnning on having a third person, so ter on, when you do take your turn with the watch, we’ll both get to sleep more thahought.”

  “A, oh okay,” Awen said.

  Grinning, I tossed a few more sticks onto the fire while Amaryllis retur oent. “Do you know any magic?” I asked Awen.

  “Awa, a few little spells,” she said. “Some fhting mps, a few cooling spells. And I’m okay with the levitation spell. The wind aspee.”

  “That sounds awesome!” I said. “I want to learn all sorts of magic. Mostly because magic is cool, and I want to be even cooler.”

  “Then I think you’ll be the best at magi no time,” Awen said.

  “Thanks!” I said. “I have a few scrolls for spells that aren’t Fireball. Amaryllis, do you think you could teach me another spell?”

  “You’ve hardly mastered Fireball,” she said. “But I ’t see the harm in you practig something a little different, as long as it’s a simple enough spell.”

  I pulled my pack closer and rooted within until I found the scrolls I had bought at Booksie’s store. “I have Holy Light, Light Ball and Draw Water,” I said.

  “Light Ball,” Amaryllis said almht away. “It’ll be the easiest to teach you, it’s fairly close to Fireball, and it’s the sort of versatile spell that will teach you how to do other things iure.”

  The harpy came over to sit o the fire and, with a twist of her hand, had pen and paper o her. She wrote something and poofed it away, then her rucksack appeared. I watched as she fished out a pot and a with a metal screw tab on it. Soon, beans were being warmed on the fire and Amaryllis was stig some sausages on sticks. Rocks pced just-so held them he fire.

  I pulled my attention bay scrolls, theed the right one and began reading through it. The spell was close to Fireball at first ghough this one had less swirls to it, and a long thin line of mana o be fed into it at all times. Ohat supposedly let the caster trol the spell with a thought.

  “Light aspect mana, huh,” I said.

  “Obviously,” Amaryllis replied.

  I set the scroll aside and fished out ptes and some hardtad cheese. Then I fetched out my tea kettle and filled it with water to boil.

  Sending mana into the kettle while also pooling some in my opposite hand took a lot more effort than I would have thought, like rubbing my tummy and my head in opposite dires, but that just meant it was a good bit of exercise to practice my magic. “Hey, Amaryllis, do you have a skill fic stuff?”

  “I’m a mage, Broccoli. Of course I have magical skills.”

  “No, I mean, maniputing mana and such.”

  My birdy friend nodded. “Thunder Aspect Manipution, at disciple. It’s a merged skill that es from the Thunder and Mana Manipution skills. It narrows down the range of spells I easily cast, but the added effiy main mana aspect ’t be overlooked.”

  “More boom for your buck?” I asked.

  “Something like that. Speaking of skills, st time you were mentioning your skills you spoke of three of them, but you’re level seven. You should have four css skills.”

  “Haha,” I said. “I, uh, have... the Cool skill.”

  Amaryllis stopped paying attention to the food and turo give me the fttest look I had ever seen. “Broccoli. You are not only a poor liar. You’re an imbecilie.”

  I flushed and looked away. “Sorry. Lying is wrong, I know.”

  “So, what’s your fourth skill?” she asked again.

  “I’d rather not say,” I said.

  “My css skills are Thunder Aspect Maniputiorostatic Discharge, Thunder Cp, Mage Sight, arostimulus. It’s taboo to tell someone you’re not close to what your skills are, but I trust you enough that I don’t mind telling you. And Awen here couldn’t do anything with the knowledge if she tried.”

  “Why are you tellihat?” I wondered.

  “It’s part of the social tract that when someoells someone else something private that they o return the favour by sharing something in kind. We call it reciprocation at the academy. It works better on humans than on harpy.”

  I choked, uain of what to say as my jaw worked. That was utterly unfair. She was trying to manipute me, in broad firelight, to tell her something I didn’t want to divulge. And then she expined how she was maniputihe height of meanness. That was telling the puppy you were going to kick it before doing so.

  Maybe it wasn’t that bad, but still.

  “Th-then I won’t tell you,” I huffed.

  I had better things to do, like prepare the tea. And practice my magid....

  “It’s Cute, my st skill is Cute,” I sobbed.

  Amaryllis gasped and turowards me with wide eyes. “Cute? Cute? The forbidden skill? Don’t you know what happens to people with that skill?”

  I stared back, eyes widening to matd heart thumping in my chest like a crazed bunny. “N-no, what happens?” I asked.

  She leaned a little closer. “The people who have the Cute skill,” she said in a low whisper. I came closer to hear better. “Get mercilessly teased by their friends... forever!”

  It took a moment for that tister, and by the time it did, Amaryllis was trilling with strange birdy ughter. “Rude!” I shouted back.

  “Really Broccoli? You got the Cute skill? That’s... well it’s certainly you,” Amaryllis said. “I’d advise against putting too many points into it. Maybe you merge it with something ter.”

  I flushed. “It’s not like I asked for it. I wahe Cool skill.”

  “I, I think you're cool,” Awen said. “Even if you’re also c-cute... awa.”

  “Thanks Awen,” I said. “You’re a good friend. Did you hear that, Amaryllis? Awen make uplifting ents without teasing her friends about their misfortunes in life. Be more like Awen.”

  Amaryllis chuckled and leao the side to bump her shoulder against mine. “Food’s ready,” she said.

  We separated everything onto three ptes, then I poured some tea into some mugs that Amaryllis had a down to eating. It wasn’t inn food, but it was filling and hot and it tasted a little smokey from the fire.

  “So, tomorrow we’re on the road again,” I said after swallowing some beans and wiping my mouth with the bay hand.

  The girls both nodded.

  “Are there any monsters or anything we o be careful about? Bandits?”

  Amaryllis hummed, but she looked to Awen since she was our sort of expert here.

  “Awa, I don’t think so? There are wolves, but they’re rare. And in the desert there are lots of monsters in the sand, but not in the pins. And we have lots of guards passing by, so there shouldn’t be bandits. The only ones we might run into are the drolls, and they’re easy to handle. Or, awa, so I’ve been told, I guess.”

  “Drolls?” I asked.

  “Large dog people,” Amaryllis said. “They roam in packs. Not too violent, unless you provoke them. They’re clever enough to barter with, though they don’t have much worth trading for. Some have tried to put them to work, but it’s not usually worth it.”

  “Awesome,” I said. “So, um, dibs on first watch, and if we meet some drolls, I get to pet them first.”