Callie's Heroes

PART IX - IT’S TIME

“I think at this point I could cast Ritual Circle in my sleep,” Fynisse said as she took another bite of her lunch. She was sitting in a group with Vanis, several from his house, and a few others she didn’t know well. “Every time I blink I see the patterns behind my eyelids.”

“That is the whole purpose,” Vanis said with a chuckle, likewise taking a bite. “The goal is to drop a circle with nary a moment of hesitation.”

“I know, but I have all these other skills I want to try!” the Lionkin said with an excited, but exasperated, sigh. “But I don’t want to pull a Dunni and cast something I shouldn’t.”

Vanis coughed on his bite. “Pull a Dunni?”

“That’s what we’ve been calling doing something really dumb,” Fynisse said with a smirk.

“A very apt phrase, then.” Vanis said. He turned to Callie. “And how has your morning been?”

“Not bad,” Callie responded around nibbling on her own lunch. “Simple stuff so far. Reynard had us making arrows for a couple hours, which it turns out isn’t really needed since anyone Bronze Tier or higher can just magic up duplicates. Then we worked on shooting stances and then some basic target practice.”

“Was that b-b-boring?” Pixyl asked. “Since you know all th-th-that? Much of my c-c-class today was things I already knew.”

“Nah. It was fun watching Thucax and Kaisess learn it all so quickly, since they hadn’t really used a bow before. But I sooooo wanted to try out some of my skills, too. I also knew that would really piss Reynard off, so I held back. Hopefully this afternoon we’ll play with them.”

“Later we are going to work on swords with the Bladedancers and ‘Weavers,” Jesca added excitedly. “I think that’s going to be really fun and I am excited to see Pixyl’s swords again.”

“Oh really?” Lena said, slowly getting a grin on her face.

“I bet Pixyl could take you, Lena,” Callie said with a laugh.

Pixyl choked on her water. “Wh-wh-what?”

“With her real swords? She’d just chop me off at the knees!” Lena warily said. “If she has her practice bracelets on, maybe it would be an interesting fight.”

“My money is still on Pixyl,” Vanis added, giving his fellow Elf a wink.

There were several murmurs of agreement and Lena pretended to be insulted.

While they had been chatting, Bratig walked by with a trio of other Dwarves. Callie was initially worried that there was going to be another fight, or at minimum a really tense moment. It didn’t happen, though. Bratig simply held his hand to his chest, smiled, and bowed very low to Pixyl. In turn, the Pixie smiled back, raising the waterskin she had been drinking from in an acknowledgement, before Bratig turned and continued walking.

“What was that about?” Callie asked. “You’re not pissed at each other any more?”

“We settled it,” Pixyl said with a shrug, biting into a yellow carrot-like root vegetable.

“Huh?”

Pixyl, Vanis and Lena all took turns explaining. Within traditional Dwarven custom, disagreements would be settled via the drinking contest. In ancient times, the loser would become the dishonored party, often having to pay or even be in service to the winner. But these days, the drinking contest was ceremonial, and didn’t really determine who ‘won’, per se. It was more of a very loud and public way to agree to move on, with the loser being required to make a first-overture public apology, or to pay whatever restitution was needed, to have their ‘honor’ returned. Bratig had just done that, to which Pixyl accepted. Everyone, of course, still knew he had lost to a tiny Pixie, and by now were probably aware that Pixyl had set him up, so there was no doubt he’d be hearing about it for a long time to come. The important part was, however, the animosity was gone.

“Man, if only all problems between people could be solved that way,” Callie mused. “Vanis, if we ever get a chance to end the Demon War this way, I nominate Pixyl as our contestant!”

A round of agreements went around the group, with poor Pixyl blushing in embarrassment, but smiling in spite of the attention.

“No sign of Tazrok?” Callie asked. “Or Xin?”

Vanis shook his head. “I saw the Druid trainer leading them off into the woods, so I suspect they are spending the day talking to trees or whatever it is that Druids do. As for Xin, no sign of her, or the Goblin Shamans, for that matter. They all must be hard at work.”

As conversation shifted, and Pixyl began to talk about her new Ethereal Armor power, Callie glanced at Vanis. “Could we talk for a minute?” she asked quietly, gesturing with her head.

“Of course,” Vanis replied, rising.

The two walked a short distance away. Callie had been weighing this decision since she had gone to sleep the night before, and finally had decided what she needed to do.

“What is it, Callie?” the Elf asked in a low tone, kneeling to get to the Gnome’s level.

Callie frowned, having momentary second thoughts, but then pushed ahead. “We need to go to Xera. About me that is,” she finally said. “It’s time.”

Vanis was taken aback. “Are you sure?”

Callie nodded. “I’m not allowed to say why, but I think we can trust them not to turn me in. Probably the Legate and Master Trainer, too. Maybe even a couple others, but Xera for sure.”

“Does this have something to do with Juniper?”

Callie shook her head, “Please, on this one I really can’t say.” She gave Vanis a stern look. “I just believe we can count on them, and maybe most of the senior officers, to not go running to their superiors.”

The truth was, something Juniper had said the night before had helped Callie make this decision. When Xera had asked the Dryad if she remembered why the camp needed to be built here, Juniper had said it was in part so Xera’s superiors ‘didn’t meddle’. That, combined with the conversation she had overheard between the officers with her Gnome super-hearing, led Callie to believe that Xera, and probably the others, had their own agenda at play, and were unlikely to turn her in. Juniper also declaring Xera a ‘good person’ helped, too.

“What do you need of me?” Vanis asked.

“I think if you set up the meeting, it would be better,” Callie said. “More … formal I guess, since Thorn appointed you as my guardian. And I want you there, too. Just you, though, not the rest of the House.”

Vanis seemed torn.

“I don’t think I can do it alone, Vanis,” Callie said. “Please.”

Vanis smiled warmly. “If you are confident of this plan, then of course, however I may help.”

“Are you saying that because I just Gnome-charmed you?” Callie asked, suddenly suspicious and narrowing her eyes.

Vanis shrugged, “Do not worry, I shall be by your side only because I wish to be. I will make the inquiries and attempt to get an audience this evening after our meal.”

“Thanks, Vanis,” Callie said, a huge weight lifting off her shoulders.