Aureum had nearly, no, she had completely forgotten about Mendax. When they returned, his hands were bloody up to his arms. Lacuna covered a small gasp with her hand as Aureum squinted.
Mendax waved at them like this was business as usual.
He approached them with the pale green pearls of the wolves held in his hand. They weren't small enough to fit easily in one hand, so he pressed them against his side.
Must have been retrieving them.
It wasn't a clean task.
He jogged as for the last stretch and held out a pearl for Lacuna. She pulled away from it, horror in her eyes.
"It's clean," Mendax said.
"That's all right," Lacuna said. "Aureum, do you want it?"
"Me? But it's yours."
One of the wolves was killed by Lacuna. Common sense dictated one belonged to Lacuna, and the other to Mendax. And common desires for cleanliness.
Aureum and Sitis played their roles, so it could be argued that they could cut the pearl to gain a portion. But neither pearl was worth enough to bother.
Lacuna brought a delicate hand to her face.
"I don't need it," she said.
"Lacuna, there's a limit to being kind. Even if you don't use it you can sell it. I can carry it if you don't want to touch it."
Lacuna nodded in understanding.
"Then bury it," she said. "Because that's what I want to do with it."
"That's a waste!"
Mendax chuckled. He thought she was joking, but the realization dawned. He shrugged and lowered his arm.
"It doesn't do the beast any good," Aureum said. "It's already dead."
"Yes, but I don't want to reward myself for their death.
If you have a use for it, you can go ahead. Lightning mana is pretty rare. I doubt this pearl contains enough of it for any real use for me."
Lacuna moved away as she spoke.
"I'll put up your tent for tonight."
She fled with those as her parting words.
Mendax and Aureum turned from her to look back at each other.
"Here I was tryin' to be nice to her."
He tossed the pearl at Aureum, causing her to try and barely manage to catch it. She looked up to see the same cold grin he usually wore.
"Do I need to explain anything to you?"
"No," Aureum said.
The main benefit for sorcerers who hunted beasts was the pearls beasts inherently had. As a structure of pure mana, these could be pulled apart and absorbed by sorcerers.
The mana absorbed this way could be layered with a lot less fuss than layering normally. It was already concentrated. Beasts' pearls had mana of many kinds, so different types of sorcerers should gain similar benefits from regular beasts.
It was a shortcut to layering. Even if it was an expensive shortcut. Aureum's shoulder still ached with every small nudge.
But this pearl was at least half wood mana. Aureum would get far less benefit than her mother would from the same pearl.
She didn't take long to decide to use it despite that fact.
After all, the most important thing for her right now was more mana and more layers. A minor increase was a blessing that might save her life.
If that last needle she'd thrown had had enough force to correct her throw then Lacuna might have had another chance to kill it.
It might not have mattered if Mendax showed up or not.
She went to find a spot to use it immediately, but Mendax headed back towards the wolves. She didn't know exactly what his plans were, but the pelts alone would fetch a good price.
So she sat down alone, as relaxed as she could be. She held the pearl loosely in the palms of her hands, sensing the edge of it with her mana for a place to push or pull.
Are all beast pearls so rough?
It didn't feel like a pearl, but more like a stone. Small sharp edges were all over it. With so many unexpected choices, it became a question of which one to use.
There was a nice edge she'd been looking for. It was more dramatic than the others, though it would be impossible for the normal eye to see. It had taken her a few good minutes to decide on it. She used her mana to push at it, and the pearl cracked.
A massive amount of mana began leaking, looking like threads of colored light before dissipating into nothing at all.
In her hands, when she could direct the loose mana away from her, it was harmless.
All that mana was being lost to her, but the elements weren't what she could use in the first place.
She paused, looking for the specific mana, and there. That thread flowed toward her instead of away. The wind mana was drawn to her like a river flowing into a sea.
Catching it, she pulled it inside and layered it. The thread pulled from the structure of the pearl, pocking it with glowing holes that further eroded.
Soon enough, she held nothing but air.
And the grass around her had grown taller than her shoulders, a bunch of wildflowers budding.
It hadn't been as much as she'd hoped.
For the size of it, a few year's worth of wind might have been possible.
She might have gotten one year's worth.
It was still more than she had before she nearly got eaten. She stood up and pulled herself away from the freshly sprung plants. She pulled out a few iron needles.
Throwing them, she dug the first one into a nearby tree. It had a dent around it.
Finally, I have something to work with that's not a complete joke.
It's not like she would be able to charge the wolves single-handedly now. But she might be able to pierce their hides if she did it right. And hopefully, a lucky shot in the eye could push deep enough to kill it.
The fact that she had held her own with so little mana looked like a miracle to others. Maybe the others allotted it to beginner's luck.
She threw a few more, proving to herself that she could make sharper curves with them. They were faster because there was more force behind them. Control became increasingly difficult as the speed increased. More finesse was needed as minor pushes made greater changes in direction.
But the two things Aureum had in abundance were sensitivity to mana and control.
She could almost return them to her hands, except slowing the needles back down proved tricky. It would take force going against it to do that, and when she did it wrong they dropped onto the ground. Or did a low curve directly into the weeds.
The technique of the actual throwing part was still the exact same failure. At least the needles got into the air.
The enthusiastic practice cost her. She lost quite a few needles to the weeds, but the one stuck in the tree was the worst. She could see it.
Pulling at it was tried, with as much of a grip as her hand allowed. Then she used her leg to push against the trunk. Nothing.
It didn't even budge.
"Ugh!"
Her fingers slipped off the hard edge of iron once more.
"Are you really trying to do that with one hand?"
Mendax had come to check on her. It was evening already.
This guy again.
She would have preferred Lacuna. Even Sitis might be preferable. She knew where she stood with Sitis.
"It doesn't matter, it's not far enough out to grab it with both hands."
"Do you need some help?"
"Be my guest."
He walked over to it, taking a second to look at it first. Then, as simple as can be, he pulled it out with two fingers. He dropped it into her open hand as she scowled.
"Stupid physical sorcerers and their dumb brute force."
Aureum left to his chuckles trailing behind her.
She could have asked him why he'd felt the need to interject with Lacuna and Sitis, but to be honest, she didn't care enough. Why he was constantly around her within just one day of knowing each other, or why he stayed when he could have left by now, she chose to ignore all of that.
Aureum didn't want to make him her business. Even if he stuck around till they reached the city, they would split up there. And any answers to those questions would become pointless.
That was her hope.
Lacuna had managed to put the tent up on her own, but it was empty. She must have stepped out for a moment. Aureum took the time to change and brush her long hair.
Lacuna came back in, her head lowering a bit in shame as soon as she saw Aureum.
"Did you just come back from checking on Sitis?"
"Maybe?" Lacuna said.
"No! Leave him to rot!"
"Come on, I can't really do that. He still saved our lives."
"No. Seriously. Ask me for help next time, Lacuna. I can fluff his pillows or whatever."
"Sure."
She's not gonna ask for help, is she?
"Whatever! Let's do something fun!"
"Like what?"
"Like some party game."
"A lot of them require more than two people..."
Lacuna's words were true. But most parties could be fixed with one important ingredient.
"You don't happen to have any alcohol, do you?"
Of course, she doesn't, she seems like she's really by the book.
"Actually—
Lacuna went to pull something out of her satchel. Aureum leaned in.
"Really?!"
"I got some wine as a gift for my parents from Triviis."
"Well, we can't use that."
She pulled out a wine bottle. It wasn't anything fancy, and the wooden tag read a low alcohol content.
"But I also got another bottle for myself while I was there."
"Score! You should have brought this out last night! Should we try to come up with a drinking game? Or just relax?"
The laws across Aeternitus' city-states did vary for drinking ages, but Lacuna and Aureum were safely past them.
"I forgot I had it. Shall we try, say, truth or drink?"
"Hahaha!" Aureum's face turned comically serious, "Yes!"
The questions started out simple. Favorite colors. Lacuna's favorite was light blue, and Aureum's was purple. Then there were questions about siblings. Apparently, Lacuna had an older brother.
I want to be there when he meets Sitis.
Aureum denied an easy question.
"You don't want to answer what your hobbies are?"
"What? I actually want to taste this."
It was fruity and sweet. Nothing special but not too bad.
"What's your favorite animal?"
Lacuna was the next to drink.
"Seriously? Was it wolves?"
"No! But I hate how I had to kill something that was alive. I don't even want to think about it!"
"Come on. I like dogs myself, but they have no resemblance to ten-foot-tall wolves trying to eat you."
"Mhmm."
Lacuna was the one to up the ante of the game.
"Ever been in a relationship?"
Aureum drank to that one. Engagement technically counted. Theoretically.
"Why? I wanted to know."
Lacuna's eyes pled with curiosity.
"If you're looking for tips for relationships, Lacuna," Aureum said, "look elsewhere. The only one I had ended in disaster."
"What?! Who would turn you down?"
"I drank because I'm not telling. I'm not telling!"
"Come on!"
They gave up on the game soon after that, drinking and talking at their leisure. Neither Aureum nor Lacuna had the heart to push at the other's secrets. So, the game was a complete failure.
But the little party wasn't. The wine was still wine and the company was still nice.
Lacuna even pulled out some snacks.
"I don't want to rule the world," Aureum said. "I just want enough power to slap everybody who makes me mad into oblivion. Is that too much to ask?"
Lacuna hummed in amusement. She was still sitting up properly.
"Seriously though, I just want enough strength to live my life on my own terms. Why is that so hard?!"
"I want to know what I could do to have a good life," Lacuna said.
Aureum, who'd been lying on her back, sat up to look at Lacuna. She propped herself on the arm that wasn't in a sling. A sad gentleness shone from the darker woman's eyes. She went on to explain.
"My pearl of lightning is amazing. But it seems only good for one thing.
Killing.
The problem is the last thing I want to do is kill anything."
"That is tough."
"I could get a job in my family, but I've been away from them and the business for so long, I don't even know if I could do it."
"What do they do?"
"Build boats."
"Definitely pass on it."
"Heh. They haven't even offered it. But I'll be all right."
"You're so pretty, I bet any store would want you behind the counter."
"What does being pretty have to do with working at a shop?"
She really did grow up in a backwater marsh.
"A pretty face will draw customers like ants to sugar."
"Oh, then maybe I could do that then."
The biggest humble brag Aureum had ever heard, and she wasn't even mad.
"I haven't heard a lot of lightning sorcerers either. Maybe it isn't that it's good for one thing, it's just that it's only known to be good for one thing. Maybe you'll be the first to use it for something else!"
"Maybe, but I don't want to be a sorcerer."
Aureum waved her hand away, trying to dismiss Lacuna's dismissals of her proposals.
"I bet there are loads of places for you Lacuna. You just gotta discover them!"
Aureum set her glass on the ground to refill it. She tapped it against Lacuna's.
"To discovering new futures!"
"To discovering new futures."
And after some more time.
Lacuna sobbed into her cup.
"Does he really not like me?! Everyone says I'm pretty! What is that good for if he's not interested?!"
"Forget about him! I bet there are loads just like him or better in Fluentem!"
———————————————————
Later that night, far after Lacuna's and Aureum's chatting had died out, Mendax finally received a long-awaited letter.
It was a short. It read:
The fool's gold is not worth protecting, obviously.
Leave it to whoever finds it first to do as they like.
Many letters have been intercepted in these busy times, so try acting according to your better judgment.
It was signed with Flos's flourish.
Mendax looked at it with the small candle stub he had left. Stiff as a statue.
Finally, a curse broke out.
He had, in fact, wasted time and effort saving Aureum's life.
Luck is hardly ever given out evenly.