Chapter 15 #2
I nod at their request and wonder why the game would find it necessary for me to pass such a message along.
Of course, I have my suspicions. So far, every NPC I’ve interacted with today has had actual conversations with me.
Though I’m not doing all that much, I seem to be chipping away at something holding them back from truly communicating.
The next package is for a woman. She’s the oldest of the daughters we’ve met so far, and possibly where a third of Phemie’s grandchildren come from. They’re everywhere—running around, screaming and crying, wiping their snot on everything. Some of them appear to be trying to climb up their mother.
This clearly overwhelmed woman’s face goes from beleaguered to delighted the moment she learns her mother has sent her a gift.
When I take her package off my staff, I suddenly feel weightless.
It’s no surprise that there are a ton of cloaks inside of it.
As the woman passes out the cloaks, she’s sweet as sugar to each of her kids.
“You’re a great mother,” I tell her.
She looks at me as if she might cry. “Thank you,” she says. “It’s nice to be recognized for what I do. Though, I learned everything from my mother.” She lifts one cloak to demonstrate her point. “As you can see, she’s very generous.”
I think of Mom, and all the gifts she’s given me and how she’s gotten me through so much. I think of how she still knows my name…or at least she knew it when I was in the real world.
Is she still alive?
I shake away those thoughts. Worrying will do me no good. The best way to get back to Mom is to do these quests and give Aphrodite whatever offering it is she wants.
We finally reach the last of Phemie’s children. Just like everyone else, I get a ping notification that I’ve made progress in this side quest. For the third time today, I also see that I’ve managed progress with another quest.
This man is Dolius, the traveling merchant. His eyes light up when he sees us approach with a package. “Are these the travel supplies I ordered?” he asks.
I shake my head, “No, it’s a gift from your mother.”
Dolius gasps. “Even better!” He tears into his package like a raccoon with a bag of burgers from a drive through.
“Oh, this is perfect,” he says, as he examines his cloak.
“I set out tomorrow to sell my wares in other towns. With winter coming and me heading to the north, I’ll need this to stay warm. ”
A horrible realization hits me. “You’re going up north?” I ask.
He nods. “Yes, I want to get to Thrace before the first freeze of the year.”
“No, no,” I say in haste. “Wait just three more days.”
Dolius blinks. “Why?”
“There’s an empusa up there targeting travelers,” I tell him.
“And you think it will be any different in three days?” he asks.
“Yes,” I answer. “Some heroes are going to kill her then.”
“How would you know?” he asks.
I struggle to answer this, but Guy jumps in. “Can’t you tell she’s a Cleric of Aphrodite? The Goddess of Love has gifted her with visions.”
“Visions?” Dolius seems truly surprised but then sighs. “But empusa or not, if I don’t make it to the next town’s market day in time, I won’t have enough money to get up to Thrace.”
An idea jumps out at me. “What if you can sell enough here tomorrow? Will you hold off traveling if you can?”
Dolius squints at me. “I suppose so, but I don’t know that I’ll be so lucky.”
“I’ll come here tomorrow and help,” I tell him. “I’ll work hard all day if it helps you stay safe on your travels.”
“You…you would do that for me?” he asks. “Why?”
For the XP? The chance to improve my faith score?
No, there’s a better answer, the real one.
“If you die, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll meet you here tomorrow at dawn,” he says.
“Perfect!” I shake his hand, startling him.
Then Guy and I put our staffs back on our backs and hightail it back to Phemie’s house.
As we’re running, Guy asks, “You realize you just agreed to wake up before dawn so that you can meet him here to help him sell his stuff, right?”
Ugh, he’s right. I hate waking up early.
“It’s worth it! I don’t want the poor guy to die.”
“But he’ll just respawn, Lauren,” Guy says. “He’s an NPC.”
I stop and take a moment to study Guy’s face. “But what if he doesn’t respawn? What if I’ve already broken this quest?”
“Do you really think—?”
“Guy,” I say, putting my hands on his cheeks so I can focus his gaze on mine, “you can’t tell me that those didn’t feel like organic conversations. Do you really think that there’s a coded response to me saying someone’s a good mother or you telling someone I’m a Cleric of Aphrodite?”
Guy says nothing for what feels like a long stretch of time but is probably just a few heartbeats.
He stares at my lips. I’ve unintentionally put us in a very intimate position by pulling his face so close to mine.
The part of me that wants to drive my point home retreats, and the part that heats up every time he flirts with me comes front and center.
I rise to my tiptoes and press my lips to his, soft and slow.
He licks the crease between my lips to part them.
Once my mouth opens to him, he delves right in, and thunder booms above.
The sound of a coming storm seems like a soundtrack to the kiss we’re sharing, the first one that feels real.
However, just as I tilt my head to deepen it further, a sudden deluge of rain soaks me in a split second.
I scream, and Guy giggles. We clasp hands and rush back to camp.
As tired as I am from crisscrossing all over Thebe, this trip doesn’t wear me down because we’re laughing and chatting the whole time.
For a little while, my brain isn’t half-focused on quests and how Mom is doing.
I’m just thinking about how Guy stirs feelings in me I thought weren’t possible.
Doug never made me feel giddy in the rain.
When we get back to camp, we can’t get a moment alone, and I’m afraid more kisses will result in sexual frustration.
Instead, I tuck myself under Guy’s arms, and we carry on playful whispered conversation as we eat Sylvia’s excellent meal of roasted vegetables.
After dinner, I drift off to sleep with happy thoughts and then the disembodied voice says, “Cleric of Aphrodite: Level 3 Maintained. Spell Gained: Near Future Vision. Skill Gained: Negotiation.”