Fourth Moon, Second Moon Day Morning

  “I can’t wait to get back,” Tera sighed as she leaned back in her seat next to Aida. They were finally on a passenger golem back to school after the exhausting star cycle they had at North Ocean Village.

  Across the aisle from them, Abedi and Dev had already stretched out on their bench, covering their eyes with their hats as they snagged a quick nap.

  “Yeah,” Aida murmured, dropping her eyes to her hands in her lap. She was holding a small silken drawstring bag, a token of appreciation from the North Ocean villagers.

  “Have you opened it yet?” Tera asked, pulling her own gift out of her pocket. She hefted it in her palm. “What do you think it is?”

  Aida shrugged as she opened the pouch, dumping out a small, glimmering token on a leather cord. Beside her, Tera gasped.

  She held the same token in her hand: a semitransparent, iridescent piece of glass encapsulated in a metal border. “Wow,” Tera said in awe.

  Aida looked back to her own pendant, mildly confused until a notification box popped up.

  “Wow,” Aida agreed, her tone reflecting Tera’s own awe. She slipped the cord around her neck. “This makes all the things we went through worth it.”

  “Yeah, and these scales are really valuable,” Tera said, raising her scale to her eye and peering at Aida through it. “I guess the village will be able to sustain itself economically until they manage to clear out the eel body enough to go back to their regular lifestyle if they’re able to give us these.”

  The remainder of their star cycle at North Village had consisted of helping the villagers rebuild their homes and places of business in the aftermath of the eel’s flood. They had first been drafted by Naval Stronghold reinforcements to help move the body from the mouth of the bay so that the water could drain out to sea faster. Once the eel’s tail had been moved, creating a large enough opening for a single ship to pass through, Abedi had been tasked with helping Jaret, a few other Metal Strongholders, and some villagers to begin harvesting meat and materials from the eel.

  Tera had met with the other Earth Strongholders to evaluate if they could reconstruct the bay’s original landforms, while Dev and Aida had been sent back to help the villagers drain out their homes as much as possible.

  Aida couldn’t explain it, but she felt like the villagers finally seemed to appreciate having practitioners in their midst. Before, they had been treated as if they were...not quite supplicants, but as if their presence wasn’t really welcome.

  It reminded Annie of her mother’s stories about how some of the more snobby employees at the companies she cleaned for would treat her: she was expected to be grateful that they allowed her in their space at all, expected to duck out of their way as they reached for a snack or amenity while she was in the middle of cleaning or restocking.

  But apparently, the villagers had all witnessed the eldritch materialization of the eel’s face coming for their homes as they made their way up to the reservoir, and finally realized their livelihoods weren’t as safe and secure - or recoverable - as they had originally thought.

  Aida had been half irritated and half amused by the sudden change in demeanor - she supposed it really was an example of how safe their lives had been up until now, that they didn’t see the benefit in having practitioners integrated with their society and instead actively tried to push them away - but since the Naval Strongholders seemed to take their acceptance in stride she just followed their lead and focused on helping the rebuilding efforts.

  Admittedly, they didn’t get far with the actual rebuilding of the village. The majority of the village had been decimated, leaving only the buildings that were furthest away from the shore standing. The Earth and Metal Strongholders’ first priorities had been to construct shelter for the displaced villagers, while the few Wood Strongholders available strained their mana to grow construction wood as quickly as possible. Regardless, their efforts had been seen and appreciated by the villagers. Aida had been surprised to be seen off by a small group of villagers that morning, and even more surprised when they pressed small gifts into their hands as they boarded their golem, along with quick words of heartfelt thanks, their eyes shining with emotion.

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  Tera stashed her own scale away before she mirrored the boys, leaning back against her backpack for a snooze as they returned to school. Aida leaned against her own bag, looking along the path back towards the village as they trundled away at a quick pace.

  Given what the fishermen and Brand had said about eels and their hunting habits, she was convinced this change in behavior was in line with what was happening with the monsters on land. So it’s going to get way worse, and the Naval Strongholders already seem like they’re overworked…

  As much as Aida hated to admit it, it seemed like humanity would become even more strained by what was to come.

  The Naval Stronghold was significantly smaller than the Border Stronghold, and the Border Stronghold had Adventuring groups to help them in their efforts to combat wild animal attacks. But Aida hadn’t heard of any Adventuring groups that specialized in ocean patrols, and she could see why: ocean combat was significantly more difficult and complex than land combat. There were very few things one could use as cover, and on top of that, Earth and Metal practitioners had to be proportionately more skilled in order to be effective over open water.

  Sighing, Aida settled herself down for a nap as well. Compared to the first couple days, they had gotten severely overworked during the remainder of the cycle. She needed to rest before she could fully consider the ramifications of what she had seen at North Ocean Village.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  Aida filed into the instructors’ lounge along with the rest of her classmates. She glanced up at Professor Kozu as she passed by him holding the door. He had a grave expression on his face, and gave her a tightlipped smile.

  “Please, have a seat everyone,” Professor Bruce said, pouring tea into four cups lined up on the table in front of four chairs. There was a little bit of meandering as the four of them tried to figure out which chair to take, but eventually Aida sat herself between Tera and Dev.

  “To start with, we’ve heard about what happened in North Ocean Village,” Professor Gemma said without preamble. “We were hoping we could speak with the Naval Affiliates for a debrief, but they had sent a message along shortly after the attack occurred to advise us they wouldn’t be able to return for a while. Can you tell us what happened?”

  Aida exchanged a glance with Tera before Tera started speaking. “Well, when we first arrived at the Village none of the damage they suffered from their typhoon seemed that dire. Then in the middle of the night, early morning of Spark Day, we got woken up because we heard some intense blasts from the ocean.”

  Tera paused as Gemma looked at Bruce for his reaction, though he continued to look seriously at Tera. “So…we all got up and went down to the docks, where we found Affiliates Ashley and Jaret. They had us split up…”

  “Tera and Abedi helped evacuate the villagers, and Dev and I went with Ashley and another Strongholder, Brand, to go rescue villagers in the water,” Aida supplied delicately. “And…eventually, they asked for our help in covering their retreat as they went to rescue their allies.”

  After a brief silence as the teachers digested her narrative, Bruce looked up at them.

  “Good. And how is the village?”

  “A lot of buildings and infrastructure are destroyed, but they are accepting help from the Strongholders as they rebuild. They’ve already begun harvesting and preserving eel meat and other materials, so in the short term they will be able to survive until they manage to rebuild some boats for their regular fishing activities,” Abedi reported. He shifted uneasily on the other side of Dev. “Of course, the Strongholders have expressed concern on how they will manage patrols in regular fishing waters with the casualties they’ve sustained…”

  The mood in the room went from tense to crestfallen as everyone understood the implications behind Abedi’s words. How could they defend against powerful monsters that took on more risky behaviors?

  “Thank you,” Gemma said softly. “We will back the Naval Stronghold in their request for more resources to help patrol the waters. You may leave now.”

  “Actually, I’d like to speak to Aida and Dev, please,” Bruce said as they all stood up. Aida glanced uneasily at Dev, though he didn’t share her look. Tera lightly touched Aida’s shoulder as she followed Abedi out the door. Bruce gave Gemma and Kozu a significant look. “It’s all right, everybody. I just wanted a private conversation with the two of them.”

  Aida stared at her hands in her lap as the other two teachers followed the students out of the room. She wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk to the two of them specifically about, but she had a nagging feeling it was going to cause her more problems. His next statement did nothing to assuage her fear.

  “I, shockingly enough, managed to witness the eel attack while I was meditating, and I have some concerns.”

  Aida felt Dev stiffen next to her. She glanced up hesitantly at Bruce, careful to keep her face neutral, if not politely quizzical. He was looking at them with a clinical expression, his mana completely steady and giving no indication as to how severe his “concerns” were.

  “Therefore, I saw how you two managed to…protect the village.” Bruce inclined his head to level his gaze more directly at the two of them. Dev didn’t react, and continued to stare forward, almost as if staring past Bruce. When neither of them said anything, Bruce took a deep breath, his mana continuing to remain steady and uninterrupted.

  “First, I want to say: I’m glad your gamble worked out. If you hadn’t taken the risk, we very well might have lost four Maglica students and seven Naval Strongholders at minimum on top of the village.” Dev relaxed a fraction.

  “Secondly, I want to ask: how attached are you two now?”