Soul Merger

Rosalina relaxed in the guard carriage as they prepared to start down the roads towards the Southern lands. It was going to be a while before they were far enough from the city to really need to worry about roaming monster groups, so all they needed to care about were some rainshowers.

Her new friends were sadly less relaxed. Alissa was doing her best hermit impression with her cloak. Clara was talking with all the merchants. And Fili was trying to focus on her spellbook in order to avoid chatting up Alissa. Despite the work Rosalina had put in to get the two to loosen up a bit yesterday. Oh well.

Hoarding friends now? The deep snide voice of her merge asked. Suppose it is harder to acquire than money.

Rosalina snorted. Friendship isn't something you hoard. Come now, you can do better than that.

Friendship is when we both use each other for our own ends. Right friend? the voice hissed.

Did you steal that out of the book I was reading last week? For a dragon it was impressive how cheesy her merge could be.

The voice gave a crackling huff. I read those lines a century before you were born, whelp. You're barely catching up to my deep reserves of knowledge. The voice paused for a moment. I am curious why you haven't seduced that mage. She seems like your type. Well one of your many types.

That was an interesting question that she hadn't thought about until now. Rosalina considered it. She usually didn't hold back unless her actions would hurt someone. After a moment she realized the answer she'd stumbled on subconsciously. I think they'd make a good couple.

Hm... The dragon's voice rumbled in her soul before trailing off. It was interesting. The dragon would harry, tempt, and insult her at every opportunity. But as soon as other people's feelings got involved his voice would draw back. Rosalina suspected he was actually a huge softy, though she'd never tell him that. At least not unless it would be incredibly funny.

The wagon shifted as Clara hopped up to the back. "Looks like we'll be heading out in a couple of minutes. Should be a nice easy trip for the first two days. Merchants say there haven't been any major raids recently."

"Isn't that a bad thing?" Fili asked. "Usually things are quiet right before an ambush."

"It's not the same as a Labyrinth," Alissa replied. "The monsters out here tend to just wander in a direction and start trouble. The only time there's raids is when a leader pops up, or something big chases the other monsters into human areas early."

Clara nodded. "We'll likely have to shoot a goblin or five but it won't be a real problem. We might not even have to get out of the cart."

The dour faced woman who was their driver looked back. "You'll still need to keep your eyes out. Goblin arrow will kill like any other."

"Of course we will," Rosalina said, moving to sit upright. It's not like they'd have much to do otherwise as they rattled along the road.

The driver huffed, but left matters at that as she started the cart going.

As expected, the first leg of the trip was incredibly dull. The small spots of farmland around the city and the little village hubs that lined the road meant they really weren't any distance from civilization at all. Oh sure, the villages all technically had a different governing council than Seaport, but they turned over tax money to the big city and in return got big city guards and road builders to keep things running. Messy, but she preferred that to her old home, where everything went through her family's church.

They'd just made it out of the farmland into the woods when the caravan stopped for midday break. She was quite happy to get off the cart and stretch her legs. Turning to her friends she put down her knapsack and pulled out the rations she'd gathered. "So! Time to compare lunches? We haven't eaten together outside of restaurant meals after all."

"So long as no one asks for some of mine," Clara replied, putting down her own oversized sack.

Fili and Alissa followed suit but stayed quiet. They probably figured it was just Rosalina being herself. But no, she'd had a good reason to ask. It was far too easy for newer travelers to fail to pack proper meals. Which is why she'd stuffed extras into her own bag.

For now though the important reveal. "Seared salmon, orange, and rice packets with vegetables," she proclaimed, pulling out each. Her stuff would spoil by tomorrow, but she might as well enjoy good food while she could.

Alissa apparently was more practical. "Tamales." She said, pulling out those along with some apples. Bland but serviceable, so long as there was something in the cornmeal. "You have food that won't rot in that bag too right?"

"Of course," Rosalina replied. It stung a bit being judged, but she reminded herself that the group hadn't spent much time together yet.

The two looked over to where Clara had pulled out six carrots, a pre baked sweet potato, several chunks of smoked meat, and a sheet of hardtack. "Well we know who to ask if we end up stuck outside and need a stew," Rosalina said.

"I suppose in dire circumstances I could give you a loan. Only fifty percent interest!" Clara said with a grin.

Alissa put on a serious mien and nodded sagely. "Fair price for dungeon eating. Otherwise you end up with slime soup."

Rosalina turned towards Fili, and immediately wondered if she'd made a mistake. The woman's bag was still closed, and the mage was looking around for an escape route. Slime sweat glistened all over the parts of her that were visible.

"Uh, actually I have to take a personal break first. I'll catch up with you later?" Fili asked plaintively.

Rosalina started rapidly trying to think of what the mage was worrying about. Odd eating habits? Or maybe she'd just packed something stupid and was worrying about looking like a fool. Well the details weren't important. What was important was getting the girl to open up a bit more.

Fortunately Clara rescued them all. "We aren't gonna judge you for using your slime to preserve your food," she said softly.

Rosalina blinked. "Oh." That made a lot of sense.

"Clever," Alissa said.

Fili swallowed but nodded and pulled out a meat pie wrapped in a paper that had pretty much been fossilized in slime resin. "It's really useful, but a lot of people find it gross." She looked up plaintively to make sure no one was judging her.

Humor worked best at times like these, so Rosalina sighed in defeat. "Damn. Now I can't steal your food while you're not looking. It'd be too obvious."

"Given you're packing strange Eastern dishes I don't think you'd be able to get away with stealing any of our food," Alissa replied.

"I only have the one set," Rosalina replied. "And it's a brilliant idea I got from Akari. In fact I'm so magnanimous I'm willing to trade one for a tamale."

"Might as well learn what our future member's cooking is like," Alissa said. Rosalina snorted as she did the trade. Was it possible the woman's merge made her so adept at biting retorts?

Among other things. A shame she despises so many of her abilities. The dragon rumbled from within. Of the lesser melds, she has one of the most powerful, if hard to control.

I imagine she'd hate her skills less if she could control them. Rosalina poked at the dragon's mind, seeing if she could get it to answer. But it didn't reply. Either it didn't know or wasn't talking.

They polished off their midday meal along with the rest of the caravan. Then the wagoneers and traders took to checking their carts for damage or strain. Rosalina moved a bit off the beaten path and sat down to practice her focus exercises. As she expected, the others followed. She was certain Alissa didn't want to do any practice in front of men.

That last bit of social manipulation handled, she started her own exercises. Being a priestess required a great deal of focus. The human body was an incredibly complex system. Which meant healing magic required a great deal of variable focus. Where a mage would hesitate to have more than three mental variables, most healing spells started with four variables, and you had to figure out what two of those variables were in the middle of your spell. It wasn't enough to merely direct power to a specific location. You had to determine what the person's body should be and direct your energy to correctly reconstruct things.

Which meant priestess training involved a lot of multitasking. She created a small orb of light and worked at getting it to spin and stretch, while taking a look over her friend's training methods.

Unsurprisingly, Fili was developing some kind of magecraft, writing the complex formula on the ground and then swapping bits and pieces about. Rosalina looked over it, but she soon abandoned trying to figure out what Fili was doing. Their spells seemed to use almost an entirely different language.

Clara and Alissa's practice routines were far more interesting. Clara was using training quarrels to shoot trees, but she wasn't taking her time to slowly aim. Instead she was practicing snap shots with her massive crossbow.

Meanwhile Alissa was practicing the same strike over and over. A single thrust at blinding speed. After a few strikes Rosalina noticed Alissa was changing her target slightly. Striking tiny imperfections in the wood with pinpoint accuracy.

"Hm, I would have thought it'd be the other way around," she remarked. She felt a little bad for interrupting her friend's focus, but well, that's what would happen in combat. "The archer is worried about speed and the thief is worried about aim."

"Monsters don't sit around waiting for you to shoot them," Clara said, drawing back another bolt and firing. "You have to aim fast and hit what you can. That's why elves are good archers. They can make little adjustments to their aim unconsciously."

Alissa did another thrust before stopping and sheathing her sword. "It's for techniques. You have to build up muscle memory for the move, then muscle control to make it useful in a fight. Precise stab is one of the three basics."

"Three basics?" Rosalina worked at keeping the light shifting while talking. "I thought weapon users had different skills for each weapon."

"Yes. But there's three universal ones." Alissa pulled her knife, and Rosalina felt the charge in the air shift as Alissa summoned magic into her body.

The blade thrust out and pinned a fly to the tree. "Precise stab." Alissa slashed and left a cut in two nearby trunks. "Horizontal slice." The knife cut through the air again and a branch fell, neatly sliced off. "Vertical slice. Those are the fundamentals. A lot of moves are just variations of those."

Fili looked up from her writing. "So all the fighters calling their move 'whirlwind slash' 'typhoon slash' and 'crescent blood moon' were doing the same thing just with flashy names? Like how wizards rename their fireballs to sound cool?"

"They might be different," Alissa shrugged. "I couldn't say until I saw them. It's possible they were drawing on their merge a little to enhance the technique."

"All our fireballs are technically different too," Fili said, turning back to her work. "Technically."

Rosalina cursed as she realized she wasn't moving the light evenly. Letting her focus reset, she sent the light circling her head, while watching her friends go back to training.

After a few more minutes whistles from the caravan sounded, telling the group to get ready to leave. Rosalina shut off her light orb and dusted off her tabard. "Well, now for the part of the journey where we have to stay awake."

"I'd be impressed if you could sleep on that cart," Alissa replied as she bundled up again.

"You learn how eventually," Clara said with a grin. "Still we shouldn't. Got some guarding to do. And then we gotta chat with your friend, right Rosalina? She lived near the first stop."

"Yeah," Rosalina replied. "She should meet us at the town entrance. We'll be able to stay the night at her place."

It would be good to see Akari again. And maybe this group of oddballs would work well with the woman.

If her oni behaves. The dragon added. Rosalina sighed in agreement.