"Go-oooooooooki, wake up, we wanna get the story of what the hell happened last night."
Ferra calls out to me, poking her face through the tent flap.
The light makes her look like an annoying tomboy angel, here from heaven to ruin my sleep.
"If you don't want to come out here maybe I'll just lie here with you and you can tell me all about it."
She giggles when my eyes snap open before flicking me in the forehead.
"You're too easy, quit playing around loverboy."
Maybe she's a demon from hell sent to ruin my dreams instead, who knows.
Rubbing my face, I stretch out on my bedroll. It's hard to ignore the rough ache in my back, or that I can move both my arms again.
The left shoulder clicks and pops a little.
It just feels like I got hurt playing baseball, not like some asshole clubbed me.
Not sure I'll ever get used to waking up this way.
Will this just be another slab of debt I've gotta work off now too?
Pulling on my pants and shirt, I shuffle to the firepit.
Everyone is here.
Lirien's ok… but that doesn't make sense.
He doesn't look like anything happened at all.
Kaellen is cooking some kind of breakfast, but he's moving awkwardly.
Ferra has a big grin but is slouched weirdly.
"So you've arisen from your long rest o' mighty hero!"
Merrik says with a grin, hopping out of his seat.
Great job.
Lirien told us a lot of what happened but we wanna hear it from the horse's mouth.
It's the least you can do after the bad back you gave us all.
I can't play along with this bullshit.
"You all want MY story? You're the ones who are beat up!
Lirien, why are you even awake?
I saw the puddle of blood you left in the dirt—what the hell is going on?"
Everyone just looks confused.
It's the same look Lirien gave me last time I got fixed up, like I'm the damn idiot.
"If you all are just going to fuck with me all morning, I'm going back to sleep."
I turn away.
Lirien stands quickly, holding out his hand.
"Gōki, wait! We're not teasing you… It's magic. Come on, you know that deep down. Everyone knows. I get that it's not super common, but…"
He trails off, trying to figure out how to explain it.
Pushing Merrik out of the way, I point at Lirien.
"What do you mean 'magic'? We don't have 'magic' where I come from. Your pushy bubbles and whatever the hell drugs you keep giving me, little kappas attacking people. Why don't you tell me why everything got so strange after I met you!"
He pulls his lips tight and looks to the others, then to me with a sadness in his eyes.
"Gōki, everyone here knows all about that stuff. It's normal for us. But I've never heard of a 'cap-pah'. Please… sit down. I promise I'll answer all your questions. You saved my life, Gōki. I would never try to trick you."
Those puppy dog eyes are going to cause me a lot of trouble.
Him and his sister both have a gift for it.
We sit together around the fire.
Lirien explains 'magic' as funny handwaving and whispers that let him do some cool tricks.
Floating lights, sounds from far away — it's the kind of stuff a street magician tells you he can do but… for real.
Now he's rambling about archmagi and spellkaisers, how they figured out ways to twist life energy.
It's giving me a headache.
I'm sick of him lecturing about history… or mythology, all of it.
"Lirien, none of this explains why you're not stabbed, and why everyone is limping around like it's an afterschool brawl."
He sighs — giving up on playing teacher, I hope.
"Okay, think of it like this. You got hurt when the goblin stabbed you, and I wanted you to win. So I twisted my life into yours and yours into mine, taking your wounds and sharing them."
He stands and lifts up the back of his shirt.
His back has a bunch of little bruises and teensy scars, but nothing that would make him bleed the way he did.
"Then I took those wounds and split them between everyone else here.
So we're all a little beat up, but nothing a week of taking it easy won't fix."
I put my head down and rest my elbows on my knees.
"So it was a goblin, huh… and he can just move my scrapes and cuts between us… well… doesn't that just make sense. Doesn't that just make so much more sense than drugs and kappas."
It's getting hard to breathe.
"It just makes PERFECT SENSE! You don't lie, so it's just magic! So I'm NOT in Japan, you don't even KNOW Japan, who knows where it is, RIGHT!? It just MAKES PERFECT SENSE!"
Working my fingers through my hair, trying to breathe deeply, trying to push it back in, but I can't.
Everything is different now. No more school, no more mom.
Is this how dad left too? Not even a choice but to just be in this bullshit.
Scratching my head, squeezing my hands together, trying to just think for one second but it's just too much.
They all try to talk to me, telling me it will be fine, that it's okay.
Their words are so crystal clear and completely meaningless.
Lirien kneels down next to me and I feel his little arms around my shoulders.
"I'm sorry Gōki, I… don't know what's wrong, or where you're from, but… thank you for being here. Thanks to you I'll get to see my sister and mother again. I promise I'll help you see yours."
Biting my lip I stand up and look to the sky as he lets go.
"I can't sit around letting you spoil me with another pity party. Ha—sneeeeert—hahaha! Not when it's time for breakfast. We have a big day heading back to town."
Sucking in the snot I give him a real smile this time.
I can't pretend he didn't make me feel better.
Ferra and Merrik laugh as they start collecting bowls and spoons.
Kaellen just watches the pot, but he seems a little more energetic.
Lirien is such a kid. I see the tears in his eyes already.
I grab his shirt and wipe his face with it.
"I've got a debt to pay and a promise to keep, so let's get eatin'."
We settle back in for soup.
It's not fancy, but eating it with everyone was great.
Telling them all about the story of my heroic victory over the chumps.
I was planning on leaving out my pants falling down, but Lirien makes sure to jump in and tell everyone how I looked heroic 'even with my pants down'.
The kidnappers ain't dead, but they're extra baggage we need to bring back so Gralkus can 'talk' with them.
Packing up the camp eats up a few hours.
I just gather things into big bundles so Ferra and Lirien tie crazy knots around them.
I tried to copy them, but mine wasn't as good as their 'slipknot' or 'dipknot' or whatever.
The goblin and the other guy are thoroughly tied up.
It looks like something out of one of those adult book stores downtown.
Maybe I need to be more careful around Ferra if she has skills like this.
Lirien must have split their wounds between them.
Both of their jaws look bruised to hell with a little gash around where I struck.
They cough and complain but are able to move—at least I won't have to carry them on my back.
The walk back to town was surprisingly fast, which makes me wonder how much time we spent just walking in circles out here.
I'm just happy to be done with it for a while.
Every time I step into the woods something crazy happens.
When we pass by the lumberyard again the workers stop and stare.
This was a bigger deal than I thought.
Hopefully the pay will surprise me the same way.
I throw open the tavern door and laugh.
"Gralkus! We got you a present!"
Everyone follows me inside.
Merrik tries to look serious while Ferra and I pose next to our prisoners.
Lyria sets down some drinks before running over to hug Lirien.
He flinches when her hands touch his back but doesn't stop her.
"You did it, great work, and Gōki…"
She smiles, walking toward me.
"...Thank you for keeping your promise."
Suddenly standing on her tip-toes she kisses my cheek.
Fighting with all my strength couldn't keep a smile from curling onto my face.
"Heh, ha, hahahahaha all in a day's work."
A few of the drunks at the tables, and Ferra, make sure to 'ooo' and 'aww'.
It's okay just this once.
Gralkus pops open the door of his office with a frown.
"Why tha' hell'er ya' all makin' so much noise—Oh! Yer back!"
Kaellen hands Gralkus some little notebook or something and whispers into his ear, he skims the notes before they both march over to us.
"So ya' caught these shits tryin' ta' steal up Lirien eh?"
He taps on the goblin's head and looks up at me.
"Well… don'tcha worry, after I talk with 'em we'll know exactly how ta' solve this lil' mess."
The smile he has when he sees the prisoners is the sort of smile dad's coworkers used to have when they talked with him.
It creeps me out.
"Gōki! Good job saving Lirien. But yer a fuckin' moron for tryin' ta' play hero. Ya' wanna fight so bad? Fine, a little bonus for not shittin' the bed on this."
He pushes a string of coins into my hands.
"Lirien'll help ya' figure out how ta' spend it."
We all spend a few hours just talking and drinking.
No one even cares what my age is — guess if you're old enough to fight you're old enough to drink.
Drinking after work with my coworkers.
Mom would be happy. Real job, real money, even know a few girls now.
Ferra swears like an old man when she's drunk, and Merrik keeps asking to arm wrestle me.
Lirien said he'd be back after walking Lyria home.
Kaellen's off with Gralkus having a 'talk' with the prisoners.
It's a good night to party.
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