When it comes to recovering from a battle, the physical injuries are never the hardest thing, in fact we have both Kaelen and I who can provide healing which is more than some parties get. The biggest problem is the mental and emotional toll.
Before I had only felt it, but feeling my body drain of energy as I was stabbed as I tried to stay awake and failed was a terrifying feeling. It was like being forced to fall asleep as your boat approaches a waterfall knowing you won't wake up again.
From what Thalia had calculated, we could arrive by the end of the day today, however nobody was in the mood for packing up, much less traveling. So instead we had decided to take a day off. For the past weeks we had always had a cycle to things. Wake up in the woods, pack up, get moving, stop at a town, do a quest, go to bed, wake up in an inn and get on the road, repeat.
It is for this reason we had decided to do some things we have been needing to do for a while. The biggest things were a set of 3 problems.
The first was laundry, we hadn't had a chance to wash clothes in a week and a half, so we had a large pile of dirty clothes that were more of an environmental hazard than clothes.
The second was our current lack of food and water. We have been putting off restocking our rations for days now, so we need to go hunting to get dinner tonight as well as find food for tomorrow.
Lastly someone had to do maintenance on our gear. We had been giving it a beating from use, shirts with holes from injuries, weapons who are chipped and dulling, and even our vehicle needed a general maintenance check.
Between everyone, I had to stay back and do maintenance, mainly because I was the only person who knew the vehicle well enough to do maintenance. Thalia had volunteered to go hunting for food and water because her strings could be used to find animals and also make snare traps. Thus we were left with the other 4, of which they all were looking at the basket that held our dirty clothes like an executioner's gallows.
"As the party leader, I would say that I get the greatest say on who gets what responsibility."
Jax tried to argue stepping towards me, however a set of 3 hands hell on him as I could see Jax starting to sweat.
"It is said that the greatest leaders are those who lead by example and take on the hardest challenges to show their followers it can be done, I think you should lead by example."
Liora said tightening her grip on Jax's shoulder.
"Yes I agree, after all you are our leader, how can our leader be scared by something as simple as a dirty sock?"
Kaelen said with a smile that was more cold than happy as his hand tightened on Jax's shoulder.
"I-It builds character."
Selene said casually as she used her left art to pick Jax up almost like he didn't weigh anything and turned him to face the laundry basket. Selene started to walk towards the basket draggin Jax along as his paws left slaw trails in the dirt as he tried to stop himself from being dragged.
"I don't need more character, I have the tragic backstory to prove it!!!"
Jax yelled as Selene carried him and the basket into the woods. We all turned to look at each other as we all broke down laughing as we all tried to hold it in. In the end Liora went with Thalia to go hunting leaving Kaelen and I to do the maintenance. Kaelen had done a lot of sewing when he was at the church, so I was left to the vehicle.
"Gods I hope we remember what Eustus taught us about this."
Will said as he floated trough my mind crossing his legs as he spun.
"Well your job is to remember things I forget right, I remember this part, see what you can pull up on our memory of maintenance."
I said out loud. Kaelen turned confused as I tapped the side of my head and he nodded. I had found that because Will is a thought brought to life, thinking while he was talking made it hard to realize what was him and what was me, so since the others had learned of my skill I found that when we weren't near anyone new I would have to explain it to Its easier to just talk to myself.
"Yea yea, give me a second."
Will said as he started sorting through memories. The feeling of which was strange, it was like when a memory comes to mind without even thinking about it except faster and flashing trough different memories. Will stopped on a memory for a moment.
"Foolish dragon, kneel before the most powerful hero of all POTIONEER THE BOLD! Super secret lost ultimate move, Aether cannon!!!!!!"
An 11 year old me yelled as I splashed a vial of liquid crystal on a small board I had drawn the face of a dragon on.
"WRONG ONE!"
I suddenly blurted out as I tried to sit up, not remembering I was under the vehicle and slamming my forehead into a metal pipe of the undercarriage.
"Crap, the cringe, it hurts!"
Will said as we both held our foreheads. Kaelen walked over to where I had inched out from under the vehicle and held my forehead. He stared down at me with an incredulous look as he asked.
"What even happened there?"
I looked up at Kaelen as I held my head and tried to think of a convenient excuse. Instead, meeting Kaelens eyes I slowly slid back under the vehicle.
"Your skill brought up an embarrassing memory, didn't it?"
I was silent for a moment before the obligation to answer became too much.
"Nooooooooo."
I said turning back to the maintenance. Looking it over as Will brought up the right memory it wasn't as hard as I thought, or near as much work, if anything it spoke to the craftsmanship that went into this vehicle, so I just went down the checklist. The suspension was fine and didn't have any cracks, wheels were holding air, axles weren't warped or bent, engine was turned well enough.
Kaelen had finished the sewing so for the most part we were done. We glanced over to where Selene and Jax had walked to wash the clothes and could still heal Jax's howls of anguish, so Kaelen and I began to gather wood for the fire tonight.
"Hey Aiden, I know Sir Breadon ended up as a mimic, but are you still planning to learn that axe spearmanship or whatever it was?"
I stopped for a moment as we began to walk back towards the camp with arms full of wood as I shrugged.
"Why not, the book seems legit, and I don't see why just because Sir Braedon ended up not being human would mean to not use the items he had stolen."
Kaelen nodded for a moment before he seemed to take a moment to think. He seemed to be conflicted on something as I turned back to him.
"Is something wrong?"
I asked raising an eyebrow. Kaelen looked at me before he let out a sigh as he asked a surprising question.
"What would you do if one of your party members has a bounty on their head?"
I blinked at him as I couldn't help but imagine an image of the priestly Kaelen before me dressing like a gang member and threatening someone with a knife in his teenage years. The image fell apart as I couldn't imagine it.
"You say that like you have a 1000 gold bounty on your head."
I said giving an awkward chuckle. However Kaelen avoiding my gaze just pointed a finger up.
"5-5000?"
I asked starting to get worried, Kaelen just pointed up.
"1-10000?"
I asked feeling a cold sweat start to run down my back. Kaelen leaned in and whispered a number into my ear.
Thalia was so close to catching a rabbit in a snare, she just needed to not spook the rabbit for just a few more-. The rabbit bolted as there came the echo of Aiden yelling from camp
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 2 MILLION!!"