Chapter 92: Return

It was late by the time they got back to Korvas. They all piled into a carriage and were taken to the palace. They said brief goodnights before tumbling into bed, exhausted.

In the morning, after some wonderful pleasure, Ann, Kat and Rosalyn joined Bren and Lucia for breakfast. A letter was waiting at Ann’s seat, but she pushed it aside for the moment. Kierran was there again, eating away at some fruits while Kremdol tutted over her. Orlana was there, too, and was picking at a sausage. She turned to the assembled party.

“So, hope things went alright?” she asked. She watched them with concerned golden eyes.

“Nae, well, maybe?” Kat said noncommittally, shrugging. “More people died than I wanted.”

Orlana winced and put her food down. “Shite, sweetness, how many?”

“Quarter o’ what was left. Quarter o’ what started overall survived,” Kat sighed, stabbing some eggs with a fork, but not taking a bite.

“Illdall bless us,” Orlana sighed. “I was worried it would be a complete wash.”

“Daughter did well. Very commanding,” Lucia said, still sitting stiffly in her chair. The Thrundol had not adjusted well to eating breakfast with the royal family. Her red eyes flicked around the room constantly, looking for ways to escape.

“Then ye did the best ye could, Kat,” Orlana said softly. “It was an awful situation tae start with. I’m sorry fer yer losses, and yers too, Lucia Simorgh.”

Lucia stood up and bowed deeply. “My thanks. Was not close, but appreciate it.”

“Well, the courts will be busy with that mess for a bit. We will need you all to testify, naturally,” Kremdol said, leaving Kierran to her food. “We have already apprehended the suspects in question.”

“Wait, so you know who gave the false report. Why do we need a trial?” Ann asked. This was the first time she’d interacted with this time’s justice system and expected something more severe.

“Well, if it was just a single person, it would be simpler. The problem comes from the manner in which it was reported. There was a group that made the false report. One of a higher advancement than his compatriots. We need to determine whether they made this report under duress, or if they colluded in making this report. It will be a drawn-out process, but with the severity of the offences, it has been sent to the front of the line. Likely, a few weeks until we have a verdict from the magistrate.”

“Wait, do you two not preside over this kind of thing?” Ann asked. “I mean, you’re Queen and King.”

“Yes, but we can not oversee every issue brought to the courts, and we have a personal involvement with this matter, since Katlyn and Bren were sent to this rescue. Placing them in danger makes us automatically of compromised judgement when addressing the suspects,” Kremdol explained. “Otherwise, I would be presiding over the trial myself.”

“It’s the best way tae make things fair,” Orlana shrugged. “So, fer now, ye’ve got time. That letter was delivered by the Temple o’ Orenous. Seems like Rowena’s been anxious fer yer return.”

“It’s been two days,” Ann muttered, slitting the seal with a claw.

“I guess she’s sorry?” Rosalyn asked as she munched on a pastry.

“Sorry’s understating it. I, uh, I’m not sure if I should read this out loud.”

“Spicy?” Kat asked, leaning over to read. The woman went red in the face as soon as she finished. “Holy hells. Is she ok?”

“Let me read!” Rosalyn demanded, grabbing at the letter, which Ann passed off. “Oh, oh my. Oh, my Goddess!”

The letter was not what Ann expected from the next time she’d heard from the woman.

Glorious Chosen and Champion of our Goddess Orenous,

I have received word of your most sudden departure from the city. I can only pray with the utmost sincerity that you return swiftly and safely. May your glorious body be spared from wounds and your lovers be shielded by your power.

I have been in meditation regarding our encounter. Long, hard meditation. I would speak with you if you will come for me. Orenous’ intent seems clear, and I wish to make our cooperation official. Apologies have been made, and punishment dealt, but redemption must be hard earned. I do seek to be of service in any way possible.

Yours wholly and truly,

Mother Superior Rowena Penderghast

Ann was blushing. She could feel her cheeks burning as she read the letter. Yeah, sure, it could be read as a sincere, if not really flowery, apology and invitation for a meeting. Thing was, she knew Rowena at this point, and that letter was reeking with desperation. But what to do with her?

“Yeah, not reading that out loud,” Ann decided. “Anyway, we’ll visit her tomorrow. I’m just not really feeling like dealing with,” she paused, “all of that. Orlana, you said you had a gift getting ready?”

The Queen stopped chewing for a second. Her eyes darted left and right, then she perked up, ears bobbing. “Oh, right! Aye, I did! Got ‘em somewhere. Feck, can ye get the gift from me rooms?” she asked a servant. The woman in question disappeared. After a few minutes, they returned holding two boxes. One was significantly larger than the other. She handed the larger one to Ann and the smaller to Rosalyn.

Ann opened hers and found a sparkling metal piece of armour resting on a purple velvet cushion inside. It was, what was the term, a gorget? Neck armour, she figured. The central piece came down to a point just above her breasts. Engravings flowed from her neck down along her collarbone in a sweeping arc. A separate set converged at a point at the bottom. From there, two separate pieces for her shoulders, each set into two plates, were attached by straps. Looking over the centre piece, she couldn’t find a way to get it on. She looked at it, confused, and flipped it over, trying to find the trick. It wouldn’t be useful if she couldn’t get it on.

“It’s enchanted, Annita,” Orlana explained. “Just push the back o’ that part tae yer neck.”

Ann shifted it back to how she would wear it, and pushed the cold metal to her neck. The metal parted easily, sliding over her skin in an almost liquid sensation before it clinked into place around her neck and over her chest.

“Woaaah,” Ann gasped, feeling at the piece. “That was trippy. It’s so cool! Thank you, Orlana!”

“Like I said, gifts fer helpin’ me daughter,” Orlana laughed. “Ye needed more than just that leather. With enchantments, metal can be just as flexible as leather. Keep tha’ in mind. How’re ye likin’ yers, Rosalyn?”

Ann looked over and found Rosalyn in shock. She reached into her fist sized box and pulled out a gem. It was a deep green, cut and faceted like a Rupee. Not that any of the others in the room would know what that was. She held it up to the light, and they all watched it sparkle, refracting light across Rosalyn’s face.

“It’s beautiful!” Rosalyn said. “I can see the runes etched in there. What does it do? I mean, I can kinda guess what it does. It’s for my staff, right? Considering it’s for me I’m guessing some modification of my abilities? Maybe a resource streamlining or a force modifier? Oooh, if it helps deal more damage, that’d be amazing! Or it could be some utility enchantment. Have its own effects? That’d be useful. Something I don’t have to rely on my own resources for. But maybe? Might be better to listen to the explanation than guessing randomly.”

Kremdol laughed and raised a hand. “This was my work, actually. Not by my hand, but commissioned by me. It is indeed a force multiplier. It will increase your damaging effects by fifteen percent. A rather simple enchantment, but one I thought you would appreciate. There is a secondary enchantment in there, but it is more for the installment of the gem. Please summon your staff and hold the gem in the center of the ring.”

Rosalyn did as instructed, pulling her black wood staff out. She shifted her grip so she could reach the part where the two twisted branches formed the loop at the tip and placed the gem in the center. Immediately, branches quickly grew from the surrounding loop and twisted around the gem. Once they were done, the facets were still visible, but each edge had a branch following the ridge. The new branches met at the top and bottom of the gem, and a thicker branch grew to connect it to the top and bottom of the ring.

“It’s beautiful!” Rosalyn cooed, running her fingers over the new addition. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“Neither can we,” Kremdol said with a broad smile. “Use it to keep your companions, and lovers, safe. I hope it serves you well.”

“May I see it?” Bren asked, shifting eagerly in his seat.

Rosalyn giggled and walked over to his spot and they began to inspect the staff closer together, chattering about the magic that went into it.

In the meantime, Ann attached the shoulder pieces of her new equipment, and flexed her shoulders, then went through a few range of motion tests. Normally, something like this would limit her flexibility when reaching upward, but Orlana had thought about that, and had apparently gotten an enchantment set up to allow her to flex the armour in a way that kept that motion comfortable and possible.

Kat and Lucia had both gotten up to help her get the shoulder pieces on and oohed and aahed at the new equipment. The Thrundol was more reserved, but Ann still saw the fascination in her crimson eyes. Once they were done, Ann pulled it off and placed it back in the box. The servant who delivered it whisked it away, presumably to her room. Kat’s room? Their room.

“So, ye all have much planned fer the day?” Orlana asked.

“Restin’, mostly,” Kat advised. “We’ve been goin’ real fast the last few days. Time tae recover a li’l. Gotta go meet Wendyl, too. Should do that today. Girl’s probably confused where the feck we’ve been.”

“Yeah, we kinda just left without telling her we wouldn’t be there when she finished,” Ann nodded. “Shit, then there’s Remmi.”

“Aye, Remmi’s been askin’ after ye,” Orlana laughed. “We’ve told ‘er where ye’ve been, but she was still grumblin’ about trainin’ last I saw ‘er.”

Ann sighed. The woman was going to work her hard. “Please tell her I’ll be in the training yard,” Ann requested of a servant. They bowed and rushed away.

After breakfast, they headed to said training yard and found Remmi standing there with her hands on her hips. The dark-skinned woman was glaring out from under her low-cut red bangs.

“You missed a day,” she growled.

“I know, and I’m sorry, and I swear I won’t do it again. You probably heard what happened?” Ann apologised hurriedly.

“Yeah, I did. Shit, not the first time someone’s gotten freaky in the washrooms, but wrecking the place in the process and making it everyone else’s problem was definitely a step. I’m guessing the Guildmaster gave you a talking to?”

“Not personally, but the bartender passed the message on,” Ann said, kicking the sand sheepishly. Kat and Rosalyn fidgeted next to her. Bren and Lucia had wandered off to the side to observe.

“Honestly, blood runs fucking hot in that place. It’s the making it so chaotic it affected other people that they’re annoyed at. Limit that part and you’ll be fine,” Remmi said, cracking a grin. “Anyway. You two can go join the Thrundol and Bren. I was gonna work your girl hard today, but with what you’ve done the last few days, you need a lighter exercise. So today we’re doing stretches!”

“Sorry, stretches? More than what we normally do?” Ann asked as Kat playfully grabbed Rosalyn and carried her off to Bren and Lucia.

“Yeah. I know you have a high dexterity that’ll help you with all this shit, but you have to keep your body familiar with being loose and flexible. Come on, let’s see how far you can bend!”

Ann did not expect to be so thoroughly wrung out by stretching. Remmi had said this was going to be an easy day, but by the time they were done, Ann was sweating and out of breath. On the bright side, she found her limits on flexibility. She could easily pull her legs up behind her head, she could bend in half with absolutely no problem, and was close to what she’d call a contortionist.

Honestly, Remmi grumbling at some things she did made her a little proud as the woman ran into her limits before Ann did. Remmi explained that her focus on strength, and the size of her own muscles, limited her range of motion. Ann could probably achieve something like being double-jointed at higher levels. Increased flexibility had its downsides, though. Remmi had her get into a position where she had her shoulder bent at an unnatural angle that didn’t hurt, but when Remmi grabbed it and held her there, she couldn’t move out of the position.

“See, you could get into this position, and it might help you in some situations, but your body has to go the same direction to get out of it. If someone like me, who’s stronger than you, stops that from happening, you’re stuck. From here, it’d be easy to knock you out, choke you, pin you. Shit, if I had a weapon, it’d be tickling your kidneys.”

“Got it,” Ann sighed as her arm was released. “So it’s a double-edged sword. I can do some wild stuff, but it can get me in trouble if I use it wrong.”

“Yup, that’s the gist of it,” Remmi nodded. “Now if I grabbed you like this.” Suddenly, Ann was locked with her elbows touching behind her back, forced to her knees. “So, how would you get out of this?”

Ann sat there, thinking for a moment. “Well, normally I wouldn’t be able to, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, but you’re not normal. Kat would be stuck, but not you.”

Ann shifted, flexing her shoulders until they all but met behind her, and then simply fell down through Remmi’s arms. She scuttled away on her back before standing back up.

“Good!” Remmi clapped. “Though I suggest going the other way next time. If I was really wanting to trap you, I could have caught you by your neck there. No amount of flexibility’s gonna help when your jaw is trapped and you’re running out of breath.”

“But I would have so much more to get through your arms, right?” Ann asked, walking back over and sitting down.

“I mean, yeah, but you can wiggle most of that. Your hips are pretty wide for the normal fighter, but I imagine later that won’t be much of a problem. Pick up any new tricks while you were out? Anything like your claws?”

“Nope. Just another level that I put into Dexterity,” Ann informed her teacher.

“Good, good. I’ve heard a bit here and there, and with it being a rescue and not a full fight through the Seed, that makes sense for your progression. By the way, I noticed the thing with the legs. Want to explain that? I figure if the royals are good with someone changing like that, you’re not a threat, but I’d like to know for training purposes,” Remmi said. Ann couldn’t sense any hostility and sighed.

“Yeah, well, there’s weird shit going on with my body. It’s being watched and from very good sources I can’t quite talk about yet, I’m fine. I’ll probably keep changing, though. I have no idea how far things will go.”

“That’s… interesting, to say the least. I’ll wait until you can tell me the full thing, but for now, just let me know if something significant changes. Or any tricks you might be able to use.”

“Oh, well, in that case, I do have something,” Ann said, eyes sparkling. This was gonna freak her teacher out. “Go ahead and pull my hair! Try to hold me by it or something.”

“Ok, girl, I know you’re freaky, but all right,” Remmi said cautiously, gathering Ann’s wild hair, then wrenching her head backward.

Ann stifled the arousal she normally felt from that, and activated Minor Mutation, just increasing the colour of her hair by a shade. Her hair quickly fell out with the infuriating itching, and Remmi was left holding a loose bundle in her fist as Ann rolled away. Her hair was to her ears by the time she stood back up and looked at her teacher.

Remmi sat there, looking at the hair in her fist, then up at Ann, then back down. “What the fuck?”

“It’s a cosmetic thing, and it costs five health a use, but if I change my hair length to anything shorter, or a different colour, it all falls out. Same thing for my eyes. Itching scales if I change the colour, temporary blindness and a migraine if I change the type. They also fall out if I do that,” Ann said, shrugging.

“That’s what I call a fucking trick,” Remmi howled with laughter. “I’ve gotta see the eye thing some time. Sounds absolutely freaky. Anyway, yeah, the hair thing is a really good one. That’ll get you out of more situations than you’d think, especially with how long you like to wear yours. Sacrificing five health instead of taking thirty from a hit is absolutely worth it.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Ann said, pondering. She’d thought more about using it for disguises, but Remmi was absolutely right. It would be confusing for her enemies in a fight, and could save her life if she got grabbed by the hair.

“Not to mention, kinda jealous of the colour thing. Would be awesome to be able to change that on a whim. There a limit to it?”

Shit, was there a limit? Ann thought. She triggered the skill again, making her hair short, but tried to make it a rainbow. She knew she could do purple, so why not more? Her hair fell out and grew in again. She white knuckled her knees to prevent herself from scratching. Sure enough, it came in just as she wanted it to. The tips of her hair were red and, plucking a strand, she confirmed her roots were now violet. “I guess there isn’t. Cool!”

“Yup, super jealous now,” Remmi grumbled. “Have to dye my hair this colour once a week to keep it the shade of red I like. Normally it’s black and super resilient to the fucking dye.”

“I know how that feels, somewhat,” Ann sighed. “It works on all my hair, so I guess I got really lucky here.”

“Well, that’s all I really have for you today. You gonna be missing any more days?” Remmi asked, brushing hair off her hand into the sand.

“We’re gonna be going back to the seed in a few days once it calms down, but not besides that,” Ann said, standing and using her skill to get her normal hair back.

“Well, good. Tomorrow we’re going to go over pressure points. For a fighter like you, that’ll be a fucking game changer.”

“All right, then see you tomorrow!”

“See you!” Remmi waved as Ann ran off to join her party.

“So, she knows all tha’ now too?” Kat asked as she re-joined the group.

“Figured someone teaching me how to fight might as well know everything I can do,” Ann said, shrugging. “If Polaris trusts her to train me, I trust her.”

“Makes sense,” Lucia nodded. “Can’t teach right without knowing student.”

“So, we’ve got a decent amount of the day left. Should we head off to Wendyl?” Rosalyn asked.

“Need to visit gunsmith,” Lucia pointed out. “Need Filla repaired. Worked her too hard.”

“Then let us split up,” Bren suggested. “Lucia and I will head to get her weapon fixed, and you three meet Wendyl. I figured we can meet back up for lunch, then have a relaxing afternoon.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ann said, nodding. When the rest agreed, they parted ways and headed to their destinations.