Reminded of the time by his rumbling stomach, Xander looked up from his paperwork and stretched. Only after remembering he was in the triage office did he recall that he’d left Astra Diane in the care of an acolyte for several hours and no one had come to inform him of trouble. He suspected something had gone wrong.

Getting up, he stepped out of the office to find Astra and Heather seated at the front desk, cutting and rolling bandages from fine linen.

Stepping closer, he pinned Astra with a glare. “I asked that you not—”

“Procuring new bandages was part of her duties,” Astra interrupted, speaking without missing a snip of her scissors. “And I saved both time and money for the clinic, as well as alleviated the problem of low supplies due to a recent crisis. Patients will not be without proper medical equipment in the meantime.”

“Please, sir, don’t be angry at her,” Heather said, hurrying to stand and bowed. “She has helped considerably.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Xander sighed, feeling a headache building steadily.

“I was thinking, there are only three thousand Healers,” Astra said. “I could make some Skill Scrolls. I’m limited to ten per day.” She still hadn’t bothered looking up from carefully cutting the cloth she was working on. “Not sure if they’d cap out the way they do when traded between p- Immortals. But I figured I’d ask before just doing it.”

This cheeky little... Xander stared down at her, irritated by her determination to find loopholes in his rules. However... she was offering something valuable.

Astra paused in thought. “Though I probably shouldn’t do it for free,” she realized.

“We will discuss it later,” Xander said, wanting to clear the subject from everyone’s mind for the moment. “How many of these did you provide?” he asked, pointing at the bolts of fabric.

“Six,” Astra said. “I figured that I’d just store whatever we don’t need after we restock the closet.”

At least she hadn’t produced a large amount, but this fabric was higher quality than suitable for bandages. Then again, he wasn’t sure she could make anything low quality. He’d seen her Skill levels. Lost in thought for a moment as he recalled how well she’d kept him even in the wilds, Xander had to remind himself that she’d thought him little more than an annoyance when he needed to rest or eat. But the food was extremely good...

“Sir,” Heather said, drawing his attention. “I would like to have the Cure and Resurrection Skills.”

“I’ve got some concerns,” Astra said, putting down her scissors. “Heather said there’s only three thousand Healers and their Skill caps at fifty. Where did they get the Skill from?”

“Not Immortals,” Xander said, following her reasoning.

“Trading Skills between Immortals caps the Skill at one hundred,” Astra said.

Xander lifted his hand to stop her. “You may test with one of your other Skills first,” he said.

“All right,” Astra said and pulled out her Menu. A few gestures later and she’d produced a Scroll. She handed it to Heather. “Tailor Craft Skill,” she said.

Heather hesitated before taking the Scroll and opening it. In a flash, it disappeared from her hands.

Taking some basic materials out of her Inventory, Astra handed them to Heather. “Try crafting a basic spool of hemp with this.”

“I’m...” she started to say, then Heather’s eyes darted around as if reading something only she could see. The materials in her hands flashed into light and reappeared as a ball of twine. “Oh!”

Xander knew that feeling, having witnessed it himself every time Astra had given him a Skill. “There should be a number top right,” he said.

“One of one hundred,” Heather said.

A collective sigh went through the triage from the other medics present. They too had hoped that an Immortal would be able to impart Uncapped Skills.

“Do you still want Cure and Resurrect?” Astra asked. “They’ll cap at one hundred too.”

Heather set the ball of twine down. “Yes! Please!”

Admittedly, it was still better than any other Healer aside from Xander himself. He’d been the one to give most of those Cure and Resurrect Skills out and been disappointed that they capped at fifty. Immortals were the only ones capable of creating Uncapped Skills.

Astra repeated her process, handing Heather two more Scrolls, which she immediately consumed.

“Thank you!” the acolyte breathed and bowed to Astra, then to Xander.

* * *

Following Xander, Astra watched his hair sway against his back. This view of him is pretty nice too, she mused. He had a slender build but broad shoulders. “Did you even want to be a Healer?” she asked, thinking that he might have made a good swordsman too.

He glanced back at her. “It is a fine Class,” he said.

“But did you want to be a Healer?” she insisted.

“I had gone into the guild expecting to become a Mage or Warrior,” he admitted finally. Opening a door, he gestured for her to go through.

Astra breathed in the scent of fresh air and grass. Tail flicking in excitement, she hurried out into the garden and went to the center to drop into the grass, rolling in it. Stretching her arms over her head she flopped out full eagle and smiled.

Xander stared down at her with his impassive expression for a long moment before he gracefully folded to sit in the grass beside her. His gaze was fixed on the far wall.

Sitting up, she opened her Inventory and pulled out some lunch for them both, placing the bowl of Ramen into his hands when she didn’t immediately get a reaction.

Dropping his gaze to the food, Xander took it. “Thank you,” he said, voice barely audible. “Why did you choose me?” he asked.

“I don’t think you’ll like the answer,” Astra said honestly.

He sighed. He couldn’t look at her and instead focused his gaze on his food. For a moment, they both ate silently. The food seemed to calm his nerves, at least.

“I was an orphan,” he said. “I’d just come of age when the Immortals first appeared. At first, we all believed they were benevolent... That they meant well. The Adventurers’ Guild handled requests and sent them out to do things we couldn’t. Such as handling monsters that were far too powerful for us to deal with on our own. I worked in an item shop at that time, but the shop couldn’t compete with the potions and items Immortals were bringing in and Crafting. I was released from the contract.”

Astra cringed. “Getting fired sucks,” she agreed, “Especially when you’ve got nowhere else to go. Been there. Done that.”

Her words caught his attention and he looked at her with a slightly lifted brow.

“My mom was an alcoholic; dad ran off with some floozie when I was six. I worked at a convenience store when I was sixteen.” Astra took a breath and let it out. “That’s where I got...” She stopped. She couldn’t even say it. Her hands tightened on the bowl. “Anyway. After a year, the boss got tired of me and tossed me out, but by then, Mom had shacked up with some other jerk and didn’t want me around. I got a membership at a gym and lived in their bathroom for a year before getting a job at the grocery store.”

She forced herself to smile and looked up at him—only to be confronted by his expression of utter sorrow. “H-hey, d-don’t do that!” She shuffled to turn her back on him and focused on eating her ramen. “Get back to your story,” she muttered.

Xander remained quiet for a moment and said, “I signed up for the Immortal Assistant project. They promised adventure and the opportunity to obtain Unlocked Skills. They did not mention that we would be compelled to obey orders and unable to speak to you.”

“Compelled?” Astra asked, looking back over her shoulder at him, ears folded down.

“At least you did not use me the way other Immortals used their assistants,” Xander said.

“I still got you killed a few times,” Astra said. “Because I wasn’t paying attention. So... sorry about that. For what it’s worth. But I couldn’t understand you. All I ever got were notifications that you were hungry or tired.”

Silence fell between them. Xander’s bowl poofed away, but Astra couldn’t finish hers.

“I suspect,” Xander said, “You chose me because I was nice to look at?”

The hint of amusement in his voice made her look up. “It took me a whole week to find someone up to my standards,” Astra retorted.

“I feel honored.” He gave the slightest of bows.