Some seek power, some seek prestige, and some seek wealth. At the end of the day, what matters most is being able to close your eyes and sleep at night. Some take that to mean being at peace with your actions, which is important, but a silk feather pillow doesn’t hurt either.

  -Excerpt from Traveler’s Guild ethics class.

  Despite the abundance of training stones, new gear, and many questions I want to explore, there’s little time to focus on my training. It bugs me that now that I have the means to improve myself, time is in short supply. On the island, the relative isolation meant I had nothing but time. It was a great environment to train in, except I had none of the resources I have now. On the mainland, I’m running myself ragged going from one threat to the next. I need to find a way to pause for a while and consolidate my gains.

  Top amongst my gains are my skill and level gains. I still have the pulsing notifications, but I will wait until we camp for the night. The last thing I need is to fall off the wagon because a stat gain causes me to lose balance, only to break my leg.

  I’m not the only one running myself ragged from the fight and subsequent rush to escape. We’re all exhausted. Benjamin and Olivia slept all the way to dusk, and Kurt took naps when he wasn’t driving. I was able to weather it best, but even I snuck in a nap towards the end when Kurt was driving.

  Olivia wakes first; she rocks the cart as she crawls up to greet us. “Hey, how long have I been out?”

  “Most of the day,” Kurt grunts, lacking his normal gregarious attitude.

  “Alright, let’s start looking for a place to camp. Jason can heal up the horses, and we can setup a watch rotation.”

  I blink, “heal the horses?”

  I still have about a fourth of my mana in my mana pool after practicing most of the day. Fortunately, most of what I did was gentle controlled mana manipulation.

  “Yeah, better to wash them down and give them a gentle healing now. Hopefully, we can head off any soreness for tomorrow. Healing them again first thing in the morning should help too.”

  While the plan is to start looking for a camping site, another mile down the road, we find a detour in the road. There are trees knocked over and growing through the road for at least two hundred feet. Vines thread between the thick fifty-foot trees. A pit opens in my stomach as I’m reminded of the vines I saw in my dreams.

  Olivia tsks, “It looks like the mayor is no slouch. He must have created a roadblock just in case we decided to run for it instead of doing the quest.”

  My eyes crawl over the trees, looking for anyone hiding, waiting to jump out.

  “Yeah, but if he sent people out here, where are they at?” I ask.

  Benjamin shrugs, “Mayor Flintrock probably ordered them to block the road and planned to unblock it once he could confirm we were taken care of. Keeping guards in the middle of a blocked-off road might draw too much attention. A few knocked over trees could be collateral damage from two monsters fighting for territory.”

  Olivia asks, “What do we do now?”

  Benjamin frowns, “We could double back, but I don’t like our chances with so little lead time. We will need to go through the woods. We go an hour into the forest and parallel the road before cutting back to take the road the rest of the way.”

  I look over at the tightly packed trees. It would take hours to cut through them to allow the wagon to go through. If we’re going through the forest, we’ll need to do so on foot. Cutting through the forest and going on foot will take twice as long as traveling by wagon.

  “We go on foot?” I ask.

  Benjamin nods, “Yeah, let’s take a quick break. Olivia can burn down the wagon to try to obscure what happened.”

  Realizing it’ll take longer, we take a moment to eat, as the horses graze. Once we’re done munching on tree fruit and dried biscuits, Kurt and I put packs on the horses with our camping supplies while Olivia and Benjamin map out our route, trying to see how we can cut through the forest to stay hidden while also keeping speed.

  Every day on foot will put us that much closer to the calvary. A few days of pushing ourselves to the limit in a mad dash can be done, but a full week of going at a sprint will leave us in danger of being exhausted when we come upon the monsters that roam the woods.

  With the horses packed and ready to go, I abstain from healing the horses for now. The forest has me on edge, and I might need my mana. The healing is preventative, so I don’t feel too bad about waiting. Once we stop for the night, which should be soon, I’ll heal them and get rid of the annoying flash of pending notifications. Olivia and Benjamin suspiciously happen to choose right as we finish packing, to find the route we need to take.

  “Ready to go?” Olivia asks.

  “Yep,” Kurt responds.

  We walk through the forest, and I swear it feels like the trees are looming over me, looking down on me like giants peering at a mouse. Despite my uneasiness, I don’t feel anything with my empathy, and the forest is tranquil.

  After half an hour of walking, we find a nice glade a mile from the road. As we pull into a clearing, we spread out, finding a place to set up our sleeping roll. Once I find a place to put my bedroll, I find the horses standing tied to a tree.

  As the rest of the team scouts the clearing, stretching their legs and looking for signs of predators in the area, I channel some water from my water skin. I have the spell run the cool water over the horses’ flanks before working it down their legs. The horses shuffle as the water first hits them, but as the cool water eases some of their aches, they begin to relax. The healing will remove some of the more extreme symptoms of a hard day’s labor, but they’ll still be tired tomorrow.

  Once I’m finished, Benjamin walks up with a feedbag. I watch Benjamin work for a few minutes, but when I turn to leave, I find myself face-to-face with Olivia.

  “Kurt told me you are holding out on me.” She says, scowling with her arms crossed.

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  Confused, I just stare back with a blank look. I unconsciously feel out with my empathy, my sleep-addled brain grasping for an answer. As I reach out, I realize she’s actively trying to hide her emotions from me. I’d never felt someone actively try to shield their emotions from my empathy before. My mind starts to go a million miles a minute as I try to understand the implications.

  My mind comes to a screeching halt as I think she found out about my mind magic. Would she trust me? Would she be mad at me for keeping it a secret? Did she think I read her mind without her consent? Then she points to her head. It takes longer than I want to admit, but I realize that she means the crown.

  “Oh,” I say. I take the crown off and give it one more wistful look before handing it over.

  “Ugh, you are taking all the fun out of it.” She says, throwing her hands up.

  I raise my eyebrows quizzically. “What now?”

  “Kurt said you were feeling a bit guilty about not handing me the crown.” She explains. Slowly, I feel the panic subside as I realize how badly I need sleep. I can’t keep bouncing between being in a stupor to panicking at my teammates' attempts at levity.

  I slowly respond as I think I have a handle on the situation, “…and you came over to milk my guilt, for your amusement?”

  “I wouldn’t put it like that.” She says, pouting.

  “How would you put it?” I ask, still holding the crown out.

  “…not like that. Like, in a fun way, you say it all wrong.” She says, and I snort.

  I hesitantly ask, “Do you want the crown?”

  She scratches her chin playfully, “Well… I will trade it to you in exchange for promising to never dunk water on me again.”

  I smile as I put the crown on my head. My fear of how she would react if she knew I have mind magic makes it clear I need to tell her about my mind affinity, soon. Even thinking to myself, ‘I’m in the clear for now,’ makes me feel a little guilty. I will tell her… once things calm down a little.

  Interestingly, as she tells me she’ll trade me the crown, I can tell through my empathy that she doesn’t really want it. It’s the feeling like she already has something better. I briefly wonder what could be better than an epic-ranked item. I know prying would be considered rude, so I don’t ask the question I want to, despite being curious.

  “I have a better idea. What if I promise to shower you?” I say as an idea forms in my mind. Olivia blinks, her mouth narrowing as her eyebrows come down. She’s giving me a look that tells me I said something weird.

  I spent the last month roughing it as I survived one danger after another. One day, I hope to use my magic not only to survive but to thrive, bringing some of the luxuries of life wherever I go. Hot showers, warm food, and maybe even a magically conjured mattress. The bedroll makes sleeping on the hard ground easier, but it’s not a mattress. Even the inn's mattresses are nothing like the ones from my world. Once I figure out how to conjure water in my sleep, it will be only water beds for me.

  I remember playing tabletop games where magic casters could summon mobile houses, feast from thin air, or clean drinking water with a snap of their fingers. I’m still at the beginning of my journey, but I have an idea of where I’ll start my journey to mobile magic luxury. With the ability to control large amounts of water, my idea is to get a large amount of water, then get Olivia to heat the water. Once it’s warm, I can slowly drizzle it in an area to create a hot shower.

  I explain my idea to her, and her concerned face turns thoughtful. She considers my idea for a while before asking, “So why not create a hot bath instead?”

  I shrug, “It would be hard without carrying around a tub, which would be inconvenient, and I didn’t see one at the back of the wagon. I could swirl the water in one place… but I don’t like using anything like the water prison spell I was held in, for a bath.”

  Her eyebrows scrunch together in thought, “I guess we can see how it works.”

  I can tell she has her heart set on a mobile hot bath. If I gain greater control of my ice magic, maybe one day I can create a bathtub of ice and keep it freezing without making the water inside the tub freeze.

  She relents, “ok, you can have the crown, but no more cold showers.”

  She gives me the sternest face she can muster to intimidate me, but it just makes her look cute. I hold up my hands in surrender. “Ok, let’s try this out.”

  Each step of the hot shower is a bit awkward. The first step is to grab water and heat it up. My plan is to keep the water floating in the air as Olivia applies flames underneath. I could probably also do this with a campfire, but I don’t want to risk capturing the smoke and ash from a fire.

  In our first attempt, when we try to heat the water, Olivia tries to use her laser spell. It ends up punching through my orb of water before continuing through. The second attempt, she uses fire, but the fire and water mana clash, causing me to lose control. With some practice, we get the water to heat up. The key is bathing the water in flames; a concentrated stream of fire pushes the water away.

  Cooling the water if it gets too hot isn’t a problem for me since I can always form ice, but keeping it warm isn’t as easy. On top of that, I need to continuously swirl the water in the air, but in a small area. Holding water completely still is next to impossible, but swirling it too fast will cause it to naturally cool.

  The next step in creating the shower is controlling the release of the water to the person below. Drizzling the water only takes two tries, but holding it while drizzling it is a bit awkward. I sit nearby and concentrate on releasing control of some water to cause it to sprinkle.

  I also can’t look at what’s going on, since whoever is taking the shower would take offense to me staring at them naked. When Benjamin learns of my idea involving his half-sister standing naked only twenty feet from me, he decides to help me pass the time while I sit on the ground concentrating on controlling the shower with an impromptu staring contest. It might be the sleep deprivation, but the sight of him intensely staring at me while I sit in the woods concentrating on controlling a magical shower behind me is so ridiculous that I start laughing at him.

  He's far too serious, but when I hear Olivia cry out because I briefly lose control, causing the water to pour instead of sprinkling like a faucet head, I close my eyes and firm my control of the spell. Maybe we can build a curtain in the future, but I think it will be worth it in the end to get a nice hot shower in the middle of the woods where there are no assassins.

  …No assassin, only a slight possibility that a woman from my dreams is hunting me. I’m not sure which I want more, to be crazy imagining someone from my dreams is out to get me, or that I’m not crazy and someone really is laying a trap for me.

  After Olivia is Kurt and then Benjamin. Despite the difficulty, it’s worth it to see the satisfied looks on my teammates’ faces. After I take my shower, Morgana even takes her own shower. It isn’t that satisfying for her, but it’s important that she takes care of herself. Her undead senses don’t feel any satisfaction or repulsion at the idea of the shower, but she’s very receptive to the perceived kindness from the effort I put in to include her.

  Once everyone else is done, I jump into the magically crafted shower. The hot water runs over my skin, washing away layers of stress, dirt, and sewer. I sigh, basking in the warmth as I rinse off. I know I will be covered in a fresh coat of dirt and tension in a few hours, but for now, it feels great to be free of it.

  As I’m taking a shower, I experiment with changing the flow of the water. I focus on increasing the water pressure of the shower without harming myself, and as I’m wrapping up, I pull the water around my clothes. I swirl them in the ball of water like a magical washing machine. I watch the water darken as grime is pulled off. I also feel a slight change in how hard it is to control the water.

  Once I decide I’ve sufficiently cleaned my clothes, I gently swirl the orb to keep them from dropping to the ground as I pull out the garments. I drain the water clinging to them and put them on. They’re still slightly damp but should dry in a few minutes; I’ll need to talk to Olivia about refining the process of magically washing and drying clothes. I have a feeling she’ll balk at being a glorified magical dryer, but I know she’ll come around the first time she feels warm, fluffy clothes after a hard day on the trail.

  I return to the camp to see everyone sitting around a campfire, eating dinner. As I near the fire, Kurt hands me a steaming bowl. The food is a heated gruel from trail rations. It’s nice warming up by the fire as the cold of the night sets in around me. Sleep tugs at my eyes as I fill my belly with something warm to eat.

  We sit in silence, chewing our food. With a warm shower, food, and a long day of work behind us, I feel like I will keel over at any second. I finish my bowl, wash it down with some water, and jump onto my bedroll. I move my backpack around to rest my head and drift off to sleep. The last thing I notice is Morgana dutifully watching over me as she hides out of sight in a nearby tree.