"Sera, you need to go outside and hunt," the ghostly image of a sprite told the woman with serpents sprouting from her head in place of hair. "Kal didn't intend for you to stay in here the entire time he was gone. Without you going out and hunting I'm not sure I'll have enough food to feed you until he gets back."
The gorgon shrank away from the small flying woman, "I know, Ria, but I can't. Part of me wants to go out there but as soon as I get close," she waved toward the tent's exit, "everything locks up."
"Kal is traveling. You can't stay in here like I do with my bag," said the sprite. "You'll have to go out there eventually and it would be best if you did it on your own instead of making him drag you out of here. Keep trying and I'm sure you'll be out catching some fresh meat by the end of the week."
The only real complaint the gorgon had voiced since Kal's departure was how the sectioned-up pieces of meat Ria provided felt like an incomplete meal. Not that she really missed the hair, tails, and other bits common to her diet since she was a child, it was more that she found the newness uncomfortable. On the other hand, she was now anticipating Kal's return even more since the sprite had told her that he knew how to make the tasty gray-brown meat that the dwarves had brought on some of their visits.
Taking a deep breath, Sera turned toward the exit. With a hesitant smile at the sprite, she began walking forward. Within a few steps, her stomach started doing flips, threatening to empty its contents onto the lush green carpet. A few more and her hands clenched as she unconsciously tightened up the muscles in her arms. The gorgon's breathing quickened as her steps slowed. The feeling of sharp claws grabbing her shoulders came back to her, along with the memory of staring up into that terrifying blue expanse above them as the harpy took her to meet up with Kal. Staring at the tent flap, she took one final shaking step before her body froze in place, her breath coming in strangled gasps as she felt like she couldn't get enough air.
Ria flitted in front of her face, blocking the woman's view. "Yay! Good job!" she yelled, holding her arms up in triumph. "Now back up a bit."
Once the gorgon had retreated a few steps the sprite flew over and sat on her shoulder. "Give yourself a chance to catch your breath and try again."
Swallowing hard, Sera nodded.
---
Kuto had managed to stay mad at Kal, or at least pretend to be mad at him, for the rest of the day after his trick with the feather. She wasn't any happier to find out that it had never been in his mouth. He confessed to using a bit of magic to move around a small feather that had come off in his hand. She did lighten up a bit when he healed the sore spots on her back where the cleric had pulled out some of her feathers.
The harpy went to check on Elta a couple more times before they returned home. She reported that the cleric was still masturbating quite often but was getting better quickly without any Kal-related distractions. The last time she sent back a message with the harpy that she wouldn't be coming back from Felli's Peak until he had left again. The mage hated that the woman was putting herself into self-imposed exile because of him and briefly considered shortening his stay. Kal quickly dismissed the idea, he didn't expect to come back this way until after he had found Prentas's Tower. Even then he hoped to take care of his business there swiftly and coming back would only be a quick stop on his way to meet Ikuno.
---
Sleeping that night had been interesting with Kuto joining them. The bed was starting to feel small with three people and a baby. Kal lay on one side of Talin with Perra on the other and Kuto curled up against her back. When Kal said he was worried that he might accidentally crush his son in his sleep, Perra just rolled her eyes at him.
"I have it on very good authority that the chances of that happening are very slim," she told him.
She proved to be right, the first night Perra had been between him and his son as they slept. Without the farmgirl as a buffer, he seemed to wake up every time Talin moved in his sleep. He didn't feel like he got any real rest until Perra and Kuto got up as the sky was starting to lighten. He fell back asleep nearly as soon as they left the room.
---
Kal stood among a group of old men, most of them looking dour and irritated for being pulled from their various businesses for this emergency council meeting. Their annoyance also stemmed from everyone piling into the front of Jurien's store, the place was quickly getting stuffy from all the warm bodies.
Master Tanner stood up on one of the apothecary's chairs and brought the meeting to order. "I'm making a motion to allow Kal an extra year during his travels before being automatically removed from the council."
"Seconded," said Jurien from where he was leaning on the counter.
"Motion is seconded, any discussion?"
"How the hell does a tiny town like this have a damn wizard on the council, to begin with?"
Jurien was the first to answer, "Master Weaver you have only been a part of Telsin for a few months. The rest of us watched Master Kal grow up into the fine young man he is today. He's earned his place on this council by doing everything from taking care of aches and pains all the way up to saving Tanner's boy's life."
"And what of our missing cleric?" asked the weaver. "I don't like that she's hardly been seen since he came back. You of all people should be concerned, Jurien, she's your daughter."
"Just so everyone is clear, Elta and I did some magic sparring up in the mountains after I arrived -"
"I hope you went easy on her," chuckled the apothecary.
Jurien's laughter died at the look Kal shot him. "She has years more experience using magic than me and was trained to fight by the church. I was about to say that If she wanted to be in this room right now, there is little I could do to stop her. I did not win our match." A surprised murmur ran through the group of men at the mage's declaration. Jurien, on the other hand, was now standing up and beaming with pride.
"Then where is she?"
"At the moment, she's doing some soul-searching by herself up in the mountains and will likely return once I have left. The church paints a very specific and nasty picture of mages. Unfortunately, I have turned some of those ideas on their heads." It was only a partial truth but there was no chance Kal was going to tell them the other reason for her absence.
"That's beside the point," said the blacksmith. "What I want to know is if Lady Perra will be continuing on as his second now that you two have a little one. If not, then I see no reason for the extension."
Kal looked at the large man in mock surprise, "You'd boot me off the council if I chose a different second?"
