“Wait, wait, wait,” Tom interrupted. “Just how long is this story?” He rubbed at his nose to hide his frown and shifted his shield so the edge stopped digging into his ankle every time he turned to watch their right.

“There is no limit to-“

“Longer then it should be,” Ash said over his brother. With a grunt the younger man sat up and stretched. “Even you have to agree we’ve rested enough, Noir. Aren’t you hungry? We should go back and get the arrows and gather what we can from the cats we took down.”

“We have to gather the corpses?” Trixie asked with a pale face. “No one said anything about gathering corpses. I think I might be sick.”

“You don’t have to do anything of the sort,” Ash soothed with a pat to her knee. “You’re on watch duty just like before. You know if we don’t take back proof the guild won’t pay us.”

“We didn’t get the puma so they won’t pay us anyway.” Trixie accepted the hand Ash offered and let him pull her to her feet. “Rule 7-B: any quest left incomplete forfeits any and all rewards after 48 hours, excepting in circumstances where the requesting party has specified a duration.”

“We aren’t submitting a quest complete, we’re just trading parts,” Ash reasoned. Then he added in a quieter grumble: “They’d better pay us for that.”

“We could take the whole bodies to the butchers for quick cash,” Penelope said with a disgusted face, “but that’s a lot of lugging. I’m not carrying all that around. It’s disgusting and heavy and I’ll end up all sweaty and gross.”

“Ok, you don’t have to take anything at all if you don’t want.” Ash rubbed at his temples in the hopes that it would relieve some of the ache. “But if you don’t gather them up then don’t expect those of us who do to share the funds.”

“Trixie’s not gathering, but I don’t think she should be excluded,” Tom pointed out. “She’s on watch.”

“See, this is why gold is such utter nonsense!” Noir burst in, his hand flying through the air and nearly smacking Tom in the face. “The cats needed taken care of, we did it. We wanted to level up and get good nutrients, we did! If the guild wants some of the nutrients they should come and get their own. Why is gold even needed?”

“Because I don’t want to sleep out in the open where that puma might decide to eat my face off,” Ash said dryly. “And Miss Anne will only let us stay in the tavern if we have enough gold to cover the room. Don’t worry, you killed enough that we should be able to pay for the inn tonight and dinner. For everyone.” It would be more than enough, actually, but Ash was pressing because there were some things he wanted to buy. The more they made the more he could pocket for Noir’s birthday gift, and there was a hairpin he thought Trixie would like, and it would be nice to treat their parents to a nice meal when winter came around.

Not that anyone in the group was really aware of Ash’s plans. Noir had a strange dislike towards gold that made the subject difficult and the others weren’t that close. They’d grown up in the same town, but that didn’t make them friends.

Trixie brushed the dirt from her legs so her pants didn’t have any embarrassing twigs or leaves hanging in strange places. She gave everyone a quick healing spell - just to be sure - and then drank a recovery potion. “That spell is only for light cuts and bruises!” she warned as they set off again. “Anything more and you’d better be asking for a potion. I don’t have spells for that yet!”

“Do you have a mana potion?” Penelope asked. “I’m less than half so I probably should…”

The smaller girl dug in her bag and pulled out the tiny vial. “Sorry in advance,” she said as she handed it over.

Penelope downed the contents quickly and still had to stick her tongue out and gag at the flavor, fanning her tongue with her hand to try and blow the taste away.

Trixie winced and took back the empty glass. “I have no idea why they can’t do anything about these,” she said in a contrite tone. “If they can make antidote taste like water and a stamina potion taste like peppermint, then why to mana and health potions both taste so awful?”

Tom paused and stretched for a moment now that they were at the edge of the field. Once he’d worked out the kinks from sitting so long he readied his shield and made sure his sword was in easy reach. “They smell about as bad as they taste,” he commented. “We’re leaving the blessed area, so make sure you keep an eye out.” Noir was already a good pace ahead.

“Isn’t your mom the one who makes them?” Penelope asked as she urged Trixie after Tom. The group settled into a rough formation with Noir at the front acting more like a blundering bear than a lead. Behind him was Tom (he was sure to stay far enough back that any danger Noir attracted wouldn’t pulverize him with the first blow) and Ash was staying in the very back with his attention focused behind them. Trixie and Penelope walked together in the middle, watching the left and right for signs of ambush. “Why don’t you ask her if she can make them better?”

“Not worth the risk,” Trixie grumbled as she sidestepped a tree root that was jutting out into the path, bumping her closer to Penelope. “You know mom almost blew up her potions lab three times before I was six. Dad let the whole town know she wasn’t allowed to brew alone anymore.” There was a reason Trixie’s first skill was a low-level healing skill; her mother came home with more lab-accident injuries than anyone else. She would think it was suspicious, except her mother got the same number of cuts cooking dinner before her father banned it.

Penelope looped her arm through Trixie’s and grinned from ear to ear.

“Ugh, Penny, I’m really not ready for gossip right now,” Trixie complained. “Not when Ash is talking about cleaning up our kills.”

“Collecting our rewards,” Penelope corrected, “and you’ll like this gossip since it’ll distract you.” She bounced a bit in place, and since she had Trixie’s arm that meant Trixie was tugged along as well. “Please?”

“Fine.”

Penelope did a quick scan of both the surroundings and where each of the group was. Then she leaned in close, cupped her hand around her mouth, and whispered directly in Trixie’s ear: “I think Ash likes you.”

Trixie went red. “Penny! Don’t joke like that!” She rubbed at her ear to get the odd feeling of breath against the appendage off.

“I’m serious!” Penelope countered with a distinct pout. She was slightly taller and between that and her heels Penelope found the difference annoying. It meant she had to bend down to keep their conversation secret and that drew attention to them talking. She scrunched up her nose, though, and bend down once more. “Aside from a few family matters I don’t see what the problem is. I happened to see him shirtless the other day and he seemed quite well off, physically. I’m sure all the rest of him is in tact as well.”

“As opposed to your bits?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because you must have the biggest stones ever to bring this up with him right there. Besides, you’ve got it wrong. Following the latest issue of Madam’s Everyday Journal the one with a crush is the other one. And he’s looking at you.”

“Oh please, now you’re just being silly,” Penelope laughed.

“Not at all. He checked three out of five boxes with all that tree talk alone. Consistent eye contact with you, describing his own capabilities and strengths, and active interest in your response.”

“Just curious, which two didn’t he check?”

“Giving you a chance to show your strengths in return and giving you gifts,” Trixie said. “But we’re on a quest so I doubt gifts are really possible right now, and I’m half convinced all that snake talk was a euphemism. I’m not quite sure, though. I’ll have to analyze the conversation again after I get home and take down some notes.”

Penelope rolled her eyes. “Take all the notes you want, but I doubt he’s that smart.”

“He was showing off for someone. No one talks about themselves that much unless they’re trying to impress someone else,” Trixie said as she tried to pull away again. “We’re getting close, we should stop.”

“Why? You’re not thinking about dead bodies anymore, right? So it’s working.” Penelope scrunched up her nose as she kept an eye on the woods for that puma and all the little minions. They were in range of the mountain cat’s territory and the tiny devils held grudges. “If you agree he was trying to impress someone it had to be one of us four. He’s never showed interest in me before, and you’re clearly his brother’s target. Tom?”

“That’s as stupid as dirt. He barely glanced at the man the whole time and nearly hit him in the face after.”

“Wait - you don’t think,” Penelope interrupted herself and looked over her shoulder for a moment at Ash. The archer seemed to sense her gaze and turned to face her for a moment, then returned to watching the trees and doing his odd little backwards-sideways-hop thing that let him watch their back. “Maybe,” she conceded when she turned back around.