CHAPTER 24 Try your Hardest to Mend

The square was strangely lively despite the lingering tension in Grainwick. David walked through the path, catching snippets of hushed conversations.

“They say a beast killed him,” someone muttered under their breath.

“Who cares? He’s dead. That’s all that matters.”

“I heard captain’s coming back. Things are finally looking better for us.”

David’s lip curled. Idiots. They whispered like cowards, celebrating now that something mysteriously changed. If it had been up to them, Calland would still be here, drinking, laughing, ruining lives. And yet they acted as if his death was their victory.

He shook the thoughts away as he neared Sophie’s house. He hadn’t seen her since that evening. 

A part of him worried—had she crumbled after the events? Or was she like him? Enduring. Moving forward, because there was no other choice.

He knocked once before pushing the door open.

Inside, Sophie sat on the floor, surrounded by dried herbs. She was sorting them into neat piles, her movements slow but deliberate. A soft frown pulled at her face, but she wasn’t crying. That’s a relief.

She glanced up, startled. For a moment, something flickered in her eyes—fear, hesitation—before she forced a small smile. 

“Marco,” she greeted, her voice hoarse. “Did you need something?”

David stepped inside, scanning the room. There were no signs of her parents. “I came to check in on you.” he said simply, crouching down beside her. 

Sophie blinked, caught off guard. “Why would you do that?”

That gave him pause. Why did he care? Well, he did. “I should have been there sooner… I’m so sorry.”

“And what would you be able to do?” She looked at him, her tone laced with something sharp.

“Nothing, probably.” He dropped his head. He needed a different angle – Sophie was a strong girl, not someone to be patronized. On the contrary.

“I’m sorry… I was so scared when I found you there.” He stumbled over his words. “I didn’t want to get anywhere close to the forest since then.” He lied through his teeth. Well, his fear was true, but for different reasons entirely.

Sophie’s expression softened. “No, no. I’m the one who’s sorry.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “It was hard for both of us, right? I only made it back thanks to you.” 

This is the way. David made sure to adopt the most pleading, scared tone he could. “Maybe you could help me get over it?” He looked up at her with eyes full of childish hope. “If you could teach me how to move through the forest, I’m sure I wouldn’t be so scared anymore.”

“I… I don’t know, Marco.” She trailed off. 

“Please?” He pleaded, but she shook her head. 

David thought hard on how to hammer the point home. After all, if she could escape her grief, that would help her.  Maybe she wasn’t ready to get up and move on? Maybe she needed a way to not make it about herself?

 He had to dig some more. “And how are your parents? They looked very angry last time I saw them.” He asked.

Sophie’s expression wavered. “They’re fine.” She looked down at her hands, rubbing her fingers together. “But they’re already starting to miss the money I used to bring in.”

David took in the words, trying his hardest to remain innocuous. “Then what If I paid you to teach me about gathering?” He pulled out a small pouch from his pocket. His allowance. “You’ll help your parents and me at the same time.” And yourself. But he wouldn’t say that out loud.

Sophie’s lips pressed together, she looked wistfully towards the door. After a long silence, she sighed. “Fine. The greatest gatherer of Grainwick will teach you. Happy?”

David smiled, forcing himself to ignore the tightness that appeared in his chest. If she could just keep moving, she’d be fine. He figured that out long ago and it worked. 

David gave her some time to get ready, and together they left for the forest. In the directly opposite way the predator was last sighted…

-=-=-

Sophie locked the doors behind them, and they set out toward the forest. Despite many people being around, her steps were uncertain, timid, and she kept looking around as if scanning. 

David noticed her shaking. “Could you hold my hand?” He reached out. “So I’m not scared in the forest.”

Sophie startled slightly, her fingers twitched, but she ultimately clasped his hand. She’s very caring. David mused. 

Soon, they left behind the noisy village and made their way through the grasslands – the deep forest looming in front of them. 

As he looked between the trees, he noticed the shadows shifting. Mists coiling. But they weren’t there. He involuntarily squeezed Sophie’s hand a little tighter.

A gleaming scythe flashed through the air, flying straight for his neck. Inevetable death.. David jumped, but it was already gone. Not real. “It’s alright, I’m with you.” Sophie’s soft voice echoed through his mind. 

No point dwelling on shock. He exhaled. Sophie was looking at him, a bit worried, but didn’t comment. Good! It seemed his plan was already helping her move on.

Sophie lowered her head to his level and pointed to a large tree with cyan leaves on the edge of the forest. “Do you recognize that?”

David took a good look at the pale bark. It was pretty conspicuous, easy to remember. “It’s a Gael tree, right?” 

Sophie nodded. “Do you know what we can do with it?”

He squinted. The mana surrounding the tree had a pretty distinct coloration. That had to mean something, but what? He shrugged, eliciting a chuckle from Sophie.

“So you don’t know everything, that’s a relief.” Sophie proudly placed a hand on her chest. “If you take a branch from it, the coiling ivy will leave you alone! And I was the one to discover it!”

David stopped and turned to look at her. “Woah!” He specifically found a few such trees to train under, since the pest of a plant seemed to avoid them, but he never thought to test the extent of that property. 

“You’re a genius, Sophie!” I need to pay more attention to special plants.

She blushed slightly, her lips twitching into a smile… until it faded just as quickly. She sagged again. “Not that it did me any good.” 

David started to walk faster, as if he didn't notice the shift, and pulled her along. “Let’s grab the branches, then!” And stop thinking depressing thoughts.  

Once they reached the colorful tree, David let Sophie pick out the best branches as he looked around. Just a few steps away, he spotted a cluster of voel leaf, the frothy, broad leaves familiar from Aura’s lessons. 

He looked around, searching for traces of anything that screamed ‘I’m a powerful creature that will kill you’. Not seeing anything of note, he approached the plants. He plucked a few absentmindedly, adding them to his basket until he heard Sophie gasp.

“Marco, wait!” She rushed over to him. “You need to harvest these correctly or they’re going to lose all their value!” She chided him.

She kneeled in front of the plant, cut the stem with a knife just above the ground, then held the leaf upside down, shaking it. “It’s the juice inside that’s important and it’s all going to leak if you just pluck it.”

David stared between the voels he already picked and the one in Sophie’s hands – His had lost most of their mana outline already. He, with the special sight, could instantly verify her claim, but how did the villagers figure it out in the first place?

She noticed his wide-eyed expression and softened. “Don’t worry about it, Marco.” With her spare hand she rustled his hair. “It’s plentiful, a few leaves lost won’t be a problem.” 

David lowered his gaze to the discarded leaves, then back to Sophie’s patient smile and felt reassured. He mimicked her movements and soon they were shaking whole bundles of upside-down leaves between the two of them. 

With the first find secured in his basket, a gael branch in his grasp and with Sophie hand-in-hand, they moved on. At first David tried to use his mana sight to guide them towards more voel, but Sophie quickly decided that they had enough of it.

“It’s something you fill your basket with once you’re done, rather than the thing you look for, you know?” She said, but she was beaming. Well, compared to her earlier demeanor at least.

Despite the cheerful atmosphere, they were both quite wary – it was the forest after all. 

David kept scanning the horizon, looking for moving mana sources, like foxes… or electric stags… or monsters. But only the rustling of leaves and rippling of the nearby river kept them company.

They reached a clearing and Sophie gasped so loud David startled. “There’s so much of it!” She said.

David, perplexed, looked around. The whole clearing was covered in tiny plants, but they had about as much mana as grass. 

There were some more shiny bushes in the distance, but he doubted Sophie could see them from so far. 

His confusion grew even more, when Sophie started picking tiny berries from the plants in the clearing, her face full of childlike glee. 

“It’s the tingling berries! Come on Marco, try some.” She waved him over.

David was wary but walked up to the plant. It had no mana, what use could it be? Maybe there’s some special effects from eating them? He picked the berry, around the size of his fingernail and plopped it into his mouth.

His mouth flooded with saliva, and an intense tingling spread across his tongue. Poison? He quickly spit it out and looked to Sophie, betrayed.

“What are you doing Marco!?” She was horrified. “Why would you waste it?”

He needed a while to get his bearing from the intensity of the fruit. Once it was gone from his mouth, the taste settled and he realized: It was so, so insanely sweet. Sugar condensed to the extreme didn’t even begin to cover it. 

He wasn’t too big on sweets, but maybe he could sell them to kids in the village? Or distill sugar from them? Anyway, they were surely worth picking. David joined Sophie and they started to pick the berries clean.

-=-=-

David poured yet another fistful of berries into his satchel. Halfway done. 

A branch snapped. David instantly turned towards the sound and his heart stopped. Two humanoid mana clumps were just behind the bushes.

David lunged at Sophie, yanking her arm as the bushes rustled. 'Goblins!' he hissed, barely getting the word out before the creatures burst into the clearing.

They charged at Sophie, brandishing their claws and bone knives.

David tensed, his reaction too slow. But Sophie was ready. 

She reached for her knife and swiped. Her eyes darted between the goblins as she continued the wide motions. 

She was tall and had a lot of reach on the child-sized enemies. Sharp and focused. She’d done this before.

The goblins jumped back, but it was still two against one. They started strafing around her.

David frantically looked around. He found a stone and got ready to throw. 

One of the goblins let out a snarl and charged, its knife swinging wild.

Sophie sidestepped the lunge and stabbed the monster. Her back was exposed to the second attacker. 

David inhaled sharply. Mana surged within and his fist tightened on the rock. He cocked his arm back. 

The remaining goblin was too focused on Sophie to notice him—now.

The stone projectile tore through the air in the exact moment the goblin jumped. 

A loud crack and a pop filled the forest as the rock opened the monster’s head. I overdid it. The corpse spun through the air, spraying both of them with fresh blood and innards. It hit the ground with a grotesque squelch.

Sophie was still processing what happened. They stood there in shock, just staring at the corpses for a while. 

David’s breath slowly stabilized, his mind calmed - compared to his previous encounters, this really wasn’t that big. 

Until a new worry occurred to him. 

He really shouldn’t have shown off with so much strength in front of Sophie. He sneaked a peek towards her. 

She was still staring blankly at the corpses, her fingers twitching around the bloodied knife.

Eventually, hoping to cover up for his display, David pointed towards the stream they passed earlier. “Let’s go clean up.” He said, as if that was all there was to it.

“Yeah.” 

-=-=-

As they walked away, David kept turning to look at the goblin corpses. He felt the distinct hum vibrate through the air, same as when he killed Calland, but it faded along with the mana from their bodies. The golden threads did not appear.

Once they reached the stream, they undressed in silence and started furiously scrubbing at the defiled clothing. Sophie started trembling. 

David did not expect her to be so capable in a fight. She didn’t look like a killer… But she did work in the forest all her life and survived. “Does this happen often when you’re gathering?”

“No.” She stared at him for a while as the haze lifted from her eyes. She shook her head. “It doesn’t. Not unless you’re much farther out.”

Much farther…. where the foxes were.. He shook his head. No point in dwelling on the past. “So we’re really lucky today?” David asked, hoping to break the tension.

“Yeah.” She responded, but she didn’t smile. “How did you throw that rock so hard?” 

David’s heart raced as his mind turned to his hurt triceps. He tensed even more than when he spotted the goblins. What do I do? 

There was no time to panic. “I’ve been training really hard.” He hoped she wouldn’t push further.

Sophie raised a brow. “Training?” Shit. Distract, divert.

“The monster attacked our house during the long night about a year ago… I was so scared I thought I would die! It even broke through the ceiling of the safehouse!” He visibly shook as he recalled the memories, then paused as if collecting himself “So I trained. A lot. I didn’t want to feel that helpless again.”

Sophie’s face tensed. “You shouldn’t need to worry about such things at your age.” She crossed her arms, stopping her shoulders from quivering. "What kind of parents make their kid learn to fight so early?"

Oh. He misunderstood her. She wasn’t accusing him; she was worried about him. He exhaled slowly and reassessed the situation. 

“Didn’t you spend your childhood in the forest?” David asked, carefully watching her reactions.

Sophie twitched. “That’s different.” She bristled. “My parents are poor and need all the help they can get.”

That’s… unfair. David decided to slightly change the topic. “And you’re very strong! How’d you get so good at fighting?”

“I’m not.” She started shaking. "C-Calland was strong.” Her breath hitched. “And I couldn’t do anything against him.” Her nails dug into her palms. A shallow, shuddering breath. Then another. And then—

The sobs came all at once, uncontrollable. She dropped to the ground, her arms wrapping around herself.

Spurred by the receding shock of combat, all the emotions got to her at once. The fear. The anger. The helplessness.

David stared at the sudden change, uncomfortable, his chest tightened. What do I do now? He felt like he should comfort her… somehow. But was that safe?

He slowly sat on the ground next to her. Each sob sent a shiver through him. He awkwardly patted her knee. “You survived it. It will all get better from now on.” It sounded right – reassuring. 

But did he actually believe it? He only knew how to comfort Marie, not anyone else. But he wanted to try.

He wasn’t sure she even heard his words, but she must have felt his presence. She opened her arms and hugged him. 

For some time, the unrepressed sobs mixed with the swirling currents of the stream and the rhythmical dripping from their wet clothes. They sat together for a minute, an hour, an eternity. 

Eventually, the crying stopped. Sophie straightened a bit, but kept David in her arms. The moment was over, and David’s discomfort returned in force. He delicately pulled away. “Uh… should we go back now?”

Sophie looked up, her eyes red, but no longer lost. “Yeah.” She paused a while. “Sometimes you’re weird, Marco, but I like you.”

The words hit him like a physical thing. Not painful, just… unexpected. He stood there watching, as Sophie patted herself off and grabbed her basket. He felt different than even just a moment ago. Something tugged at him, something he couldn’t quite place.

“Are you coming?” She asked.

And he did. 

-=-=-

As they were crossing the forest, David felt tired. More tired than even after the harshest training.

And yet, he noticed rays of sun peeking through the canopy. Leaves were gently rustling in the wind, caressing his ears. The world felt… like a better place. 

He almost hasn’t noticed the powerful mana glow in the distance… It wasn’t the best moment to suggest prolonging their trip. Even he knew that. 

But he couldn’t stop his curiosity. A step to the side there. Walk around that tree. With small corrections, he slowly changed their course. 

The emotions were already fading. Returning to normal. Their timid chatter breaking the silence now and then. 

Until, a flicker of vibrant red shined from behind the bushes. 

Sophie squealed in surprise. “Oh!” They had reached the mana source.

She shook David’s shoulder while pointing forward. “It’s a firebloom, I’m sure of it!”

David smiled. He had made the right choice guiding them here. It was just the right thing to end their outing on a brighter note.

Sophie gently pushed through the plants, until she uncovered a fragile cluster of plants, the source of the magical light. 

They were short, but their small petals burned a deep crimson. Tiny droplets of fire were pulsing up the stems, drip from the flowers and sinking into the grass only to be reabsorbed by the roots, repeating the cycle. Ethereal.

Sophie fell to her knees beside them, careful not to disturb the roots. “These are worth so much!” She looked at David. “You’re like a lucky charm!” She chuckled.

David grinned, letting her have the moment.

Sophie started to delicately dig around the plants with a trowel, gathering them roots and all and wrapping them in cloth. She left a few stalks untouched, probably so the flowers could spread again.

With baskets full of herbs, they walked back. David kept glancing at Sophie. Her gait regained some cheerfulness, her eyes were different. Not only has she moved on, but something changed withing her. 

David couldn’t understand it, but was happy to see it, nonetheless. He owed her at least this much. 

As they walked, he looked around the forest. It felt just a tiny bit less deadly. Was it because of their triumph over goblins? Maybe things were finally looking up for them…