Chapter 5 - Different Strokes... (Patreon)

I checked in with Atlas on the way. Usually, he'd be ecstatic to join me. We were planning a visit to Naevys, the local elven druidess, followed by music, and later, a visit to a  certain half-orc temptress who was liberal with her head scratches. Today, however, he was busy and completely out of reach. He'd located a handful of flying squirrels who were giving him a challenge, pelting him with nuts and fleeing. I could tell he relished the enjoyment of hunting them down and putting them in their place. Food might also be an option. It wasn't like I minded too much. Having Atlas around when Darya was there could easily be a bit... awkward. Above all if things progressed to more physical activities. Ahem.

Naevys was home when we arrived. I really wanted Arack to like her and hoped that they would get along. Hence, I didn't mind if the petite elf would be able to make a good first impression. I may have underestimated her abilities to make an impact, however. She wasn't puttering about inside her wooden home when we came knocking. The lilting melody weaving through the branches left no doubt in which direction we should walk to find her, though.

Truth be told, I'd forgotten all about the batch of eggs we'd delivered to Naevys. It was a quest requirement and... well, it's not like you tend to stick around in games to see what happens afterwards, right? I wasn't likely to forget about them from now on, however. Naevys was seated within a depression, playing her flute, surrounded by a broiling mass of vipers. Arack squawked, grabbing for her weapons, while I instantly started sweating and reached for my violin. Only then did I notice the look on Naevys' face. She was happy. Serene. Positively peaceful. From looking at her, you wouldn't be able to guess that she was placed within a moving circle of death. I motioned for Arack to take a seat and we silently sat down to wait until Neavys decided to end... whatever she was doing.

Sure enough, two minutes later, she popped an eye open and winked at me. She then stood up, stretched and took a large step over the pile of animals. "My wayward teacher! I had thought you lost to the wild beasts and half-orcs of the forest."

I blushed. "Oh. Darya's already been by to update you then. Apologies for my absence. Things have been... hectic."

She waved away my concerns and walked straight over to hold my hands. "I know. I am also aware that I told you to treat Darya well the first time we met. Your methods may be unorthodox, but I approve." And - that was it. No further questions about how I'd been, nothing about the kobolds, nothing. Her red hair bobbed about her face, as she seated herself crossleged right before the, now, cautious, Arack. She carefully cocked her head, inspecting her thorougly, as if assessing her. She talked, while she stared, "Damaged, undoubtedly. Wiry though. Root stays strong."

"Naevys, you're being impolite." I admonished. Arack was clearly uncomfortable with the inspection.

"Shush. Hmm. Damaged outer shell too. Much negative influence. Only..." Her voice trailed off as a huge smile lit her face, transforming her age-less elven visage into that of an exuberant teenager as she whispered. "Pure." She approached Arack, kneeled and enfolded her in a huge hug. Over Naevys' shoulder, Arack stared at me in a way that clearly said "help me." I was only too happy that Naevys was baffling somebody else for a while with her antics. After a moment she got up and cupped Arack's face. "I am so glad you all made it here safely - you especially. Most plants that are forced to endure harsh conditions for a prolonged period will evolve sicknesses and flaws. Once in a while, however, a rare shoot like yourself flourishes despite everything. What is your name?" 

I butted in, "Her name is Arack. I was sort of forced to adopt her." 

"Forced to, old man?" Arack was quick to escape the unknown situation and tease me instead. "You had a choice and you chose - wisely." 

"If you say so, pipsqueak. See, Naevys, I've been telling her about everything, but haven't had the chance to show her all the important places and people of the village. Besides, I seem to recall that I owe you a lesson or two?"

Naevys clapped her hands in childlike glee. "Wonderful. I was starting to lose hope. Arack, the adults are about to play music for a long time. It is the prerogative of any bored spawn to explore, without thoughts to the consequences. Do take the chance to find some trouble."

"She said that you're free to stroll around this place if you get bored." I turned towards Arack. "Even with the Vipers, though? I mean, they're almost two meters long now."

"Pfah. Unlike you half-breeds, I am in touch with my natural side. No animal within my ranges will harm Arack - especially those vipers. Their minds are at peace.”

Comforted, I gestured towards Naevys’ home. The petite elf actually skipped, as she preceded me. Arack straggled behind, clearly intrigued with the weird girl. Once we’d descended the huge, twisting roots leading down into her structured chaos, I proffered my violin towards Naevys.

She refused with a smile and walked to a cluttered corner where her delicate hands unwrapped an item swaddled in cloth. With a flourish she produced – another violin. Beaming, she said, “Davinia - Lyle’s mother, you know, owed me a favor from back when I helped her give birth. Somehow, she figured out that I was - ah, the backstory is unimportant. Look at her, Arcangelo. Isn’t she wonderful?”

I reverently accepted the item. It was clearly an aged, well-worn and much-repaired instrument. Nothing magical about this one, but it did attest to a life of being used often. “Beautiful.” I let my hands go through a procession of chords. “This is perfect. The tuning pegs look like they could do with a replacement, but there’s no rush.”

I sat down in front of her and cleared my throat. "I’ve made a mistake, Naevys.” She raised an eyebrow and I continued. “Yeah, I’ve been going about this the wrong way, teaching you the exact way I’ve been taught. Pits, I almost used the same words to start out today my teacher always did. ‘So, have you been practicing?’" I shook my head in remembrance of all the times those words had caused my guilty conscience to flare up. “The traditional learning techniques are good in some areas – establishing proper handwork and increasing the difficulty bit by bit. They’re also frigging boring. Odds are, you’d dump that wonderful instrument in frustration within a couple of months.”

Naevys’ heart-shaped face looked at me in approval. “So what do we do?”

“What millions of teachers world-wide have failed to do since time immemorial.” Hefting my own violin, I grinned at her. “We make learning fun.”

I’ll admit to a certain love of hyperbole. Plenty of teachers and teaching schools have spent years and decades on developing teaching methods that make learning easier, more effective and more fun. Sometimes even two out of three at the same time. What I did was, of course, to blatantly rip off any part of any teaching school that I liked and scrap everything else. I’d had my own stint of learning about learning when my parents stopped paying for my lessons and had spent enough time online to get to know a few different theories and approaches. 

In the end, I focused on the necessity of building awareness of your own body and theoretical approach from string pedagogy, coupled with the principles from the Suzuki philosophy. Sure, that philosophy was created for children, but I had a feeling it’d fit her persona like a glove. Oh, and on top of that, I added all the silly learning games I could remember.

Arack was there for most of it. I included her as much as possible and she took delight in a clapping game where she set the rhythm and Naevys and I played along in a melody of our own choosing. Even so, we did go heavy on the theory after a while and Arack snatched the chance to go exploring. At a certain point, Naevys became disgusted with her lack of progress and we switched roles, letting her guide me to a better singing voice. I thought that my singing had improved after the hours of entertainment I’d provided in Nerit. Naevys… was not as impressed. She had me practicing an entirely different way of breathing for singing, pushing and prodding me to ensure that I was using the right muscles. “This can’t be right. You’ve only let me sing a handful of scales and I feel exhausted!” I wasn’t exaggerating either. My Stamina (check) was down to a third and I was feeling a bit light-headed.

She gave me an overbearing smile. “Time, my young Arcangelo. Give it time. Practice will ensure that you use your muscles correctly. When you sing, however – how does it feel?”

“Like I have too much air in my lungs?”

She touched my shoulder. “You have all the right information at hand and still manage to arrive at the wrong conclusion. Must be the human part of you.”

“Naevys! Really? Isn’t that a terribly racist thing to say?” I shook my head with a slight smile.

“Only if I am wrong. My misguided friend, at long last you have correct posture and breathe like you should. Like a crooked tree that is finally exposed to sunlight and water, your voice will finally be able to flourish and grow. With the proper guidance, needless to say.”

We took turns as teachers after that, continuing until the sun was starting to lose its strength. Finally, Naevys put the violin aside and stretched, languid like a cat. “Yessss. Harrah witness, I needed this. Now, as much as I would like to keep you to myself, I believe Darya usually returns to her camp around this time.”

“I – wow, is it that obvious?”

“Only to somebody with eyes.” Her infectious laughter had me laughing along with her. “I approve. She has been happier these past days. See you tomorrow?”

“I hope so – I’ve enjoyed my lessons. Any parting wisdom? Advice on what to do with the kobold situation?”

She seated herself, crosslegged, and closed her eyes, thinking deep. “Yes. I do have one piece of advice that would be beneficial to the mental well-being of one of the kobolds.”

“O-kay?”

“I suggest you let Arack go back to the village so she doesn’t have to look at you two going on.”

“Naevys…” I glared at her, but she continued undeterred.

“It’s that human nature again, I believe. Really, you ought to be furry, like rabbits.”

“Naevys!”

As soon as possible after that, I fled. The elf, having had her fun, was able to pinpoint Arack’s presence with surprising accuracy. She was seated halfway to the top of a huge pine tree, fast asleep against the tree trunk. I managed to wake her gently and we agreed to meet up at the tavern the day after. On my way towards the clearing, I chortled at my own burgeoning anticipation. Since our return, I hadn’t had the chance at anything but a fleeting encounter with Darya – or rather Mila, her real name. She’d retreated from all the hubbub in the village with the message that she needed a breather from being around people all the time and to come visit. I tried not to allow myself to think too hard on the future. Instead, I distracted myself looking at how both Teaching and Singing had increased.

Approaching her clearing, I considered sneaking up on her to surprise her... and reconsidered. With my clumsiness, the attempt was certain to end up sitcom-worthy with me arse-up, stuck in a shrubbery. I cleared my throat and spoke out loud, “Parley?”

A rustle followed by a loud laughter. "Parley? Really? Are we fighting?"

"No, but it was shorter than yelling 'Please tell me if you've planted any new traps that are about to eviscerate my blind behind.'"

"Harh. Enter, my prey. I mean, pray, enter."

Pushing aside the thick bushes, I entered her clearing. She knelt in front of a pile of firewood, working furiously at... something. The fading light of the day threw shadows on the scene and I froze, just admiring her profile and concentration. On an impulse, I used my Photographic Memory to keep this moment for a bit. 

Mia glanced up and blushed. "Stop staring, you dunce. Come over here."

"Sure. What are we doing?" 

"Inventing fire. And before you come up with some horrible joke, this is practice for my class quest - learning how to make fire from nothing without tools. Only, I'm starting to get a headache and I'm thinking it was a dumb idea to begin with."

"Well, I am the master of dumb ideas - I could surely come with some advice." In spite of my ribbing, I sat down beside her and leaned forward to observe. One hand held a sharpened stick in place within a slight depression in a wooden board. Her other hand worked some sort of rude bow stringed with twine or similar back and forward in a sawing motion. The stick was held by the twine and the motion caused the stick to drill down into the depression. "Oh. Clever. Want me to take over for a bit?"

She shook her head, causing a droplet of sweat to drop from her. "I really do, but switching would let the heat disappear and ruin all the work."

Grunting, I thought about it, "fair enough. Not much I can do to help, but I can at least give your muscles a break." I stood up and started working over her neck muscles, trying to alleviate some of the tension. While there was no denying I'd always been a bit of a weakling, I was well used to working with my hands. 

We sat in silence for a spell as I concentrated on the massage and Mia on the fire-to-be. After a couple of minutes, an excited squeak escaped her and over a shoulder, I could see a tiny waft of smoke rise from the board. 

She redoubled her efforts. "Hurry. Take some of the kindling and move it right around the stick." 

I did as ordered and before we knew it, a tiny piece of kindling took fire. Then it was just a matter of sitting back and watching the process as the brawny half-orc built the tiniest of sparks into a roaring fire. Five minutes later, Mia sat back with a sigh. "Wow. Heh. Why did I think this was a good idea in the first place?"

“Hmm - because you guessed I was coming and wanted the mood to be properly authentic?”

“Hah. Sure, let’s go with that. Nice job of avoiding the old ‘so you could cook dinner, woman,’ joke, by the way.”

I bowed. “Appreciated. Wait. Was this some kind of test? Because I suck at those.”

She snorted. “No thank you. Men are confusing enough as they are without adding tests and deliberate obfuscation into the mix.”

“Thank God. I hope you don’t mind me hanging around for a bit though. I’ve got this recurring quest thing where Greck is willing to take some time from his busy schedule to teach me – if I provide him with some suitably fancy alcohol. Now, I know nothing about red wine, but the quest has resulted in me trying out some new sorts of alcohol. This one,” I procured the final bottle from the warlock’s basement. “Certifies as fancy. No doubt about it. Care for a glass?”

Mia stood up from where she had been working and brushed off flecks of ash and tiny pieces of kindling. In an affected tone of voice, she asked, “why, Daniel. Are you trying to get me drunk?”

I looked from the bottle towards her and back, then said with emphasis, “yes!”

“Well… challenge accepted. If those soft hands don’t mind a bit of work, I might even be able to offer a halfway decent dinner. There’s a knife and a sack of tubers right over there.That’s the local version of po-tay-toes, in case your fastfood-addicted brain forgot”

The banter shot back and forth between us, as we settled into an easy rhythm, preparing dinner together. Soon, we had a giant pan sizzling over the fire. We added a handful of diced fresh onions to the peeled and sliced tubers and fried everything alongside a large fish, fresh caught this morning. A plate of shoots and herbs were waiting to be added to the mix. Soon, we were sprawled comfortably under her lean-to on a pile of blankets with each our huge plate and mug of wine.

“That – was – heaven.” I groaned ecstatically, pushing the empty plate away. “You, Mila, are a wonderful cook.” She smiled in response and I gazed around the clearing in post-meal bliss. A handful of unobtrusive contraptions erected throughout the clearing alongside the trees sprang into my view. I pointed. “What are those?”

“Those,” she said, satisfaction obvious in her voice, “are what happens when you hit level 5 in Scout. Well, rather it’s the other way around. Once I hit level 5 and built these beauties – wind barriers, by the way, I managed the prerequisites to obtain the ‘Fixed Camp’ feat. It’s incredible. You won’t believe it – there’s a whole new level of buffs you get just from resting or sleeping inside the camp.” Her eyes were closed in bliss.

“Why, Mia. Are you angling for me to stay the night?”

She looked into her cup, swirling the wine around. Then, with a decisive motion, she downed the wine, tossed the cup to the side and simply said, “yes.”

Later that evening, we were curled up under a blanket, gazing at the dying fire. I was wondering whether I’d be able to summon the energy to toss another log onto the fire, when I recalled a snippet of our earlier conversation. “You’re practicing for your next class quest – is it getting close?“

She nodded. “Could be any day now, according to Benneth. He tests me now and again on different skills, but refuses to tell me much.”

“Hmm – I’m pretty certain you couldn’t take the second class quest until level 10 in the beta. Are you that far ahead of me?”

“Hah. No, I hit level 6 in Nerit. Benneth says he’s letting me take the quest as soon as he believes I’m competent. I’m guessing that’s gamespeak for ‘you can take it earlier if you hit these skill requirements’ or something. It’s bound to make it more difficult though – leave it to Benneth to raise the difficulty.”

I laughed along with her. “He’s a decent teacher though? To me, he seems angry all the time. I mean, a couple of the villagers even call him Sourpuss to the face.”

She smiled. “Oh, he is. At the world, people in it and their general idiocy. He cares, though. He just... doesn’t do well with people. We have that in common.”

“You? You’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve never noticed you have a problem with anybody.”

She tucked an errant braid behind her ear. “I’ve lived a bit of a sheltered life. It’s not that I dislike people. It’s more… well, often I really need to be able to go back to my own place and shut the door behind me.”

“Ah.” I took her hand. “Nerit must’ve been really uncomfortable for you, then?”

She grimaced. “Yes. At least, I got to take a handful of hunting trips alone. That helped.”

“You will tell me, if at some point you'd prefer some privacy over my company, right? I can be pretty oblivious."

She put her hand on top of mine. "I will. It's yet to happen. Well, except for the first couple of times where I didn't like you."

"Hah. Can't say I blame you. So... class quest. Any idea how long it's going to be?"

"Nope. Benneth has been less than forthcoming about the whole thing. The only thing I know for sure is that it's going to be tough and I'm going to be gone for a while."

I nodded. "Fair enough. I'll avoid any manly fretting if you're suddenly gone then. Heh - I might have to hear Greck what the deal is regarding the bard class quest. If possible, he's even more close-mouthed than Benneth."

We shared a moment of silence and I finally mustered the energy to get up and throw a couple of logs on the fire. I crawled back under the blankets and got comfortable. With a shiver from the chilly night air, I said, "I appreciate the warning. In a sense of fairness - I may also have to leave the town for a handful of days soon." I frowned into the darkness. "It's not of my own volition, mind you. But…” I paused for a while, finding the right words, “last time, the people who are looking for me sent wanted posters of me along with the caravan. I… did not take it well. Panicked a bit. Let’s just say that it’s not a situation I want to find myself trapped in again anytime soon.” A vision appeared of the time I’d spent trapped inside my tavern room, trying to distract my mind with a goddamn history book of all things. I shook myself furiously, trying to dislodge the image. “No. The moment I hear that the caravan’s incoming, I’m off on the next Council quest. Should keep me away from the village until it's safe to return.”

Mia looked at me, a wide range of emotions written upon her face. Curiosity, empathy – exasperation? “Daniel, what have you been up to?”

”No. Nope, nyet, never. I’m not getting you involved.”

“But what if I could help?”

“No. This is my problem!” I continued in a softer voice, “I really, really do appreciate your concern though. If, however, you could be talked into helping me with the quest, that’d be a different animal. Amazing company and xp for all. What do you say?”

She looked like she was going to say something else, but relented. “I will have to check my schedule with my secretary. I am a busy, busy woman, you know?”

“Oh, I know. Requisition forms in triplicate sent two weeks in advance as per usual.”

“Exactly. So… are you planning on it being just the two of us.“

I grimaced. “If only. From what Gillem says, the area’s higher level than Nerit – so the two of us probably wouldn’t cut it by ourselves. I was planning to take Lyle, because all us softies really need a meat shield – and Arack, because I’d feel bad leaving her behind.”

“And Atlas?”

“And Atlas, obviously. I mean, who leaves their daft, but lovable pet behind?”

She snorted. “Alright. If Atlas is going, I may be convinced to come. Now, remember: I only travel first class.”

“Stock up on jerky. Gotcha.”