Silkie passed out shortly after her conversation with Claire. She lay curled against her husband’s chest, holding tightly to him even in sleep. Claire left the two alone after making sure both were okay. She finally felt the fatigue of battle as she began to relax.
She ignored the aches and tiredness to look after the boys. Ana and Lily were still attending to the goblins, something that felt wrong. Seeing healing magic being used on monsters made Claire’s head hurt, but she, too, ignored that. The boys came first.
Both Claire and Elsie gathered wood for a fire. Neither spoke much as they tried to get lost in the rhythm of collecting fuel. Claire tried to drown out the thoughts that crept in, the faces of the women she slew. A new feeling of disappointment with how easy the fight was, then shame in feeling that way.
Elsie was in a similar headspace. She was more focused on getting kindling, but her mind was elsewhere. Her magic was far more potent than she realized, especially her fire. The screams of her enemy as she lit them on fire echoed in her mind. It was awful, but was easier than last time.
For both of them, it was easier to stomach this fight. Maybe it was the type of women these traffickers were, or that it did, in fact, get easier with time. A part of both of them felt hollow.
By the time Claire returned with her second load of logs, Ursa had returned. She was speaking to them softly, her massive frame oddly gentle. Claire watched idly as Ursa conversed with the boys. The scene was far better than her thoughts.
“Still struggling?” Jasmine whispered from behind her, causing her to flinch. “The high of battle wore off, and all that’s left are your thoughts.”
“Yeah, that Ravian’s head didn’t help.” Claire said with a weak smile.
“Gods, please don’t remind me,” Elsie muttered, clutching her stomach. Claire hadn’t even noticed her approach. “I’m glad Ursa spared the boys of the sight…”
Jasmine chuckled softly. “If only you saw what happened to it… Even made me queasy.”
Claire glanced at Jasmine in bewilderment. There wasn’t much that would make Jasmine sick, so it had to be gruesome. “There’s something that could make you sick?”
“Did her wolf form…” Elsie started but couldn’t finish the thought.
“Consume it?” Jasmine asked, with a sly smile. Her laugh grew as she continued. “No, she offered it a pack of wolves… I swear I saw her eyes move before they tore into it.”
Claire shuddered. She didn’t want to hear any more of it. “Please stop. Let’s not talk about it. I’d rather not know.”
“Sorry…” Jasmine’s smile dropped, and she nodded. “Um, I did get to see her commune with her people. That was interesting. Her wolf appeared before her like a ghost.”
“Oi!” Ursa yelled, spooking the boys around her and silencing the camp’s chatter. “You were fucking watching?”
Jasmine’s smile returned, and she nodded. “Learned quite a bit about the lengths of your senses.”
Ursa’s eye twitched and for a moment, her eyes glowed. But she let out a slow exhale and looked back at the frightened boys.
“I apologize.” She said with a soft tone. “My party member disrespected my Goddess and tradition… Sorry for scaring you all.”
To Claire’s bafflement, the boys seemed to relax again. She had tried to converse with a few of them, but they were far too frightened. But Ursa had them talking and even a few smiling.
“Think I offended her?. “Jasmine whispered. She wrapped her arms around the two women, pulling them closer. “I’ll apologize if I did, but I was too curious…”
“Mmm, I would apologize anyway,” Elsie replied. “It’s probably a sacred ritual.”
“We’ll see,” Jasmine said as all three watched her interact with the previously frightened boys.
“It’s amazing how good she is with them…” Claire muttered aloud. For the first time all day, her mind wasn’t focused on battle. It was on a much warmer thought.
“She’d make a good mother…”
Ursa froze. Even in the dim light, Claire could see Ursa’s face redden. The boy she was holding up was now motionless in the air. The warrior froze mid-sentence.
Her reaction elicited laughter from all three. The overwhelming tension from before was now gone, replaced with a much cozier feeling. Claire finally stepped forward, leaving Jasmine’s embrace.
“Let’s get this fire started…” She said, setting the logs up. She could feel the emptiness in her stomach. “Getting hungry.”
The goblin cooks even had aprons and floppy chef hats. It looked a bit ridiculous, but it brightened her mood significantly.
She was personally handed her bowl by the admiral goblin. Claire did her best to communicate with it, bowing her head in thanks. The goblin, in turn, bowed back. It brought back the idea of how surreal this whole thing was.
She was surrounded by monsters.
Not the pseudo-human monsters like Firewater or Samira, but genuine monsters. Ones that were smarter, sure, but still monsters. She ate while watching the goblins celebrate.
Cooking, laughing, even dancing around the fire while others struck up a song on crude guitars and drums. Maybe they were smarter than she assumed. She watched the goblins play their guitars and drums in bewilderment. It now made sense how these creatures could march in formation.
“How does he do it?” She muttered aloud.
The admiral goblin gave her a toothy grin. It seemed to understand her, baffling her further.
Lily sat nearby, fighting off sleep but too curious to look away. Ana was curled up with her head in the alchemist’s lap, already fast asleep.
“It has to be some sort of skill,” Lily said, with grogginess in her voice. “Maybe similar to your Bestower skill…”
“That would assume he had a stat sheet,” Elsie chimed in. She had a smug smirk on her face. “Confirming my theory.”
“Can monsters have stat sheets?” Claire asked.
“Before Samira and those two goblins, I’d have said no.” Elsie pursed her lips. “Now I’m suspecting these goblins have them too…”
“That sounds insane,” Lily said after a yawn. “But not impossible…”
“True, but Claire did bless us with our gifts,” Elsie continued. “Maybe stat sheets were Firewater’s gifts?”
Claire glanced at the sleeping goblin, his wife still sleeping on his chest. She had so many questions for the man. But it’d have to wait.
For now, he deserved to rest. And to be with his wife.