Chapter 276: Review Among the Trees

As Jadis neared the place Olwyn had set aside for her and her companions, she had to pause and marvel at the sight. One of the massive boughs of the ancient trees inside the grove had been sculpted, or more likely magically grown, into the shape of a large, circular room. Living, flowering branches spread out, creating a wide space that, despite hanging something close to a hundred feet from the ground, was as sturdy as stone. The walls were alive, covered in green leaves and fragrant flowers, and the domed ceiling was capped with a huge bell-like blossom that glowed a bright yellow.

Glancing around, Jadis observed several more of those bright glowing flowers dotted across the grove interior, their magical light the source of the interior brightness. Though, even as she watched, she saw one of the Dryads, a beautiful woman with hair like a willow tree, walking among the branches. She would stop, raise a hand towards the glow blooms, and whisper a few words. In the next instant, the flower’s petals would shift and close, dimming the light to something more akin to a full moon rather than the noontime sun.

“Now this is the magical shit I expected from Dryads…” Syd murmured as she watched the graceful woman dim another glowing flower.

“Jadis, is that you?”

Aila’s voice came from within the round room. A moment later, she pushed her way through the curtain of thick vines that blocked the entryway. She was no longer dressed in her armored robes and was instead wearing her more usual tunic and leather pants combo. Her face and hair were wet, like she’d just bathed, or at least splashed some water on them. Jadis didn’t think she’d been gone long enough for anyone to take a bath, anyway.

“Yeah, we’re back,” Jay said. “Er, I’m back. Everyone alright?”

“Of course,” Aila smiled, though her expression showed her exhaustion. “What about you? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Dys nodded as she stepped up close to Aila along with her other selves. “Yorath just wanted to give us a quick thanks before packing us off to bed. He’s planning on doing some kind of more formal thank you tomorrow.”

“Good,” Aila nodded. “But… are you okay? You’ve been through a lot today.”

Jadis took a couple seconds longer to answer that question, but when she did, she did so as her selves leaned down and kissed Aila on either side of her cheeks.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Jay assured her. “Honestly, I feel like I’m overdue for a long fucking vacation, but I’m good. Nothing a little TLC—tender love and care—from my girls won’t fix.”

“You and your ‘Nephilim’ expressions,” Aila smirked as she leaned in close to Jay and gave her a hug. “Well, I’m sure we can manage that, be it during our stay here or when we get back to Far Felsen.”

Back to Far Felsen. Their expedition was practically over, yet there was a mountain of responsibility waiting for them once they got back to Far Felsen. Jadis had no doubt that she would be spending a lot of time meeting with Vraekae, reporting to her about everything that had happened. There were other concerns, too, such as finding more mercenaries to join Fortune’s Favored, dealing with the repercussions of whatever General Egilhard had going on, and also, she had to keep her promise to Stavros and put in her good word on his behalf. Plus, there was no doubt more hidden bullshit waiting for her that she didn’t even know about yet. She wasn’t so oblivious to the political world around her that she couldn’t tell that there were factions moving behind the scenes that would no doubt be inserting themselves into her life sooner or later. Noll was proof enough of that.

The thought was almost enough to make her want to convince everyone to just stay here with the Dryads for the winter. Maybe two.

Well, wishful thinking aside, Jadis knew there was at least one thing she was definitely going to do once they returned to the city. She was going to take Aila on a date. In fact, she was going to take all of her lovers on dates: one on three solo affairs where she could give each individual the proper attention they deserved. Aila and Kerr were the only ones she was officially dating, but that was going to change soon anyway if she had any say in the matter. Besides, even if she was just spending time with them as a friend, she wanted to do so with all of her companions.

“Alright,” Jay smiled down at Aila. “I look forward to it. But for now, can we go in and settle down? I’d really like to get this armor off.”

“Plus, we have levels to discuss,” Dys added.

“We do,” Aila agreed readily. “But we’re going to do so more carefully this time. I don’t think any of us are going to forget Noll’s lesson.”

…Yeah. They had been a bit too careless with their levels and skills discussions as of late. Considering they had no idea who or what might be watching, they would have to show more consideration in how they went about talking over their stats. Jadis was sure Aila already had something planned out though.

Following Aila into the room, Jadis was extremely glad she didn’t have to stoop low once inside. The round space was plenty tall and gave her several feet of headroom even at the edges of the domed ceiling. The room was spacious as well, despite half of it being filled with large, round platforms that were covered in blankets of moss. Beds, Jadis guessed, though far from the kind she was used to. There was also a small pool of water with a softly flowing waterfall on one side of the room, which explained how Aila had gotten cleaned up. Despite the beds and the pool of water, there was still more than enough space to ensure no one would feel crowded, even with ten people in the room.

Ten people? Yes, Jadis raised three eyebrows as she reassessed the occupants. Ten people. There, sitting with Sabina on one of the moss beds, was Sorcha. The little goblin witch looked considerably more subdued than even when Jadis had first captured her. She supposed she could understand why. The goblin’s hand kept drifting to the one leg now missing its foot, the end wrapped up in a bit of cloth.

She also noted, as Sabina eagerly prattled on to the witch, that Sorcha wasn’t manacled. In fact, she had no restraints whatsoever.

Dys poked Aila in the side, getting her attention, and gave her a meaningful look while motioning towards the, well, prisoner? Was that still the right word?

“She insisted,” Aila said quietly, giving Jadis a barely perceptible shrug. “Honestly, I didn’t want to argue the point too much. Sorcha did save Sabina’s life. I think she feels she owes her or something like that.”

“Well,” Dys let out a sigh, “she might be right. Rather, I might owe Sorcha a big debt for saving the life of my friend.”

Greeting the other girls who were all in various stages of undressing and cleaning up, Jadis wasted no time in getting her armor off. Ten minutes later, having washed off the grime of the day and changed into more comfortable clothing, Jadis’ three selves sat on three of the moss beds, surrounded by her companions.

“Damn, these are actually really comfortable,” Syd exclaimed as she ran her hands over the mossy platform. “Too bad they don’t come in my size.”

“I tried pushing them together,” Bridget noted as she lightly tapped on the wooden side of the one she was sitting on. “But I think they’re actually growing out of the, er, floor.”

“No big deal,” Jay waved the concern away. “So, I assume we all leveled, yeah?”

There were various words and nods of affirmation from the group. Even Sorcha looked up and gave a hesitant nod.

“Oh, uh, Sorcha,” Jay addressed the witch. “You don’t have to tell us anything about your classes and levels. We, uh, we’re going to be going over our own information because we like to share and coordinate our skills, plus get advice from each other.”

“Right,” Sorcha nodded with a little less uncertainty. “I’m the odd duck in this room. Maybe you should put me with the Reavers again so I don’t—”

“No, you’re staying right here with us!” Sabina cut the goblin off, putting one arm around Sorcha’s shoulder. “Redemption is earned through valorous action and I say you more than redeemed yourself by saving me earlier today, so that means you don’t belong with the smugglers. You didn’t let anything bad happen to me so I won’t let anything bad happen to you, either!”

Sabina’s words were said with the utter conviction of a woman who knew what she had said was an obvious truth, no different from saying the sky was blue or the mountains were tall. There wasn’t even a note of challenge to her tone. Some people, Jadis was sure, would have been pressing the matter as though daring others to say they were wrong. Sabina spoke as though the thought that she could be wrong hadn’t even entered her mind.

Jadis was a little less confident compared to Sabina, but at the same time she honestly didn’t want to argue against her heartfelt assertion. As much trouble and pain as Sorcha had caused her in their first and second encounters, the goblin had saved her just as much trouble and heartache since. Maybe she was being a little too forgiving, but she just didn’t feel like holding a grudge against the goblin.

Maybe the fact that Sorcha’s big ears and eyes were kind of cute had something to do with her decision, too. Just a little.

“So, how are we doing this?” Dys asked, making no further comment on Sabina’s insistence on keeping Sorcha around. “Do we have some way of keeping potential eavesdroppers from dropping their eaves on us?”

“Nothing magical, unfortunately,” Aila grumbled as she pulled her trusty journal out. “I’ve been recording our progress with this but considering the security concerns I believe I’m going to destroy this journal.”

“Must you?” Eir asked, concern coloring her voice. “You’ve put so much work into cataloguing your theories on our class progression. I had thought you were going to submit to the Imperial Academy?”

“I’m not so sure about that now,” Aila shook her head. “There’s a lot of risk involved, especially for Jadis. I don’t want to chance that someone tries to use these details to find a way to harm her, or any of the rest of you.”

Leaning over, Jay plucked the journal from Aila’s hand.

“Destroying this is a step too far, I think,” Jay said as she thumbed through the pages. “Maybe some selective editing is in order. Also, you could just hold off on publishing anything until after I’m so high level no one would even dream of trying anything.”

“True!” Kerr exclaimed, grinning as she leaned towards Aila. “At the rate big stuff here levels, she’ll be giving Noll a run for his gold by next summer!”

Jadis knew Kerr was joking, but the thought had little humor for her. Reaching Noll’s level by next summer wasn’t an idle dream. It was a goal. One that Jadis meant to accomplish. But for now, she’d let Kerr laugh. Besides, her therion lover would be along for the ride, gaining all those levels right with her.

“Speaking of, let’s get to the good stuff already,” Kerr said as she rubbed her hands together gleefully. “I definitely got some good levels today and I’m dying to hear what you all got. This sharing shit’s more fun than I first thought!”

Aila reached for her journal, which Jay held teasingly out of her reach for a few moments. Once she managed to squeeze a stern scowl out of the redhead, Jadis relented and gave the book back to her girlfriend.

“Well. Whether I burn this book or not, I suggest we write our level information down on the blank pages and then pass it around for all of us to read and then discuss without speaking about the details openly. That way, the only way someone might spy on our discussion would be if they happened to be in the room with us. Invisible. Like Jack.”

The last was said with a sharpness that indicated that Aila fully expected the Fetch to actually be in the room with them. Whether he was or wasn’t, there wasn’t much they could do about it, though. Jack would do what Jack would do.

“Fine then,” Jay nodded. “I’ll go first. Let me have that book back and I’ll write down my updates.”

“Are you sure?” Kerr teased as Aila almost reluctantly handed the journal to Jay. “I mean, maybe one of us should write it down for you while you whisper in our ear or something. Writing isn’t exactly your strength, is it Miss Mountain Barbarian?”

“Shut your cake hole,” Syd stuck her tongue out at the smirking sniper. “My penmanship has gotten a lot better, thank you very much.”

To prove the point, Jadis wrote with exaggerated care as she outlined her updated main status sheet.

“Yeah, I guess that’s passable,” Kerr continued to smirk at Jadis as she read the page from her seat nearby. “Nice levels, too, by the way. Five levels in a day is damn good. Not as good as me, but you know. Good.”

“I assume you put your extra points into Eldritch?” Aila asked as she too watched Jay write.

“Yup,” Syd nodded, letting Jay focus on the task. “Didn’t take any new skills yet, just used the bonus points right away since there’s no question where they should go. But I do need to talk to you all about this skill I was offered from one of my Ritualist levels. It, uh, opens up a lot of possibilities.”

Jay quickly finished writing the last of the skill description before passing the book around for the others to read the page.

“Oh!” Eir gasped after reading the page.

“With a skill upgrade like that… merde,” Kerr murmured as she rubbed her chin in thought.

“What else did you get as options?” Aila immediately asked, a fire in her blue eyes.

“Just wait and see,” all three of Jadis grinned.

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