Noontime Pause

Communication tower compromised! Wave failed. Barrier reset in 5 minutes.

John quickly called up the barrier option screen and shifted the barrier into peaceful mode, then nearly everyone fell to the ground. After fifteen waves of combat over three rounds, around four hours of fighting, everyone was nearing their limit. Even a level up only did so much to alleviate the drain of stamina and mental strain from the fight. At least it gave him mana to work with.

“Anyone fancy a heal?” he asked as he swapped out his wind spirit for water in Overlay, his mana taking on the feel like he was in a pleasantly warm bath. It left him with 78 mana, but that should be enough to use the spirit’s healing power. Plus, he still had 50 mana stored in the battery if they needed more.

“Me,” Beth groaned. While she had been more focused on terrain control, the last two waves had her getting up close and personal with the drones. She had taken one hard shield bash from one before Aeolia finished it off. Speaking of their most experienced fighter, she was doing her best to stay up, leaning on her glaive like a walking stick.

In terms of pure exertion, it was undeniable that she had done the most of all of them. Her mobile fighting style gave her many options, but it did mean she was constantly moving. And constantly risking getting hit.

“Not going to say no to that,” Aeolia said in a breathless tone.

“I think I’m fine,” Vivian chimed in. Due to their plan for her to stick back and make arrays, she had been relatively safe, especially once they knew that the drones prioritized trying to reach their target over attacking someone not in their way.

“I don’t require anything but some rest,” Senka added.

“Healing for two coming up,” John said, glad his intuition was right. He would have felt like an idiot if more than Aeolia and Beth needed healing. He extended his hands and activated Spring Blessing. A shimmering blue bubble appeared on one of Aeolia and Beth’s shoulders and both girls let out groans of relief.

“Sounds like that’s quite the pleasurable experience,” Senka remarked with a sly smile.

“Feels like I was dropped into a hot tub,” Beth sighed.

“Mnnn,” Aeolia hummed. “It’s a good feeling.”

“I can keep this up for about a little more than a minute,” John said. “That’ll be just over thirty points of health.”

“I think that’s going to be more than enough,” Aeolia said as she rolled one of her shoulders. “Probably could do with only half of that.”

“Yeah, but I want to be sure you’re patched up,” John attested. “Plus, it helps to up my proficiency with water mana. Getting as many cost reductions as I can get is just as good as leveling.”

“How is that going anyway?” Vivian asked as she began to reclaim what Shine Dust she could.

“I’ll let you know once I finish the healing,” John replied. “Want to get an idea just how using 60 mana affects it. I should have something already accrued in ‘Water’ since I used the Staff to heal Rowan the other day.”

John stopped fueling the spirit magic a few moments later, the bubbles fading away like mist. Beth let out a whine at the loss of the pleasant sensation and herself to sit up.

“Doesn’t beat a good shower or bath, but I definitely feel less beat up,” she remarked.

“That does sound like it’d be a good way to wind down from this,” Senka mused in an airy voice. “A nice and long soak. It's a pity we don’t have the option at home.”

“Mom and Dad weren’t thinking I’d have four girlfriends at the same time when they were house shopping,” John joked as he pulled up the info for Elemental Resonance.

Current Elemental Proficiency
Fire(1): 25/100
Water(0): 40/100
Earth(0): 10/100
Wind(0): 80/100
Dark(1): 35/100
Light(0): 0/100

“That light one’s going to bother you, isn’t it?” Senka laughed as she moved around John to look at the display.

“Of course it is,” John grumbled. “The lack of ‘Earth’ bugs me too, but at least I can work on that with what I already have. Got no light mana generation at all.”

“At least the two you use the most are already getting a discount,” Vivian said.

“Yeah, being able to throw more fireballs will be useful moving forward,” John remarked. “Kind of wish I had a fire spirit to Overlay with. It’d make having fire mana easier. Having to run my mana through the glove’s crystal isn’t the most convenient for many reasons.”

“Maybe Mason has some hanging around the kitchen?” Aeolia suggested.

“I don’t think anyone would appreciate us coming in without cleaning up a bit,” Vivian said. “We have worked up quite a lot of sweat.”

“Changing would be nice too,” Beth added, peeling her shirt away from her slick skin.

“Okay. So we grab the loot, head home, clean up, give Mason and Cammie more money,” John iterated their plan. “Think afterwards we’ll feel up to any more grinding?”

“The fun kind, or more of this?” Beth asked with a chuckle.

“We probably should, but maybe just one normal at a lower level?” Vivian asked, ignoring Beth’s remark as she toyed with the half full bottle of Shine Dust. “I think it would be good for us to practice some things. Like, I want to get better at speed drawing my arrays and if we find a fire spirit for you, John, then you can get some experience using it.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea,” Aeolia said. “Yeah, it won’t rocket up our levels, but getting used to new moves or practicing old stuff against less dangerous monsters is just good strategy.”

“There’s no way I’d be able to level again today, so a tame barrier’s good with me,” John threw his two cents in. “Think we should stick with drones or try something else?”

“We can brainstorm over lunch,” Vivian replied. “But we know how the drones operate so that gives us an advantage.”

“It probably is best to not try this with new enemies,” Senka said.

“Guess we won’t need to discuss what we’re going to fight later,” John remarked with a grin. Then he stretched. “If that’s it, let’s get moving.”

---

Aeolia sighed as she ran her fingers through her still slightly damp hair. Getting four people to shower using only John’s modest bathroom amenities wasn’t the simplest affair and they decided to go in order of who looked like they worked up the most sweat. Which meant she went first, followed by Beth, Vivian and John who elected to take the last one like the gentleman he was.

She smiled softly at how he insisted on that. Even after everything, he was still the dork who went out of his way to make her a bed she barely got to use. She hoped he never lost that.

Aeolia flew downstairs, intending to grab something to drink before they left. She felt she could eat a horse, even in her innate size, but she could hold off until they got some of Mason and Cammie’s food.

“We really are going to single-handedly keep them in business,” she chuckled as she landed in the Newman kitchen, growing to her full size as she did. She froze when she realized she wasn’t alone. Kiera stood in front of the open refrigerator. It was obvious to her that the bluenette was looking for something to eat but now had turned to look at the noise her arrival caused.

The flash of nervous panic shot across the shy girl’s face when their eyes met and Aeolia fought to keep her expression neutral.

“O-oh, h-hello, A-aeolia,” Kiera stuttered out. “A-are you l-looking for something to eat?”

“Just grabbing a drink,” Aeolia answered in a measured tone. She made her way to the sink, grabbed a glass and filled it.

“O-okay,” Kiera muttered and Aeolia didn’t need to look at her to know the bluenette was shuffling about nervously. “I-I’m, um, just going to go.”

The quick and soft footfalls signaled Kiera’s retreat and Aeolia let out a small sigh before downing her drink. Things with the former member of Phantom Reach were complicated, to say the least. And she didn’t like overly complicated things.

She’d been content to just ignore the bluenette as best she could, a hard task given they were now basically living under the same roof. Harder still given how everyone else warmed to her, encouraging her to interact with them.

‘Brenda’s practically adopted her,’ she thought. ‘And John, Vi and Senka aren’t exactly hiding their concern for her.’

Was it wrong for her to not really have any strong thoughts about her? She played a part, even if it was under duress, in the of nearly everyone she had known and cared for. And yet, the most she could will herself to feel was pity. Her anger and hatred died when John used his powers to see those moments before her mind was ripped apart by whatever lay in that far-off Kingdom. And any resentment met the same fate when she talked Kiera into not just letting herself die.

“Hold on a second,” Aeolia called out, and Kiera’s steps halted. “I think we need to have a talk.”

Kiera let out a strangled sound, like she tried to suppress a surprised utterance and failed halfway through. Aeolia didn’t wait for her to properly respond before she marched into the living room and sat down on the couch. A second later Kiera timidly crept back into the room.

“Sit,” Aeolia ordered and Kiera quickly dropped into the armchair across from her. She felt a twinge of guilt at the utterly terrified look the shapeshifter was trying to keep off her red face.
“Look, I’m not going to yell at you or anything. But, we need to get on the same page concerning our pasts.”

“O-our pasts?” Kiera repeated nervously, shrinking in on herself.

“Yeah,” Aeolia remarked. “If we’re going to be around each other, we can’t just ignore what happened.”

Kiera wilted even more and Aeolia sighed.

“Look, I know you weren’t directly involved, and were basically a captive,” Aeolia said before she sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. I feel like we have to reach something, but I don’t know.”

Aeolia leveled a hard stare at Kiera. “I should hate you. I should be angry that you were a part of Phantom Reach, even with knowing just how things were between you and them. I lost my brother, friends. That vine bastard could have killed us all on Sunday.”

Kiera shrank more into herself at the reminders being thrown at her, unable to even try to make eye contact. And her pitiable reaction made Aeolia feel bad about speaking her mind, but she was too far along to stop.

“But I don’t feel anything like that,” she revealed, which managed to get Kiera to look at her once more. “I was when we found you, but after learning what happened and everything after that, I don’t really have any strong feelings about you. We aren’t friends, but we’re not enemies.”

“D-do you want us to be friends?” Kiera timidly asked. “I-I’m not saying we have to be, but, um…”

“Let’s just take things one at a time, all right?” Aeolia interjected. “We don’t need to be all buddy-buddy, but the very least we can be is co-workers on good terms.”

Aeolia didn’t want to come off as too harsh, but she wasn’t ready to just accept Kiera with open arms. The circumstances of her inclusion with Phantom Reach made it possible for Aeolia to, perhaps not forgive Kiera, but accept her work against them as penance. But the stigma of being a part of them, of playing a role in how they attacked John twice, wasn’t something Aeolia could just get past.

“Co-workers,” Kiera repeated, a sad smile flickering across her face.

“What’s this about co-workers?” Beth asked, her voice coming from halfway down the stairs. Aeolia tilted her head back to watch the dark-haired girl descend, her face still flushed from the hot shower and her hair pulled back into a short tail.

“Just talking shop with Kiera,” Aeolia answered. She didn’t want to push her issues on the group as a whole, even if Beth was the most neutral towards Kiera. Her issues were her own in this case.

“Y-yeah,” Kiera said softly and Aeolia hoped Beth wouldn’t press for more info. There was no way she’d be able to come up with a convincing story about how they reached whatever she overheard on her way down.

“I’ll leave the business and political stuff to Vivian and John,” Beth flippantly remarked as she vaulted over the back of the couch, landing with a muted thump before sliding up to Aeolia and leaning into her. “We can focus on beating shit up.”

Aeolia playfully rolled her eyes and slung her arm around Beth. “I think John might like that too.”

“He’s smart enough to multitask,” Beth shot back before turning her head towards Kiera. “So, anything interesting happen while we were gone? Any news flashes from Verida?”

“N-no, things have been quiet all around,” Kiera answered before tilting her head to one side slightly, remaining silent for a long moment. “Verida is busy helping Teri’s people ready their fields.”

“Man, that sounds boring,” Beth remarked. “I get they need to do it, but shit like that makes me glad I was born at the end of last century and not the one before it.”

“You know even if you were born before running water became a standard feature, you might not have been stuck working on a farm, right?” Aeolia asked. “Especially if you were still Abyssal.”

“Yeah, I know,” Beth said. “I was trying my hand at bantering.”

“Think it needs more work,” Aeolia remarked.

Beth stuck her tongue out at Aeolia and the winged woman craned her head down to capture the teasing woman’s lips, unable to deny the issued challenge. Beth jolted slightly but soon returned Aeolia’s , clearly not content with surrendering right away.

A squeak from Kiera, however, caused both of them to quickly break apart, their faces flushed with embarrassment.

“Y-you don’t,” Kiera stuttered out. “I mean… I’m going to g-go.”

Before the flustered bluenette could bolt, John and Vivian both made their way down the stairs, the pair freezing as they saw Kiera half out of her seat and Aeolia and Beth’s red faces.

“I think we’ve missed something,” John said in a deadpan voice. “And I’m not sure if it’s the wise thing to ask about it.”

“How about we just ignore things and get moving?” Aeolia suggested.

“I don’t know,” Beth slyly interjected. “I’m curious about how you’re both coming down at the same time.”

“W-well, it only made sense to double up,” Vivian attested, her cheeks turning red.

“Wow, not even denying it,” Beth teased, a grin on her face. “What a scandal!”

Aeolia, not wanting to make things more awkward than they already were, elbowed Beth in the side. “You can tease them later. We’re all ready, so let’s get moving. I’m hungry.”

Beth pouted as she rubbed her side. “Not sure I can eat now. What with my extensive internal injuries.”

“You’ll live,” Aeolia said before gently nudging Beth. “Come on.”

“Fine, fine, you win,” Beth relented as she hopped off the couch.

Aeolia smiled as she followed her up. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kiera begin to slink away. Then she saw Vivian’s eyes snap over towards the retreating bluenette.

“Oh, Kiera. Would you like to join us?”