Okay. So. Adventure? Maybe not all it’s cracked up to be. Nobody ever mentions how much walking there is. We’ve been doing nothing but walking. Typically, nobody is even talking! Olly and Ayre just keep trudging forward, occasionally talking about nothing interesting. Six hours of walking interspersed with sitting to take breaks—this is torture.

  Ayre has commented on the breeze being nice three times since we left, and Olly mostly just idly walks without saying much, even when I try to talk right to him! Maybe I should go hunt down Slinks and go with him. He and his hat seem like they’d be fascinating traveling companions. Slinks might be a bit taciturn, but he’s chatty in his own way, and I’m pretty sure I could figure out how to talk to his hat if I had time to work on it.

  I sigh, floating along behind Olly and doing some loops and spins to keep myself from dying from boredom, but even that novelty is starting to wear pretty thin. Perhaps I should pester Olly.

  “Hey, Olly, do you remember any hobbies you used to have? Anything you’ve felt an urge to do since you woke up?” I flutter over and land on his left shoulder with a curious smile.

  He fixes me with a thoughtful look, slowing his pace a little as he always seems to when I land on him—I think it’s because he wants to avoid jostling me, but it may just be an effort to focus. “Not a lot, really. I’m working under the assumption that as I get exposed to more things, I’ll be able to figure out things that give me that same degree of uncanny familiarity as holding my bow or knife does.” He frowns slightly as an errant thought crosses his mind before continuing. “It’s…a mixed feeling.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean to bring up anything to make you feel bad, Olly.” I frown and scold myself internally, realizing the blunder of the question.

  He responds before I can finish, though, answering quickly like the words leapt from his mouth and needed to be said. “It’s no problem, Lilly. You don’t have to apologize.” He shakes his head — A bit like he’s dazed for a moment. “It’s just a situation where there doesn’t seem to be a ‘good’ outcome. If I get reminded of something I apparently used to care about, there’s no guarantee that it’ll jog a memory. It could well just leave me with the same feeling the knife does, or how I struggled with the concept of a well or shrine.” He speaks in a controlled tone, and I think I can see it on his face that he’s holding back a bit of emotion.

  Realizing it as I listen to his explanation, I grasp for a silver lining, “Yeah, but there’s a chance there! We don’t have a lot to go on yet. Ayre’s cabin has a bunch of books, but it’s not like she has any hobbies that aren’t those books.” Ayre casts a glance over her shoulder, indicating she’s been listening the entire time. Her wings are tucked in tight against her back as she goes between the densely packed, fractal-leaved, trees of the metal forest. Her tail also seems to be flicking periodically, a normal indicator that she’s agitated.

  I power on, though. It hadn’t been my intention to say that as a dig at her, so I decide I’ll apologize later. “When we make it to a town, you’ll see more people doing more things in the first thirty seconds than you have in the last two or three weeks at Ayre’s cabin.” I try to couch my response with an explanation to my clearly-listening-and-grumpy dragon, elaborating on my unintended slight to show it wasn’t anything personal. “Kids playing in the streets, adventurers with varied equipment, common folk going about their daily business. And, what’s more! If we step into the relatively “normal” town, and you don’t feel anything particularly familiar, then that’s a good few points in the “prince” category, I think.” I try to round out the explanation with something positive, but his reaction is still definitely guarded.

  “Yeah, maybe so, Lil.” His response is clipped, though I don’t get the feeling that it’s because he’s upset with me. He’s just so worried about everything. I want to help, but I don’t know how. Why not ask?

  “Olly, is there anything I can do to help? Anything at all?” I ask, feeling a bit of admittedly desperate hope in my tone that’s very unbecoming of a princess, but I shove that feeling aside in favor of supporting my new traveling companion. Friend? Traveling friend? Companion? Not sure what to call it. Some books would say “party member” but that seems too detached. I’ll workshop it.

  He looks exhausted as he looks away towards the darkening sky. “I really, truly, wish I had a good answer to that question, Lilly.” He pauses for a long time, looking contemplative, “I think you being willing to ask is something I appreciate a lot, though, even if I don’t know what to do with it.”

  Putting a big bold period on the end of his sentiment, Ayre announces that we’re coming up on a clearing that should be good to stay at for the night. “This is usually my stopping place in this area on the rare occasions I go into town.” She spins around with arms and wings outstretched, gesturing at the surrounding area. It’s…not much to look at.

  There’s many fallen trees around the clearing that have all fallen towards a rock face on one side, making a sort of enclosure with a rocky overhang. The rock face is interesting, at least. It’s got thin veins of metals of all kinds running through it, almost like someone spilled lines of metallic paint on the wall at random. It’s pocked with white gemstones, maybe quartz of some kind?

  “Is quartz a gemstone?” I ask before I really think about it. Ayre and Olly turn to look at me after my apparent nonsequitor. “What? I don’t know much about the study of earth essence.”

  Ayre sighs, “Terra. The word is Terra, Lilly.” She clarifies with a tired shrug that gives me a small bit of satisfaction, like it always does. Idly, I have to wonder if she knows I do it on purpose, and if she secretly enjoys the exchange as much as I do… “But, that aside, I’m not really sure. It’s certainly gemlike. As far as I know, it doesn’t possess any elemental properties like other gems, though. Why?”

  “The whole wall is marked with small, clear, gemstones. They’re kinda pretty.” I flutter up the rock face to one of the larger ones. On getting closer, it’s not quite clear. More of a milky white, but its surface is reflective enough that I can make out the idea of my face in its surface. Each one seems to have six perfectly even sides set across multiple layers of its facets. Curiosity taking hold, I float back a ways and gesture at the stone.

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  Rock and stone that trap this gem, release your hold so it may…. Fall…down…

  I feel the elysian essence come to my call, and the response it gives feels almost…disappointed. It moves sluggishly and reluctantly. Seemingly upset with my poor incantation? It’s never been so picky before. Then again, I’ve been being lazy with my incantations and requests…

  “Maybe end it with ‘Shine again’,” Ayre offers thoughtfully after a few moments of watching the lethargic essence make its way up the wall with great reluctance. I sigh, jealous of her word choice. But, I’m not one to turn down good help.

  Rock and stone that trap this gem, release your hold that it may shine again!

  With virtually no delay, the essence bounces into motion like an overexcited slime and scales the wall immediately, and promptly starts to slip in between the wall and the gem until there’s a soft pop noise and the gem falls free, dropping onto the mossy ground below. Its job done, my essence emits a series of sharp trills of success and dissipates into the air quickly.

  I flutter down and land next to the hexagonal gem and make to heft it but realize that that is absolutely not happening in any universe ever. Olly pads up behind me while I’m trying, his boots softly dragging through the taller grass. “That’s definitely not quartz.” He declares with surprising surety.

  I glance up at him with a cocked head, “I don’t disagree, but you sound super confident about that. You realize you were a Terralogist in your former life or something?”

  I hear Ayre scoff in the background while she’s tamping down a section of grass with rocks to make a spot for a fire and to pitch the two tents. “Terralogist?” She asks with disbelief.

  I leave the gem behind and zip over to her, leaving Olly behind with my prize. He’ll probably bring it over. I point an accusatory finger at her. “You told me that people who work with Hydrus essence a lot were called hydrologists. It makes sense that someone who knows about dirt and rocks would be a terralogist!” I say a little defensively, but Ayre pauses for a moment, maybe reconsidering her point.

  “Actually, you know, that does make sense. It also doesn’t sound bad on the surface. Maybe Olly is a terralogist.” We both turn and look at Olly, who’s now taking up a squatting position before the fist sized gem. “Notice something interesting, Olly?” Ayre probes with a bit of hesitation after what happened the other day.

  I watch curiously as he glances over his shoulder, looking contemplative. “Maybe. Want to test something. You guys mind staying over there?” We both assent as he walks up to the wall and finds another decently sized gem. With clear hesitation, he raises his cursed hand to the gem and presses his palm against it, and he shudders as he absorbs whatever the gem is made of.

  “Nothing to worry about. Not losing my mind or anything. It was just an odd feeling.” His voice sounds just shy of monotone. Stripped of most inflection and personality. I find that deeply concerning, so I fly over and hover next to him.

  “You sound funny. What’s up, Olly?” He turns to look at me with very distant eyes, a thousand yard stare looking into the middle distance behind me, through me. It’s pretty unsettling. But I notice that his eyes have lost all of their color, appearing mirrorlike apart from his beady, black, pupil.

  “It’s fine. It’s an Ordo derived gem. I wanted to know what properties they had, since it’s a relatively rare essence according to Ayre’s books.” His inflections seem to be coming back slowly, along with the mirror sheen of his eyes receding.

  Ayre comes over to join us once it’s clear that it’s safe. “Ordo derived? What is the actual essence, then?” She asks, having learned to trust Olly’s knowledge on matters of identification.

  “Reflexio. It’s the essence most closely associated with mirrors, reflections, and inversion.” He reports with his voice more or less returning to normal.

  Ayre looks thoughtful for a moment. “Well, it seemed to mellow you out something fierce. You feelin’ alright after that?” She seems to make an effort of watching his eyes with a stern face.

  “Yeah. I feel fine. I had the feeling it was Ordo based just from the…. I guess I’ll say ‘taste’ in the air.” He casts his eyes back at the metallic wall. “The cracks are also really strangely geometric when you look closely. Same as the gems. I honestly needed to sate my curiosity about it and to try to figure out how Ordo would affect me.” He gestures to Ayre’s hand with a shy look, “After I’ve absorbed Ignia, I’ve felt more lively. Full of energy. Mineralis left me feeling sharper. More lethal, more capable, and tougher, like tempered steel. Ordo, it seems, helps bring me back to a more neutral state of mind.”

  “‘Neutral’ is definitely one word for it. You sounded like a golem. Slow, steady, but inflexible. So what are you thinking, then? It seems like you’re working towards a point, Olly.” I flutter past his right arm and over to his left shoulder to sit. He flinches, seemingly out of surprise, but relaxes once I’ve landed.

  “Well. If it calmed me down that much from just a simple absorption, I was thinking maybe I should spend some of the evening collecting these to keep on hand in case I feel myself losing control?” He ends the sentiment with a distinct question, and clear uncertainty. “But also, I worry that keeping them on me would run the risk of me idly taking them in without really meaning to, like you noticed the other day I do when walking through the woods with flowers, plants, branches, and other things.”

  “Well, I can help you get the rest. It’ll probably leave me sleepy, but we’re nearing sundown anyways. Maybe Ayre can keep them in a pouch and throw them at you if you start to lose it?” I offer helpfully, beginning to call upon my essence from within to have it break all the gems free from the wall.

  “I’m happy to hold onto them and ration them out if you think it’ll help. If you feel more temptation when around powerful sources of essence—then having them in town could be a huge boon. Between the people, the common usage of sorcery of all kinds, and enchanted items, you’ll be surrounded by massive quantities of the stuff. These won’t make you a sterling conversationalist, apparently, but if they take the edge off, then I see no harm.” She pauses as she watches my essence pooling around me. About halfway through channeling, I start to feel dizzy but power through. Abruptly, my efforts are made easier when Ayre scoops me into her hands, letting me stand instead of fly to focus a little better.

  I concentrate, really trying to come up with a good one to properly motivate the essence that answers. After a few moments of thinking, I grin at my idea, trying to be a little more bombastic because of the scale of the spell. I begin to speak, standing to twirl and dance on Ayre’s hand as I get into the incantation before bringing it to a close with a bow.

  Stubborn stone, shake loose your snare; let these gems slip free, their splendor lain bare!

  I see my essence, let slip from my source deep within, rush forth to scour the stone of each of its gems and other valuables. I’m giddy and curious what it will find—

  That, however, will be a concern for future Lilly. I turn and look at Ayre with a single finger raised in the air as my head begins to spin. The whole forest begins to spin! It’s delightful for a few seconds, but its end comes quicker than I’d have liked as I go to speak and instead fall over into Ayre’s hand, allowing sleep to claim me for my efforts.