A few hours ter we stopped outside off a det sized town, I was asked to stay inside as Red, Brigg, Wen, and Jai in for supplies. I spent most of the time trying plex bang ay metal leg and falling a lot. But at least I felt like I was doing something.

  Brigg cheered as she came ba after an hood news Saint Sweet-Tits! They had the right parts to fix up that old rifle!” and I felt my heart jump. The thing had been worse off than it looked oside and what we had avaible was not gon in w dition. “But that ain’t all!” She set a crate down “They had the good shit, I make a fekkin aricraft frame for it!”

  My eyes widened. “Wait, we’re gonna make it an aricraft rifle!?”

  She blushed and scratched her head “Manarifle is the proper word, and I mean… partly. I’m an engineer, so I build and repair and maintain the parts and shit, but we’d need an inscriber to actually make runes fer the thing.” She raised a hand “But! The frame itself is gonna be a fekkin work of art, I swear it. Also way more damned durable than a mundane gun. Plus, maybe we’ll find a pce with an inscriber. They might have one in Beaver Valley by now, it’s been growing.”

  I caught my sudden ugh and it just came out as a heavy snort. “I’m sorry… Beaver Valley?”

  She grinned “Aye. It’s a floating city in a fekkin valley full of fekkin beaver dams. They too fast just to be doh the meeting and didn’t think about how dirty it sounds until it was too te.”

  I let myself ugh with the dwarf “Oh that is priceless!” I hugged Briggavel a myself calm “Okay so, are inscribers rare or something?” I brought the topic back.

  “Aricraft ones are, at least in Willow Creek. We only really started embrag the art in the past couple of decades and the only school we have with csses is a small one down in Blue Bounty. That’s a coastal region to the west. Not huge, not enough people, we get maybe two aricraft inscribers a year and they are in high demand all over the nation.”

  “So, aricraft isn’t a solo effort then? Are there not people who do both parts?”

  She shook her head “I’m just a fekkin engineer adept in it and there’s practically too gods damned much to learn even for me. It’s also very physically demandin’. I need high physical Attributes to do it all. Inscription is pretty much the opposite along with likely even more to learn. There are hundreds, if not thousands of known runes and gods only imagine how many binations. I’d rust someohat split their focus of it. Way too fekkin much to g.”

  I nodded and helped her put away a few crates for a few minutes as she asked me about my preferences with shapes, features, colors, and so on. I hadn’t thought about that kind of thing but we went over a lot of details and I had a picture f in my mind. Ohat might cause me a few problems if I scked off if I’m being ho. But I could get to that after this round of politics, I’d just have to ask Dekarru about the how.

  After an hour the rest of the girls came back chatting in that lovely uage, Jaina stumbling over the occasional word but seeming to mostly be keeping up. “Hey there my beauties, leavi of the lessons?” I teased as I helped them unload the wagon they had full of foods, fabrics, a crate of ammo fga, and other various things they vaguely called ‘survival supplies’. I’m pretty sure at least e jar was just died fruits. Not that I’m pining, pussy might be my favorite meal but sometimes you just want sweets.

  Jaina blinked and then turned red “Oh gosh! I’m so sorry! I pletely bhat you have Polyglot too, Esme.” she nearly dropped the roll of cloth she’d been handing me.

  “To be fair, I was telling you all of the… you know, Saint stuff, on top of that. I see how that detail would get lost in the rest of my issue dumping.” I said as I pet her head softly.

  “Well you do have it, what rank anyway? Sometimes people get it at higher ranks from the get-go for some reason.”

  “Oh I got it at E, but I used it so mu the hospital that it’s at-, you know what? I’m not assuming anything about my Status anymive me a sed.” and I pulled my details up to give a quice. I whistled “Damn, okay it’s already rank C.” I said, then noted silently that Heartbreaker and Courtesan’s Touch had also reached Rank C. Which supported my theory that my Heartseeker css also had hidden social aspects. Also, I grinned as I saw that Dream Touched had increased to D rank. Hopefully I’d meet my baku friend again soon. They were super cute and friendly and I really wao pet them more.

  “Oooh C you could learn a whole new nguage in just two or three days with lessons and immersion.” She then grinned “But you still have some catg up to do to an S rank like me.”

  “S rank and you’re still stumbling over words after a week with the girls?” I raised a brow as I teased her over it.

  Red snorted “We didn’t know she had Polyglot till this m! This is just a couple hours of learning and she speaks it better than most teenagers who speak it as a first nguage. That is a damned impressive Skill to have.”

  I looked at my Healer wide eyed. “Oh, wow. Okay, that’s amazing. I retract my judgment.”

  Weren swatted my ass as she passed by with a bag full of fresh veggies “You should have both told us days ago you have it! Knowing tagakra would make dealing with things going forward way easier.”

  “In my defe’s a fairly new Skill for me. I am also brain damaged by an ultimate level dition and you all have been very distrag.” I waggled my eyebrows at the cook and she giggled.

  “Oh stop you tease, you’ll get me in trouble in another vilge.”

  Red groaned “Oh gods no, stop, seven is enough to be banned from you brat.”

  I snickered “Wow, all those curves are filled with trouble, aren’t they?”

  “Oh you have no idea yet. You’ll learn though now that you’re part of the tribe.” Red promised me with a long suffering sigh and a shake of her head. Weren however had the most w grin ever as she skipped to the kit to start putting foodstuffs away.

  Redagga did have o thing for me however. “Hey, magic face dy, I got something to help with that magic face stuff. Mert from Uvtrayl assing through with all the test fashions. Not normally something we care about, obviously.” she ughed “But they had something useful.”

  She handed me a small metal case and when I ope I couldn’t help but grin. “Oh damn, this is great.” I pulled out the tents and pced them on my face properly before turning to Jaina ao show off the wide, dark, sungsses. “So, hide the eyes well?”

  Jaina tilted her head “Huh, you know I hadn’t realized how much the eyes really dominate your look until now. Like, you still look like a pale weirdo with dyed hair. But without those intense eyes you look… normal still doesn't fit.”

  Red nodded “Still stra within acceptable human range of strangeness.”

  I pouted “My eyes aren’t that strange.”

  Jaina ughed “They are lovely and I enjoy staring into them plenty, but you have a pair ht e orbs with dark silver stars in your face. They doly let you blend in with the average person.”

  “Fine, so think I blend now?”

  Red barked out a ugh “HA! No the abyss, but at least people will just think you’re a weirdo instead of something more nefarious.”

  “You’re still all bullies, I swear.” I muttered as I got back to helping put things away.

  The rest of the day was just preparing to head out again the day. Finding out where all the little nooks and ies and hidden pao hide things in took a while and by the time ste was stuffed full, the sun was going down.

  Luvetra had stayed inside all day, avoiding windows and curling up in a dark er if she heard a voice that wasn’t one of us. Which thankfully wasn’t often, we’d parked a good dozen yards aside from the more traveled path and had some privacy. Also, it seemed that most folks were aware of who traveled in the giant vardo and so gave it a wide berth. Either from respect or disfort, I wasn’t sure.

  But e time to rex and start readying for bed, we shut the doors and windows and she calmed down. I knew I’d probably be sleeping downstairs for a while, I wasn’t going to leave her alone when she was so stressed like that. I wao make sure she knew she was loved. Carmil picked up on that as well and I found I didn’t even have to ask her to help.

  As people were climbing stairs and I slid io my giant love, Carmil surprised Luv by sliding in oher side. “Ready to be ed in our affes, dear?” the elemental asked with a smile.

  Luvetra blushed “Y-you’ll get too hot, summer’s getting g-going. You sh-should be fortable.”

  Carmil simply smiled aed her head oall woman’s shoulder. “Mmm, this is fortable though. Very much so, and more importantly I feel safe right where I am.”

  Luv huffed softly “I knohat you’re doing.”

  I pressed into her other side and hugged her close. “Do you know that we mean it though?” she hesitated just long enough that Carmil and I both slid up and kissed her cheeks. “We do Luv, we love you and feel safe with you. We want you to know that you’re safe with us as well.”

  Dekarru’s voice spoke nearby “Listen to them you gangly twit. Let them love you already. I know you want to and I know they want you to let them in. Just accept that people care for you beyond what you give them.” she spoke softly and leaned down to kiss the half-orc’s lips. “I know you like to think of what I have with you as friendly but transaal, but you really cim the same with Stareyes and her girl?”

  Luvetra didn’t say anything, she just slipped softly trembling arms around me and Carmil and held us against her.

  “Good girl.” the shaman said before looking at me with a small nod before heading up to her room.

  I kissed Luv’s neck gently. “Mmm, better than any cushion in the world. I love lying with you like this.” and she buried a small happy giggle, but I noticed it anyway. I saw that it was hard for her, I imagined some part of her thought she was too much of a monster for ao love. I’d silehat part, I swore it.

  And… and I’d silehe same one inside me. I hadn’t said anything t, but I do know an inscriber. I don’t know what kind, or if I do I ’t remember. But I know her. I realize now, with who I’ve bee sihat day in the shot up transport, I didn’t do her any favors by giving myself to her for one day before leaving. All I did was show her what she wanted ossible but she couldn’t have it anyway. But I thought I wasn’t good enough for her, I was just gutter trash she was fond of and with time away from me she’d fet me and find someone good enough for her.

  Lying there I could remember more details about the way I felt about her when I was Lietri, some feelings I still had that hurt to think about. But looking at Luvetra and Carmil and knowing I had Jaina and Red and Brigg and Weren and Dekarru all just a single cry for affe away, I khat those feelings were wrong.

  I was worthy of love and I would prove it to myself and to all those who gave that love to me. I would make that voice of self hatred shut the fuck up. I knew I could, I knew I would, because I would do it for Luv as much as myself aing her down wasn’t an option. I loved her too much for that.

  Tendri. Shit. I hoped it wasn’t too te to apologize. Then it hit me, it had been months sihat day. I was missing, probably presumed dead with the rest of my unit. If she still loved me, was she keeping tabs on me? Did she mourn me, not knowing I was still breathing? I felt tears streak down my face, I turned away from my loves, this was my pain to hold for now. I wouldn’t share it, not yet.