Along their route, King’s Dream only stopped to sleep in the mornings using Uriel’s mobile ice fortress. From the capital city, they had first gone west, hitting the fort city of Linnake across the massive gorge by the sixth dawn. From there, they made their way south and began a rge curve that would eventually lead them to the Razorteeth Mountains to the east of Tulimeir, where their st delivery stop, Suoja, would be tucked away.

  As they reached the southwestern fort city of Vallinsarvi about halfway along their route, they stopped for the morning, dropping off crates of food and fully charged mana batteries as well as a few other sundry items. The ducal government had arranged the packages, gathering and preparing them for transport back from Tulimeir before loading up her, Dazien, and Uriel’s personal dimensional storages for the trek. The mana batteries were an item that interested Phoenix greatly as they seemed to store up ambient magic to be used ter in pce of Mana Bits for certain types of enchantments; in this case, they helped fuel the wall’s defenses.

  When they retired to their temporary dorm, which was just barely rge enough to house them all, Phoenix flopped on the bottom bunk across from where Uriel settled as Dazien sat beside him and asked her, “So you mentioned wanting to get back by next Dimsol for a session with Priest Jacob, I’ve been meaning to ask if you’ve been enjoying that time? I know he’s helped Uriel and me work through some things in the past, and I was curious about what you thought of him.”

  “He’s nice,” she replied. “I like that he doesn’t push.”

  “Yeah, he’s great about that,” Uriel agreed and admitted, “I’ve been working with him for years now, and I’m gd that I don’t have to stress about how I spend the time with him. My sessions are every other Blosol.”

  Phoenix mentally transted that as ‘Sunday,’ the day after her sessions. “Well, hopefully, that means we’ll be back in time for your next one too.”

  “He’s pretty understanding if I miss one because of a mission. He said he’ll usually wait about ten minutes before just offering his services on the lower floors of the Mender’s Temple if someone can’t make it in time.”

  “Well, that’s a relief. I’d hate to think I wasted his time because of some emergency mission or something,” she admitted.

  Saiya slipped down from an upper bunk to sit beside her, wrapping an arm in hers as she said, “I’m gd to hear that both of you are seeing a mind mender. It also expins why you feel better now than when you returned from your solo hunt.”

  “Yeah, I was hesitant at first, but I’m gd Paul gave me that nudge to talk with Jacob. It’s probably a much healthier route than rampaging across the tundra stabbing things,” Phoenix said with a chuckle.

  “You know what else would be healthier than that?” Rayna asked, excitedly sitting next to Uriel and lifting a bottle out of her dimensional storage bag. “Booze!”

  “I don’t think that’s actually healthier,” Dazien ughed.

  “Well, it’s safer, so it kinda counts?” Rayna retorted, setting the bottle down to pull out some short whiskey gsses that she handed out to everyone. “I doubt Phoenix’s world had liquor this strong!”

  Phoenix stared at the gss of alcohol Rayna poured for her and asked, “What’s the legal drinking age here? I’m not allowed to drink back where I lived, so I’ve never had any before.”

  “Sixteen,” Dazien answered. “That’s when most people can live on their own and make their own life choices, such as drinking, smoking, sexing, and joining the AOA, OOM, Ducal Guard, or other line of work.”

  “Sexing? Really, Daze? Is that even a word?” Rayna asked as she poured the drink into his gss next.

  He ughed. “You knew what I meant.” Then he turned to Phoenix to crify, “Twenty is the legal marriage age here, but physical retionships before that aren’t prohibited. I’m not sure about your world, but having that kind of retionship with someone under the age of sixteen is criminal in most parts of ours unless you are also underage or within two years of theirs.”

  “You sound like someone who’s had to look up that w,” Rayna said with a raised eyebrow at the beautiful gemite. “You creeping on young kids?”

  Dazien gave a pained smile. “I hoped you would think better of me than that.” Then he added with a sigh, “But no. I was told that by a Priestess of the Lover when I was fourteen, and she found out I was in such a retionship. She wanted me to be cautious of being taken advantage of and taught me a lot about retionships in general.”

  “Oh,” the bard said, ears slightly drooping. “Sorry for implying you were a creep then.” Her ears perked up as she finished pouring the st drink and said, “But time for drinking and forgetting!”

  The others chuckled, and Phoenix looked back at the liquor before taking a small sip. Even though she had heard alcohol burned, it had not prepared her for the harsh sting of the slightly glowing green drink that she was sure was dealing some Corrosion damage with each sip. She wasn’t sure she liked it as it practically destroyed her throat, causing her to hack and cough as the others gave her sympathetic looks.

  “Sorry, this isn’t the best stuff, but I’ve also had worse,” Rayna apologized while filling the gsses for Dazien and herself again. “At least this stuff is Crystal Caste and actually able to affect us,” the bard added.

  Apparently, those two were familiar enough with liquor not to be as affected as she was by the horrid burn, and she mildly wondered if the burning got better or worse with Caste. Uriel and Saiya drank a bit, too, but were taking their time with it, not seeming bothered to rush.

  Rayna gestured to Phoenix’s gss and prompted, “Keep drinking. It might take a while, but you’ll get used to it, and then you’ll start to rex.”

  Phoenix skeptically looked at the gss again but took another tentative sip of the liquid. She scrunched her face at the burn but didn’t cough this time. After a few more cautious sips, she started feeling a bit warmer and decided to set the drink down.

  The others seemed to be getting friendlier the more they drank, with Rayna provoking Dazien into another gss and another. Saiya started leaning against Phoenix and using her shoulder as a pillow to drift to sleep while their Familiars curled up to sleep on the other side of them.

  “So!” Rayna began suddenly, pointing at Dazien after downing another half-filled gss with him, “When I first arrived in Tulimeir, I saw you at the temple of the Warrior with your entourage of admirers, though you seemed to shrug them off.”

  “Oh?” He raised an eyebrow, then gave an impish grin, “You noticed me, did you?”

  “Shiny purple hair isn’t exactly common in the tundra,” the bard said, waving her free hand dismissively, “Anyways, since you haven’t been around tely, some girl came asking me about you. She knew that I was in your party somehow,” Rayna expined. Then, she took another gulp of the green drink, the bottle precariously held by a tail. “And she talked about potentially joining King’s Dream. She seemed under the impression that we needed a quick and stealthy scout Supporter, but I told her that we have Phoenix for that Role; she can be pretty quick, too.”

  The Striker looked at the ceiling as if remembering something and corrected, “Not me quick, but she can portal back to us if noticed.” Then Rayna leaned forward and mischievously grinned at Dazien, “Is Noble Murinah Ruwena your betrothed or something?”

  Phoenix went immediately still at the mention of the woman who had caused her death twice, feeling the silent panic start to overwhelm the rexing effects of the alcohol as she interrupted, “When did this happen exactly?”

  Rayna seemed to think really hard for a moment before saying, “Like, right before the attack from those Berg Sirens? I remember having to turn around shortly after to regroup for it. Anyways, she said that she wanted to join Dazien’s party and would make the perfect Supporter if we ever found ourselves in need of one.”

  Phoenix’s eyes went wide as she tried to think of ways to inform Paul of this information, wondering if it would cause a change in his pns or even matter at all. She wasn’t anywhere near the crazy cinderen girl now, though, and if it had happened before Arktis had killed her, then Murinah likely still thought she was dead.

  Saiya stirred against her as if shrugging off an uncomfortable weight, and Phoenix tried to calm herself before causing the empathic Healer to wake fully and worry.

  She refocused on Rayna as the tipsy voxen added, “It was really weird how she knew about me but acted like Phoenix didn’t even exist. Also, she seemed rather…” the bard paused, seeming to search for a word then went with, “Intense?”

  “Ah, right,” Dazien said with a sour expression, “While her admiration is an honor, especially considering her position,” he shook his head at the mental image, “She is rather intense, as you say, and I’m not particurly fond of that rather… aggressive trait. I’ve already turned her down numerous times for both our party and a more personal, intimate retionship.”

  Rayna leaned back, gesturing at him with a half-empty gss, and teased, “What do you like, King Dazien? What kind of queen are you looking for? Or is it a prince?”

  “Either, actually. The qualities I seek are not limited by gender,” he responded, which surprised Phoenix slightly, dragging her thoughts from Murinah and back to her friends.

  She hadn’t really seen any of them in those types of situations before. Now that she thought back on it, Dazien had always treated everyone equally, even when he was acting charming and flirtatious, except for maybe Uriel. However, that made sense because they had been best friends for years.

  “Oh? And what qualities are those exactly?” Rayna prodded further.

  “Courage, honor, curiosity, compassion,” he gnced at Uriel, then to Phoenix, then to the gss clutched between both of his hands as he smirked softly, “Maybe a little silent chaos.” Then he downed the st of his drink and held it out for Rayna to refill, “What of you, Lady Rayna? You’ve made it clear that I’m not your type.”

  “Oh, definitely not,” the bard assured as she opened another bottle with just her two wobbly tails –which involved breaking it near the top and definitely spilling some in the process– and topped off his gss, “I prefer soft curves and softer lips. Give me a girl that loves to love, and I’ll be happy.”

  Rayna gave a fanged grin and refilled her own gss before gesturing over towards the quiet cinderen who had just finished his own drink, “What about you, Uriel? What does the strong and silent Mage desire in a partner?”

  Uriel seemed to pause for a moment as he held out his gss, and Rayna refilled it as well. Then he shared a gnce with Dazien before saying simply, “Leadership.”

  “Ooo, spicy,” Rayna said pyfully, obviously noticing the shared look that even Phoenix noticed as well.

  “Rayna, don’t tease,” Saiya sleepily admonished as the soft head slowly sank from Phoenix’s shoulder and onto her p as though pnning to nap right there. The new fuzzy Familiar, Snowbelle, was already curled up under the bnkets next to Saiya, and Ta had roosted right beside the fellow Familiar in a fluffy pile of fur and feathers.

  “I’m just sayin’,” Rayna said defensively, “We know those two are, like, close childhood friends, but I didn’t think they were that close.”

  “How close we are is not really any of your business, Lady Rayna,” Dazien said in a warning tone.

  Phoenix felt her cheeks blush at the implications and found that she was suddenly very curious about just how close the two men were. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was curious, though, like Dazien said, it wasn’t any of her business. Then she began to wonder just what the booze had been doing to her as she gnced from Uriel to Dazien, uncertain why she wanted to know.

  “Fair, fair,” Rayna said, raising her hands defensively, obviously not wanting to anger anyone while trying to rex and have a fun time.

  “What about you, Lady Saiya?” Dazien asked, shifting the attention away from himself, “Do you share your sister’s proclivities?”

  “Hmm?” Saiya asked sleepily from Phoenix’s p before registering the question and giving a bright smile as she shook her head, “No, I would like to find a kind and loyal man who would make a good father while we rebuild our cn. I do wish to have children someday, perhaps when we reach Emerald Caste and have the time to slow down a bit more,” Saiya gave a dreamy sigh and went back to resting on her.

  Rayna spoke up again, moving the attention once more, “What about you, Phoenix? Any lovers back home?”

  Dazien and Uriel both winced slightly, already knowing the answer.

  “It’s not really my home anymore,” Phoenix said as she looked down at her empty gss, “My home died when my mom did.”

  She held out the gss for Rayna to fill, suddenly wanting more of the warmth it provided. Rayna gave a small frown but filled the cup again as Phoenix sipped it. Then she went on to answer the question with more details now that she had the assistance of the liquid courage, “I haven’t really talked much… well at all, about this topic since coming to this world. I’m not even sure people here deal with it since you have magic,” she tried expining and gnced up at her friends to ask, “Does my transtion ability work with the term ‘transgender’? Do you know what that means?”

  Dazien and Rayna both shook their heads as Saiya nodded against her, and Uriel spoke up, “I’ve read about it. It’s a fairly uncommon condition where the soul and body are out of alignment. A girl born with a boy’s body or vice versa.”

  Phoenix nodded and asked, “And what happens here to those children who are born like that?”

  “They are taken to the temple of the Mender, obviously. There are higher Caste rituals that can realign the body to match the soul and–” he halted speaking as it seemed to click suddenly as his ember eyes widened, “Your world doesn’t have Mender or the high Caste rituals.”

  Dazien looked from his best friend and back to Phoenix before asking in confusion, “Wait. Are you saying you were born in a boy’s body in your world and had to stay that way?”

  She nodded and took another sip of the burning liquor, “Yup. I got lucky in that my mom was pretty chill about it once she found out and helped me as best she could. Most others are… Well, let’s just say I’m really lucky with the little support I got.”

  “I don’t understand,” Rayna interjected, “I mean, I get the whole ‘can’t change your body without magic thing,’ but what does that have to do with the question?”

  Phoenix took another sip and gestured to Dazien and Uriel, “Well, I mentioned to these two earlier that I had been bedridden most of my life. No god of healing left us with little in the way of combating illnesses, and there just wasn’t a cure for me that was known. I basically grew up in a hospital full of other sick kids.”

  Saiya’s face scrunched up at the mental picture, and she readjusted herself to hug Phoenix more, the soft tails curling around her waist.

  Rayna’s face fell as she said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I can see how that could make courting difficult. You must have hoped, though; what kind of person did you want?”

  “That’s why I brought up the trans thing,” she said with a sigh as she tried to put her feelings into words, “Aside from being physically ill…” she gave a crooked smile as she admitted, “It was hard to picture someone who might want my body when I didn’t even want it.”

  She took another drink, “What if they didn’t see me as a ‘real’ woman? What if they were only interested because I was trans? What if they got angry because they thought I was one thing but was actually something different? If I couldn’t stand looking in the mirror, why would they look at me any differently?”

  Phoenix paused, fighting back tears and taking another sip of the glowing poison in her gss before finishing with a slight tremble in her voice, “The thought of becoming intimate on any level is honestly terrifying.”

  The looks of sadness and pity her friends gave Phoenix made her feel uncomfortable, and she finished off her drink quickly, making her feel slightly dizzy as she continued, “So, with all that fear and anxiety rolling around up here,” she tapped at her temple with a free hand, “I never really thought much about what kind of person I’d want, or really even the traits I found attractive. I mostly just went along and agreed with what the other girls around my age seemed to like.”

  “What about since arriving here?” Uriel asked softly, “Your body is healed now.”

  She gave a lopsided grin, “But my mind is still a bit of a mess. That’s what Priest Jacob’s for, after all. Besides, aren’t we all a little too busy being Adventurers to worry about stuff like that?”

  “Bah, plenty of Adventurers get into retionships,” Rayna said, waving a hand, then conceded, “Maybe not in the middle of a blood moon, but you just wait till the party starts when the moon ends. It’ll be like the Lover herself sent up a signal fre to start the mating season!” the bard ughed, taking a long drink to finish off the st of the booze and causing the others to chuckle along with her.

  The now very drunk voxen leaned forward conspiratorially and motioned for Phoenix to move closer as though to whisper something, “When the blood moon ends, and the parties start, you and I will go find all the fun pces, and you can start to figure out what exactly makes you run hot!”

  Phoenix blushed crimson, and Dazien leaned forward to pyfully push Rayna back, “Not alone, you hedonist. We should all go out together! We will all need the respite…” He gave a devilish grin, “And the warmth.”

  “Don’t you have Uriel for that?” Rayna said with a little pout, “You would take the rest away from those of us looking for someone to keep us warm at night? You would leave him out in the cold?”

  “I am not some jealous lover,” Uriel spoke up with a smirk at the inebriated woman, “No matter what you might be picturing.”

  “Oh, ew, no. I do not want to be picturing all that muscle,” Rayna said with a scrunched-up face and shook her head, the long ears flopping to the sides as though trying to banish the mental image.

  Phoenix ughed, “I think you’re all drunk.”

  Dazien leaned over much the same way Rayna had to whisper in her ear, though he actually managed to keep his volume turned down, “I can’t get drunk,” he admitted to her with a mischievous grin and a wink.

  She blearily blinked at him before gncing at the clearly drunk voxen, then back at Dazien’s gss that he had been matching Rayna for the whole time and asked in a return whisper, “But she’s higher Caste level. Isn’t her Fortitude higher than yours outside combat?”

  “I have some cheats of my own,” he replied. Then, he used his hands to hold a palm open and face upwards against his gss like a book. She managed to connect the gesture and conjured her [Guide Book], which Dazien moved himself to tilt in an effort to only show her his expnation.

  Natural Talent: Earthborn

  Fortitude and Strength attributes are increased.

  Natural Talent: Drinking Buddy

  Cultivated from [Never Drunk] due to unlocking the Noble Aspect.

  Cannot become intoxicated via alcoholic beverages at or below your Caste.When drinking alcohol, you may grant nearby allies increased resistance to intoxication.Covenant abilities have an increased effect.

  “What are ya looking at all secret-like?” Rayna shouted, making Phoenix jump in surprise as the bard pushed the book down to look at the hidden information. Dazien, Uriel, and Phoenix all held their breath as she read. The slightly vulpine features grew confused for a moment before slowly turning towards the amethyst gemite with an amber gaze that threatened annihition as she yelled, “AND YOU DRANK IT ANYWAYS?!?”

  They burst out ughing as the irate voxen lunged for the gss the drinking buddy still had in an attempt to not waste another drop on the likes of him.