. … Princess? I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just said, “My mother is Deharè of the High Forest. That is the truth.” Her lips pursed and her brow bunched up. She stared pointedly at my torso. “But I’m sure I can see miasma in you, like in a monster.” “The part about me being half-vampire …

. I re-sheathed my blade– it was still hot enough to hurt– and flew quickly to where Arken, Melione and Lute were. Lute whirled on me with his knife, ready to defend his charges. I was proud of the kid, but I lightly smacked him on the head with the flat of my hand anyway. “I’m on your side, dummy.” …

. Aenëe’s face grew red and, while drawing her blade, she yelled, “You shall pay for insulting My Lord, you fake!” By the time her blade was out, she had already closed the distance, but I was still holding my sword, one handed. I already had a considerable amount of fire mana circulating inside me for a follow-up fireball, but …

. The wagon continued forward for several paces while I was expecting them to stop. When I realized the driver intended to carry us all the way up to the not-so-hospitable-looking skirmish line facing us, and had possibly been instructed to do so in advance, I stood and whipped out my sword. “Stop,” I ordered, mixing in a bit of …

. The Mines wagon was just that. It was just like a farm wagon, although it had box sides instead of a simple flat bed. Most of us sat on the floor, leaning against the sides, but agile Brigitte stayed perched on the side, where any rational person would fear getting pitched over onto the road from the incessant jostling. …

. I took to the air in a dour mood. I was suffering from fatigue due to three unpetrifications with only brief rests between, but that wasn’t the root cause of my funk. The trio had been bereft of equipment except for the weapons that had been locked in Ryuu and Graham’s hands. Brigitte was able to use a couple …

. Worried about what was going to happen with the axe once he became unfrozen, I stood behind Graham. I wasn’t sure how far I could send [Heal] with the fan, so I stayed within arm’s reach. I opened the fan and tested a ‘light’ dose (as light as I could make it, anyway,) then saw in my fairy sight …

I just gaped at her. It’s true, Unpetrification is just healing, but she already said it herself. It normally takes a large team of healers, and hours of spell-casting, to unpetrify one person. The teams usually have to work in shifts. It was like Bruna was reading my mind, because she responded to that exact issue. “I know what I …

Bruna pulled in her legs and then arched her back, rising up on her feet and shoulders as she let out a long, ragged breath, as if she couldn’t even scream. Collapsing once more, she lay there huffing and sweating as I frantically studied her with fairy sight. “Bruna?” Ceria cried, grabbing her hand. As I had feared, in that …

We spent a half hour going through several first level spells, with Bruna watching her sister like a hawk for any of the negative symptoms from the feeding that I described to her. I couldn’t do it, because every time Ceria fired off a spell, I had to pay attention to the sensations within me, and then imitate them. I …