Sunday Walks

The first chords of the ending theme played as the credits began to scroll up the screen and John blinked away a bit of tiredness. Mary Poppins had only been the first film they watched and while they had offered to let Kiera pick the second, the shy bluenette had declined. Beth had no compunction on taking the chance to pick and that’s how Howl’s Moving Castle became the other half of their double feature.

A double feature that most of them didn’t get to finish as the strain of the day, a well-cooked meal and a hearty dessert of various ice creams caused them to drift in and out of consciousness, with all but John falling asleep. Even Candle had succumbed to the late hour, the spirit curled up in Kiera’s lap.

The bluenette had been one of the last to fall asleep, enraptured by the animated film. It had only been near the climax that she faltered, her head lolling and coming to rest on John’s shoulder. Aeolia had claimed his other side and was in much the same position, something that made John silently chuckle given how the afternoon had gone for them. Beth, Vivian and Senka were cuddled together on the other side of the couch, the spirit holding the pair close.

‘Guess I should wake everyone, clean up and head to bed,’ he thought. ‘Hope no one's going to be grumpy about that.’

Before he could even move, his ringtone blared in his mind, causing him to jump slightly. The sudden movement caused Aeolia and Kiera to shift in their sleep, but didn’t wake them. With as much care as possible, John got up, gently repositioning Kiera and Aeolia so they didn’t topple over. Once he was sure they were fine, John quickly strode out of the room, pulling his phone from his inventory as he did, silencing it before the ring could be heard.

‘Moira?’ he thought when he saw the caller ID, then accepted the call and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Newman,” Moira’s curt voice said. “I hope I didn’t wake you, but I felt it would be best to relay this to you as soon as possible. The Lord-Protector has approved your request for a team of two to assist you in the quest you spoke of. They will be available Monday morning. If that doesn’t work for you, there may not be another opening for some time.”

“No, Monday’s fine,” John quickly said, keeping his voice low. “We can coordinate with the goblins tomorrow. Did you have a time in mind?”

“An early start would be for the best,” Moira responded. “Eight should be at the appropriate time for all parties.”

“Eight’s workable,” John said, before a question formed in his mind. “Are we working with you and Rowan again, or with someone new?”

“Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend,” Moira replied. “Squire Donnelly and her mentor, Knight Ramirez, will be the ones joining this endeavor. We thought it best that there be at least some familiarity with your tactics and powers present.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” John said. A part of him wondered if the Order was considering this a punishment for Rowan. Like the quest was grunt work that had to be done, so give it to the low-level peons and those needing a lesson. Lord Brighton hadn’t exactly been chomping at the bit to start the goblin-related quest.

“Is that everything?” John asked.

“Yes,” Moira replied. “Knight Ramirez and Squire Donnelly will meet you in Pruzonia and will follow you to where you set this quest barrier.”

“Honestly, we’ll probably open it right outside,” John said.

“I will relay that to them,” Moira remarked. “Anything else we should be aware of?”

“Not at the moment,” John answered. “I’ll text you if anything pertinent comes up.”

“Very well,” Moira said. “I bid you a good night, Newman.”

“Night,” John fired back before the line went dead. “At least we’ve got a day to prepare. We were going to look into translation potions for whoever Teri brings along, right? And we need to figure out who’s going with me. Beth got the last one, so it wouldn’t be fair for her to come. And we don’t know just what’s going to get thrown at us. Really hard to plan with no info.”

John shook his head. It was late after a long day of fighting, emotional turmoil and embarrassing moments. They could figure things out tomorrow. He turned and trudged back to the living room. He had a dangerous task ahead of him.

Waking up several young women so they could go to bed.

---

Thankfully, John survived walking into that lion’s den and lived to see the next morning. Thanks to an early alarm only he could hear, he woke earlier than anyone else and extracted himself from his bed reluctantly.

‘Time to be a good host,’ he thought as he headed downstairs. ‘What can I make for breakfast? I think we have some oatmeal. That's good with some cinnamon sugar on top. And we should have a few waffles left in the freezer.’

As he made his way into the kitchen, he paused. On top of the counter was a pile of apples. Or rather, what he thought looked like apples, if they came with a vibrant pink skin.

Veshra Apples
A type of apple native to Amarlis. A crisp and tart fruit that served as a mainstay in the Amarlian elves’ diet, providing not only nourishment but an increase of vitality. Now, the only groves exist in Pruzonia.

“Okay, how did these get here?” John asked aloud to no one in particular. “Verida hasn't said she's able to leave, and Teri would have at least left a note or text. Wait, we didn't tell her about the way here. I guess Verida could have, but still, no note.”

John let Arcane Sense activate and immediately detected something he was familiar enough with to identify. He darted to the window in time to see a gnoshroom, one of the largest he'd seen, bigger even than the red and white one, vanish through the pathway.

“John,” Brenda’s voice drew John’s attention away from the window, turning to see his mother, in her bathrobe, enter the kitchen, “Are those magic apples?”

“Well, they’re from Pruzonia, and there’s something about them boosting vitality, but beyond that, they look normal,” John replied. “Well, normal as far as plants from basically another planet can be. My powers aren’t indicating they’ll do anything overly magical.”

“Did you get up early to grab them?” Brenda asked as she gingerly picked one up.

“That’s the weird thing,” John said. “Remember those mushroom guys I was telling you about? At least one of them decided to give us some.”

“That’s a little concerning,” Brenda admitted. “What if something dangerous comes through?”

“I think that’s something we’ll have to talk to Verida about,” John remarked seriously. “I didn’t think anything could just come through.”

“W-what came through?” Kiera asked as she shuffled into the room, already fully dressed in her hoodie.

“A gnoshroom decided to gift us with some apples,” John explained. “Can you see if Verida knew about this?”

“O-oh, right. I can do that,” Kiera replied, before her brow creased slightly. “Um, Verida says she wasn’t aware of them. B-but also that they’re the only ones who can leave, besides T-Teri’s people. And she can make it so only we can go through the pathway. She is a bit surprised the gnoshrooms were able to do that.”

“Probably because we used them to make the pathway,” John muttered. “I only caught it a second before it went back, but it looked bigger than any other gnoshroom. I think they might have been affected by the ritual.”

Kiera tilted her head then frowned. “Verida is going to have a look at them. She does say they feel a bit more powerful.”

“Super mushrooms, great,” John muttered.

“Is this going to be a regular occurrence now?” Brenda asked, an amused tone in her voice.

John shrugged. “I really don’t know. The gnoshrooms might just be friendly and now have a way to spread their produce. They are tied into Pruzonia’s ecosystem.”

“Verida says they’ve been giving the Golmercs all sorts of things,” Kiera supplied. “Fruit, herbs, sticks.”

Kiera paused as she giggled, “The kids like those.”

“What kids like what?” Vivian muttered as she shuffled into the kitchen, followed shortly by Aeolia, Beth and Senka.

“We’ve got gnoshroom delivery,” John explained, gesturing to the apples. “And it seems they like giving stuff to Teri’s folks too.”

“So those little guys are going to bring us food? Nice,” Beth remarked before she grabbed one of the apples. “These are safe, right?”

“Observe doesn’t say anything about them being bad,” John answered. “Painted them as something the elves had as a regular part of their diet and boosted their energy.”

“So it’s a natural energy drink,” Aeolia commented, lifting up a hand. Beth caught the signal and tossed one her way. She snatched it out of the air deftly and took a bite. “Juicy.”

With the first bite taken, the rest of the house began to break their fast, the kitchen quickly becoming awash in culinary activities. It wasn’t long before more than apples were ready to eat and the occupants of the Newman home were arrayed around the kitchen and dining room, digging into their meals.

Once they had all made decent headway into their meals, John informed them of Moira’s call from the night before.

“Good thing we planned to spend our time in Pruzonia today,” Vivian said before taking a sip of tea. “See who’s going to be joining Teri and try to set some ground rules.”

“We still need to deal with the language issue,” Aeolia remarked. “And who’s going with John on the quest.”

“Assuming the senior Order knight is cut from the same sort of cloth as Rowan, and whoever joins Teri is one of the goblin warriors, our team will be rather melee-heavy,” Senka postulated before looking over to Vivian. “I think we should lean the other way and play the brains of the group.”

Vivian flushed, but said, “There is merit to that idea, but we don’t know exactly what we will be facing. I can’t imagine there won’t be fighting.”

“Yeah, but there’ll be enough firepower between the two Order members, a goblin warrior, John and Senka,” Aeolia spoke up. “Having someone there who could figure out some random magical bullshit is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. What if this quest throws something our way like that temple dungeon? Besides, it’s not like you can’t handle yourself in a fight.”

Blushing more intensely, both at the praise and Aeolia’s proud smile, Vivian bashfully avoided looking at anyone.

“It probably is a good idea to diversify our team composition,” John said. “We were a bit **** to long-range stuff last time.”

“Expecting some Swedes to throw meatballs at you?” Beth joked.

“If Gaia leans into the Nordic theme, those meatballs could be spears thrown by mannequins decked out in Viking armor,” John replied with a chuckle. “So having someone who can screw up their aim or work out some long-distance counter wouldn't be something I'd scoff at. To say nothing else of what said person could pull off with a few minutes of prep time.”

“I suppose those are salient points,” Vivian said, her composure regained. “If there are no objections, I'll go.”

No one raised one and they considered the matter closed. With that done and no other topics that could be resolved over breakfast, they settled into light conversation as they finished their meal.

---

“So, this should be fine for Pruzonia, right?” Brenda asked as she approached John. She had chosen a red flannel shirt worn over a plain tank top, a pair of jeans and a pair boots she had bought a long time ago when a home landscaping craze had briefly seized her.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” John replied. “It’s a forest, not some fancy place.”

“You say that, but I’m meeting a goddess,” Brenda shot back, a weak smile on her face. “Now that's something I never thought I'd say.”

“Yeah, that's something to get used to.” John laughed. “And it's best to not think about that. Verida doesn't really play up that stuff.”

John found it prudent to not bring up the difference in power between him and Verida to make his mother feel more at ease. Thankfully, the conversation hit a lull as everyone made their way to the backyard and through the pathway.

Vivian paused at the event horizon for a moment, inspecting the faint magic that radiated from it.

“It's incredible that we were able to so easily make this,” she said, her tone filled with wonder.

“We had the resident goddess helping us,” Aeolia remarked. She remained visible but at her innate height just in case anyone looked into the yard.

“Still,” Vivian wistfully said before shaking her head, banishing whatever thoughts were on her mind. “Anyway, let’s go.”

She vanished through the pathway, quickly followed by Aeolia, Beth and Kiera. Brenda looked apprehensive as she stared at the empty air.

“Mom, you okay?” John asked.

“Just a little nervous, I suppose,” she replied before letting out a little chuckle. “It’s a little silly, isn’t it? This isn’t any different from going into your friend’s diner, right?”

“No, just a bit of a squeeze and boom we’re there,” John answered before looking at Brenda with concern. “Mom?”

“Guess I’m nervous about meeting someone as important as a goddess,” Brenda relented. “I know you’ve said she’s just like anyone else, but the whole divinity thing is kind of hard to get around.”

“Just wait til you meet her, then you’ll see she’s just another person,” John said. “She just happens to have horns and a tail.”

“That doesn’t really relieve my sense of apprehension, sweetie,” Brenda remarked but smiled slightly. “And neither does just standing out here.”

“Then let’s go,” John said, holding out his hand. “Don’t want everyone to start wondering what the hold up is.”

Brenda took John’s hand, doing her best to ignore how strong yet gentle his grip was, and he pulled her through the pathway. Reality shifted and Brenda felt like everything was pressing in on her for a second before the tamed backyard bled away into a wide forest clearing, dominated by a large tree, its bark gold and leaves crimson red, taking Brenda’s breath away.

The scent of fresh grass and trees carried on a faint breeze and Brenda felt some of her nerves diminish. They spiked back up when the very distinct form of Verida purposefully strode over to them. She gulped as she watched the goddess’ hips sway as she approached, her impressive tail snapping back like a counterweight.

Before Brenda could say anything, the goddess’ face broke into a wide grin and she said, “Brenda, yes? I’m so happy to finally meet you.”

Then, Verida suddenly embraced her, and with her mouth near Brenda’s ear, quietly continued, “Thank you for taking care of Kiera. I don’t know how much she’s told you, but she feels brighter when she thinks of all of you.”

“I was just doing what any decent person would,” Brenda found herself saying, the way things had gone far beyond what she had expected.

“I may be new to this world, but I know that’s something in short supply,” Verida sadly said. “It’s good that you and John are like that.”

As Verida pulled back, John said, “See, Mom, nothing to worry about. The girls and I have to meet up with Teri. Have fun.”

“‘Fun’, huh?” Verida repeated before looking at Brenda. “Does the tour qualify?”

“I think it does,” Brenda said and looped her arm around Verida’s as they began to walk. “Did you, um, speak to the mushroom people about that apple delivery? They were very delicious, don’t get me wrong, and it’s nice they wanted to treat us, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with people, or fungi, I suppose, we don’t really know just popping by.”

Verida’s happy expression dimmed slightly. “Yeah, I’ve told them off for that. They shouldn’t do that again, but I will keep an eye on the pathways all the same. The ones that helped to make them are stronger than they were beforehand. I think I’ll need to talk to Estelle or Nephele about it.”

“Those are the two witches from yesterday, right?” Brenda asked. “John and the girls weren’t so liberal with the details.”

“I suppose they might still be embarrassed about having to be naked for the ritual,” Verida offhandedly said, causing Brenda to blink owlishly.

“They certainly didn’t mention that,” Brenda slowly remarked.

“I can see why,” Verida continued. “Especially since John and Estelle, one of the witches, were somewhat suddenly pulled back here once the ritual was done. I don’t quite get why they’re so awkward about it. No one saw anything. We all sort of fell down once it was done, and when we realized everyone was present, John equipped his clothes back on and kept his gaze on the grass.”

“Raise that boy right, I did,” Brenda said with a hint of pride, though she knew Kiera wouldn’t have minded him looking at her. And if that led to a positive change in the relationship between the bluenette and the others, well, one wouldn’t hear her say anything about it.

“He is rather considerate,” Verida remarked in a wistful tone, one that made Brenda wonder if she was harboring feelings for her son. She held back a chuckle at how quickly he had stolen so many women’s hearts. It certainly was a change of his fortunes and only fanned the flames of her own forbidden desires.

Tapping those feelings down for the moment, Brenda listened attentively to Verida as she began to talk about their surroundings. There would be time later to think about those things. For now, she could be content with things as they are.

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.