While Sleipnir went to retrieve the groceries from Ms. Cloud, as he was the only one who hadn’t been involved in Brufo’s rescue mission, I flew out from the harbor and then back in from higher up, intending to find the house on Heart Hill I was supposed to go to. It had basically one spiraling street that wrapped about it leading upward. The buildings here were modest, houses and studios dotted with deciduous trees.
The address I was looking for was right next to the Grove of the Heart at the hill’s summit. A run-down temple surrounded by ancient trees. I walked through the pink marble to a set of gnarled doors, and knocked.
A teal-haired girl wearing a monk’s robe and a stained apron greeted me. She had a string of carved wooden beads or something around her neck.
“Uh, delivery!”
I handed over the bag which I had been given last night. Only then I realized her face was red with tears. She wordlessly opened the bag and let it drift to the floor. She spread forth a note wrapped around another dark wooden bead, then two tears rolled down her cheeks. She sniffled loudly.
“I’m sorry…I know you’re just making a delivery. This was from my father. It’s nothing you did.”
Your father, I thought, pondering her resemblance to Reed Ralian.
“About your father,” I said awkwardly. “You look like this guy Reed that I knew in the Grove of the Heart. He had hair like yours.”
“Yeah that was my father. He died two days ago in some weird airship magic thing. No body left behind even…he was just here eating strawberry pie a few days ago…”
I gulped. I wasn’t sure how to break it to her.
“I’m so sorry. I know your father. Knew. He was a [Sage]! He said he didn’t have any acolytes, though. He said you had to pretend to be a plant for like twenty years.”
She tilted her head, then laughed. “Do you think I’m an acolyte?”
“I did…”
“I’m a [Red Chef]. I was staying here to take care of Reed since he’s so old but I am not going to tend to this grove to him! No matter what his wishes!”
I looked into her green-pool eyes guiltily. “I…I have to tell you something. Your father went to my crew’s ship to repair it. Something went wrong, and the ship got repaired, but he just disappeared. There was no body, but also he did not scream or anything. He just went into the magic, he did a [Rite of Mending]...”
I babbled on. She was glowering at me.
“Can you take me to this ship of yours? I would like to see where my father rests.”
“I’m actually really glad I took this quest then. Because we are about to head out once we get our supplies. Yeah, come now!”
We walked back. I kept glancing around, thinking those Hunter guys that had nabbed Brufo were around, but nobody jumped out at us.
“You’re awfully twitchy.”
“One of our guys got kidnapped recently.”
“Oh Fate! That’s scary! But they’re okay now?”
I nodded. “By the way, I’m Daniel.”
“Wilia. You’re not gonna try anything on me are you?”
“What!?”
“If you are I’ll fry you right up. Don’t think I won’t!” She stabbed her finger at me vehemently.
I was certain I did not want to find out what she meant.
“He left me a quest with specific loot for me under Heart Hill,” Wilia said as we walked through the docks. “My father, I mean.”
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“That sounds generous.”
“It’s not. It’s probably going to be some druid aether I don’t even need. He was always pressing me to level up faster so I could multiclass to some kind of druid and then help with the grove.”
“When I chose my class, I didn’t really know what I was gonna be.”
“That’s how it is for your first class. But by the time you’re level 25 you’re going to be all grown up, likely. They say you can kinda choose your second class. I would probably keep going as a [Red Chef].”
I thought of Val gaining the 26th level of her [Jewel Reaver] class. She had kept going, against all odds. We walked up the gangplank to the Fool’s Errand. Kola Junior slid down a line and hooted at us.
“Don’t worry. There are two monkeys here, but they’re cool. I think.”
We went belowdecks to the dining room. There the captain sat alone in the dark, the windows shaded. I cleared my throat.
“Captain Lorlux. I’ve brought Reed’s daughter, Wilia.”
Lorlux looked up and croaked. He donned his hat then took a knee solemnly before her.
“I am sorry for your father, Wilia. As his last act he spread heartwood throughout the Fool’s Errand.”
She nodded serenely. “That’s when he disappeared.”
“Right about here.” I pointed to the area by the curtained window.
Wilia went over there and knelt down, touching the new wood in a caress. I could hear her whispering. Then she jumped.
“Captain…Lorlux, was it?”
Lorlux croaked.
“Eek! Oh, excuse you. I was wondering if you had any crew openings.”
The captain’s strange eyes twisted. “We do, we may. But, Wilia, may I ask what makes you want to be a part of this crew?”
“He’s not dead. My father. I saw him in the wood. A little wooden man in the carvings, but unmistakeable. I saw things from my childhood carved there too. Things only my father would know. He ran and the wood rippled.”
“You are saying he lives in the wooden carvings?”
Wilia nodded. “I am pretty sure. Besides, the temple will be fine, except everything in the fridge will spoil.”
“Well someone will clean it up eventually, right?”
“No.”
Lorlux croaked again. “I’ve decided, Wilia Ralian. Welcome to the crew of the Fool’s Errand.”
Thumping ensued in the hall. I looked out, worried.
“Don’t be alarmed,” Brufo called as he walked into the kitchen with a crate of vegetables. “They’re loading our supplies!”
I showed Wilia the empty cabins of which there were several. “You can have your pick. This one here was a svark named Tamiro’s, sooo maybe leave that one alone. He still has his stuff in there.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. When I saw what she was looking at I gasped as well. The far wall of the cabin had been damaged and repaired in beautiful heartwood carvings. I did not recall the flowery script written within them, but I saw it now.
The Heart of Heart Hill is a skillstone with a special recipe I always intended for you, Wilia. Please…find it before you depart.
She turned suddenly. “I’ve changed my mind. Let’s go back to Heart Hill, briefly.”
I nodded. “If it’s okay with you, I can actually fly and we can get there a lot faster that way. Also, perhaps we can clean out your fridge while we’re there?”
“Absolutely not! We will let it return to nature, the way father would have liked it.”
I looked back to a see a small wooden face shaking its head slowly. I passed my room and saw the moss kitten sleeping. I grabbed it and took it along for the [Adaptive] boost. I was not going to go into another [Trial] or [Dungeon] or [Area Boss] situation without a solid plan or at least a trick.
We went topdeck passing Val’s room with the door closed. I could feel her glowering in there like a tiger in a cage. Soon flying over the city. I carried Wilia classically, and she played with the moss kitten.
“I don’t want you to be alarmed but when we get there I have this lance that turns into a human form, it’s an [Aether Weapon].”
“I’ve heard of those. Inventions of that Arthur Avalos right?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you from, anyway?”
“A long, long way away. A place no one here remembers.”
I thought of home, and fought back tears. “Aww. It’s okay Daniel! You were there for me, and now I can be there for you.”
She hugged me.
“I feel so much better now that I know dad is still alive. He’s just trapped inside the wood or something. He’s in there, though. For sure.”
“For sure,” I agreed.
We landed. She snapped at me that we were not to dally for cleaning, that she desired to rewild Heart Hill. I approached the stone we’d come in on. I punched it, and some chunks came off, but it hurt my hand. I wasn’t built for that kind of work.
“Wait.”
Wilia took a wooden bead from her pocket, and cracked it open like a nut. [Growth Flare] energy gushed forward toward the stone, a cleaning, cinnamon fire that devoured everything it touched. When it was done the heart-shaped white stone was gone. Beneath it a tunnel gaped down into the dark.
