B5 C34: Complete

More than her dramatic entrance, it was the sight of Cal that brought me up short.  Theoretically, I’d known that she could return at any mo

More than her dramatic entrance, it was the sight of Cal that brought me up short. 

Theoretically, I’d known that she could return at any moment. In fact, as each month passed by, I grew increasingly convinced she’d stop by, if just to give us an update on her progress. While the whole “smashing down our front door” routine was a bit unexpected, Cal’s return was anything but.

That did not, on the other hand, prepare me for the evident tolls the journey had taken on her.

Her outfit was the first indicator that Cal had seen her fair share of battle. While I’d sent her off in a full set of my soulbound leather armor, the only clothing she now sported was the original, black, skin-tight rogue’s garb she’d arrived with. Even that was looking a bit threadbare, which was impressive considering it had a self-repair enchantment. Either she’d ditched the rest of her gear, or it had been too damaged to use.

The changes to the person under the clothing were more dramatic yet. Here and there, strange, fern-like scars coiled around her skin, almost looking like some elaborate set of intricate tattoos. Her hair, untouched for months, had grown long, twisting itself into snags and knots in a way that matched her feral expression.

Worse yet, a thick scar ran down from her brow to her cheek. Either the blow had narrowly missed her eye, or she’d somehow healed herself in the meantime, although I shuddered to think what sort of strike could leave that level of healing-resistant damage. To top it off, two of her fingers were conspicuously absent from her right hand.

Despite her missing armor and weapon, she finally looked every bit the warrior that her class wanted her to be, and I could only imagine what she’d encountered during her long, wayward adventure.

It didn’t look like I was about to find out, either, as rather than sitting down to fill us in, Cal cast a predatory gaze towards our food-laden plates.

 “Tess, you even cooked for me!” Waltzing over the sea of splinters on the floor, Cal sidled up to Verin’s frozen form and snatched her plate. Before Verin could eke out a word of protest, Cal grabbed a few choice morsels and popped them into her mouth.

“Thanks for fixing me a plate, Verin. You should really get one for yourself, too, though. I have a lot to update you all on.”

For a brief moment, the entire room was still and silent, save for the sounds of Cal munching away as she scooped up another bite into her mouth. Verin, in particular, seemed entirely stunned, until, broken from her stupor, she raised a hand as if expecting to find an icicle forming. Belatedly recalling that her mana was locked, she instead turned to her utensils, sending her knife straight towards Cal’s arm.

“Lady Calilah, has your adventure robbed you of what little decorum you once possessed? How long do you think it took Tess to craft our front door, hmm? And you break it for some childish stunt? Furthermore, you nearly gave me a heart attack, right as I was about to finally sample the meal you have so rudely pilfered. And to think I ever made the mistake of worrying about your wellbeing. I swear…”

A few of Verin’s blows met their mark and then some, cutting through Verin’s outfit and stabbing into the flesh below. One or two even managed to draw some blood, though only a few beads at best. Even then, the wounds rapidly closed, recovering before our eyes. Her physical attacks not doing much damage, Verin continued to lay into Cal with her words, a stream of invectives flying from her lips.

The entire time, Cal sat there with a content, cheshire grin, continuing to eat her meal without a care in the world. Inhaling deeply, she locked eyes with me before letting out a heaving sigh.

“Ahh, it’s good to be home.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually, when the shock of Cal’s reappearance wore off and Verin’s ire dwindled away, the only thing left was a burning curiosity. What regions had Cal visited? What foes had she vanquished? What treasures had she returned with?

The only problem was that, in peak Cal fashion, she adamantly refused to answer us.

“What? I haven’t eaten anything in months, and you expect me to launch into story time with the house smelling this good? Have you no shame? And, I mean, I’ve never really been in this house before, so it’s hard to say that I ‘live’ here, right? Doesn’t that technically make me a guest? Be nicer to your guest.” Entirely shameless, she dug into her second plate, at least using a fork this time as she swallowed a great heaping bite of fried garlic noodles.

Seemingly doing her best to poke Verin’s buttons more than she already had, she continued to speak while chewing. “This really is amazing, though. How is it fair that your cooking got this much better while I was gone?”

To that, I could only shrug. “Those noodles were actually mostly Verin. A lot of the food was.”

For once, it was gratifying to see Cal hit with the same level of shock that she tended to engender. Slack-jawed, she swiveled from me to Verin and then back again.

“Verin? As in, that Verin? Raw-rabbit Verin? Would-starve-if-we-left-her-alone Verin? Can-barely-peel-an-orange-” Cal’s words were hastily cut off by a quick stab to the side, but she recovered herself before Verin could interject. “I’m just saying. Are we sure I didn’t step into an illusion region? Did she get body-snatched or something while I was gone?”

With a huff, Verin planted her fork into Cal’s plate, stealing away the last of her noodles. “If I have to endure such drivel from you, then perhaps you should not eat my cooking at all, yes? Tess, would you mind tucking the rest of my dishes into your storage the next time you’re up?”

With a cry of alarm, Cal hastily backpedaled, showering the noble with praise. Though she tried to hide it, it was clear that Verin was preening under the stream of compliments, and she eventually acquiesced.

As Cal still steadfastly refused to regale us with tales of her adventure, we spent most of the meal updating her on our own happenings. That, and ranking all the food, naturally.

“The salt bake turned out a lot better than I was expecting, honestly.” The fish was shockingly moist and flaky, and it had taken on just the right amount of the lemon, cutting any fishiness from the dish. “I can see why the system decided it was good enough to get a buff.”

For a while, we left behind any serious conversations, simply going around in a circle and giving tasting notes on all the new food. As to be expected from so many dishes we’d made for the first time, a few really missed the mark. 

The worst offenders were some baked ginger gryphon haunches I’d left in the oven for too long and a salad Verin had added our horseradish to, grossly misjudging the amount needed. The first alternated between charred and leathery, while the second should have been classified as an attack. Then again, one of the dishes actually did deal damage, as I’d cooked with a few poisons without properly neutralizing them. The resulting stir fry still tasted great, admittedly, but the paralysis effect had the others shying away from it.

To my great pleasure, I even succeeded at getting the others to try a single bite of the hellishly spicy curry. I hadn’t known Verin’s face could turn that red, and Cal was convinced that finishing the dish would either grant her some hidden class quest or unlock a new resistance. Still, outside of the prank, it was largely a dud, lacking any depths to its flavor profile.

Thankfully, for all our failures, we’d really knocked a few dishes out of the park.

“The ragu? We need to be eating this like, at least once a week. Or maybe just riffs off of it. You think you could make some sort of rabbit ravioli?” Cal was free with her thoughts, and in this case, it was clear her praise wasn’t just because she hadn’t eaten in months. Verin and I also kept going back to the ragu dish over and over again until the last traces of the pasta tragically disappeared. The braised meat had turned out perfectly tender, and the garlic had mixed beautifully with the tomatoes culminating in a perfect balance of acid, fat, and salt.

The faux tea-leaf salad was also a winner, along with the gazpacho, and I suspected both would be making frequent appearances on our menu moving forward. Likewise, the fried foods were a big hit, though I expected some of that was from their novelty. The yucca fries would likely become a staple if just for their ability to sop up sauces, but the rest would likely get reserved for rare occasions. 

And then, much to our bemusement, there was Verin’s favorite. 

“Truly an exceptional job with the liver and onions. I believe I caught most of the steps that went into it, but should you be amenable, you may have to teach me once again.” The noble didn’t need to fear that the dish would vanish, as no one was touching it save for her. Still, she attacked it with a vigor rare for her, even now that her Etiquette was sundered.

Inevitably, however, the meal had to end. No matter how many levels I gained in Digestion or what buffs the various forms of Arcane Choker could give me, my stomach space was limited. When at last all three of us tapped out, I stored the rest of the food away.

From there, we gave Cal a tour of our new home, trying to pry answers from her the entire time. With each successive refusal, I could feel Verin growing increasingly antsy, and not even Cal’s undisguised admiration for her paintings was enough to assuage the agitated noble.

As we left the studio, at last, Verin could hold her questions in no longer.

“Lady Calilah! Cal. I am aware you take a certain perverse joy in riling me up, but please, just this once, level with me. Did you locate the frost region? Do you know how much longer I might be stuck here? Are we any closer to finding frost-aspected treasures?” No matter how much Verin’s situation had improved in the last few months, the noble couldn’t help but bristle at the constant confinement, and it showed in her tense muscles along with her balled-up fists.

For her part, Cal kept walking down the hallway as if not hearing the questions for a second. Then, with a casual tilt of her head, she replied.

“The frost treasures? Yeah, I picked up a bunch. There are two that should work nicely for you.” As if she hadn’t just dropped a veritable bomb on the conversation, Cal casually strolled on without a care in the world. It wasn’t until Cal ducked into the kitchen that Verin schooled herself, rushing after her. Close in tow, I followed behind.

Preempting any further questions, Cal jumped onto the center island, sitting criss-cross and snapping her fingers. Seemingly out of nowhere, a small wisp of white appeared in front of her before rapidly growing. When it finished, a miniature cloud hovered over the green marble countertops.

“A handy treasure I found in this palace that belonged to some absolute dicks. Not quite as good as Tess’s storage, but pretty close!” The cloud gently drifted down until it rested atop the center island at which point it dispersed. Where once there had been nothing but uninterrupted marble, two objects now lay: a head-sized block of ice, and a much smaller, spherical blue crystal.

While Cal finally seemed intent on regaling us with the heroic deeds that had gone into securing her treasures, neither me nor Verin was listening. On my end, that was because I was already reading through the items’ descriptions.

Eternal Ice

A block of ice from the heart of a mana-infused glacier. Naturally converting most forms of energy into frost mana, this ice is heavily resistant to heat and melting. Suitable for a wide variety of crafts and great in cocktails.

As for the gem, it was even stranger.

Mammoth Yeti Core

The crystalized mana core of a mammoth yeti. While standard mana cores rarely manifest physically, the mammoth yeti in question died while casting concept-infused frost magic beyond its ability to properly control. Now permanently frozen, the core is ideal for all manner of frost enchantments.

Additionally, tacked onto the end of both descriptions was an identical sentence.

This item has been enchanted to convert all incoming mana to frost mana.

Verin, on the other hand, wasn’t listening for a very different reason. Likely because it was the smaller of the two, Verin snatched up the yeti core, leaving us behind as she ran for the front door. With an indignant squawk, Cal rushed after her, and soon, all three of us were outside.

And for once, Verin wasn’t wincing in pain, either. Cradling to the core against her, she eyed it with reverence.

“It works… I’m receiving only pure frost mana. I apologize. You said it would, but I almost didn’t believe you.” Only seeming to belatedly realize something, Verin tore her gaze from the core to instead examine Cal. “In fact, how did you know it would work? If I recall, your Identify should be too crippled by your class change to properly analyze a treasure like this?”

Placing her hands behind her back Cal did her best to project an air of innocence. “Oh, that? I actually wasn’t sure what would work best, so I woke Sett up before kicking the door in. He grumbled a bunch, but he was able to pick out which objects would work best and enchant them for me.” Furrowing her brows, she continued. “Actually, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure he said something like ‘And if that other girl needs me to remove the mana lock on her, she better get here fast, or I’m going back to sleep.’ How long ago was that exactly? Huh.”

In an exceptionally rare showing from the magically inclined noble, Verin took off at a sprint, not even waiting for Cal to finish. Taking some pity on her and her poorly trained legs, I quickly caught up to Verin and scooped her up. She didn’t even protest as I activated Flash Feet and took off, occasionally summoning portals to speed the journey up.

In record time, the two of us descended the spiraling underground tunnels, making our way to Sett. Visibly incensed, the demon shouted at us as we approached.

“Took you long enough. Where’s the other one? Not going to show her face after waking me up by stabbing me in the side? Truly, I’m far nicer to you children than I should be. I’ve killed people for less, you know. Now come here before I change my mind.”

Pulling herself from my grasp, Verin rushed over to the grand magus in something of a daze. A hand on her forehead and a quick flash of mana, and it was over. Sett was saying something, but it was clear Verin couldn’t hear him as she stumbled out of the chamber. 

I stayed behind for a moment to ask a few questions about the items he’d enchanted, knowing I likely wouldn’t get a second chance once he went back to sleep. Quickly catching back up, I offered to carry Verin back up, but she brushed me off, completing the entire journey back up to the surface without comment or complaint.

When finally we were above ground once more, Cal awaited us with a self-satisfied smirk. If Verin noticed, she didn’t comment.

Instead, for the first time in many months, mana surged within her core.

The ground around us hardened with frost, and a wall of ice sprouted upwards. Better yet, Verin showed no signs of struggle, the spellwork not straining her in the least bit.

At last, Verin had her magic once more.

One might have thought the icy noble had turned into a statue in that moment if not for the tears that began to steadily trickle from her eyes. That, and her lips which slowly parted as she addressed us.

“Lady Calilah. At this moment in time, I feel obligated to make two things clear. Firstly, I would like it to be known that, on occasion, you are utterly and completely insufferable. And secondly…” Proverbially thawing enough to move the rest of her body, Verin took slow, deliberate steps over to Cal, and for a moment, I worried she might summon an icicle to stab the warrior with.

Instead, she did quite the opposite. With her tears still flowing freely, Verin wrapped her arms around Cal, who, still smirking, returned the embrace.

“Thank you.”

And for once -- thank all the gods above -- Cal let the silence linger, accepting Verin’s thanks without remark. No doubt, they’d be back to bickering within the hour, and soon, Cal would be bragging her way through undoubtedly embellished tales of her adventures.

For now, though, the three of us silently celebrated Verin’s recovery and the fact that, once more, our party was complete.