Of course, as grateful as I am to have River declare that she will accompany me, that leaves me with the dilemma of who to give Flesh-Shaping to. After all, there’s not much point in giving it to River if she’ll be coming with me. Not now, anyway. Maybe if I learn how to teach it or can imprint it without sacrificing Master levels, I could give it to her. But that’s not urgent like leaving Flesh-Shaping for someone in the village to use is.

  I end up discussing it with River – of course, she wanted to know why I so urgently needed a response to my question when everything I’d told her before indicated that I would only need to know when I was preparing to actually leave. It turns out to be a good idea to do so – she has a suggestion for who to choose, one which might potentially hit two birds with one stone.

  Following that suggestion, I head back to the centre of the village. The group of Pathwalkers are finished their lesson, which I’m glad to see. That should make things easier.

  “Tarra, can I speak to you for a moment? Maybe in your hut?” I ask, feeling unaccountable nerves fluttering in my stomach.

  The Pathwalker eyes me, perhaps picking up on my tension. But after a moment she flicks her tail in assent, and stands up. River takes her place in speaking to – and more to the point, supervising – the two healers. Tarra and I head off in silence to her workroom hut. Unlike with River, there is no easy conversation between us, but I have managed to rid myself of the odd onset of nerves that struck me. I just needed to remind myself that this is me doing a favour for Tarra, not the reverse – a favour which cost me significantly and which might help her in ways beyond just expanding her skill set.

  What is this about, Tamer? Tarra asks me brusquely as soon as we’ve settled onto the woven carpet in her hut. The structure of the hut shows none of the damage it must have sustained during the invasion. The furniture is another question – there are far fewer shelves than I remember there being before and Tarra seems to be working on restocking the shelves she has got. I guess that even if Earth-Shaping can easily put the walls back together, and Wood-Shaping can recreate the shelves, only time and effort will work for the potions themselves.

  That I haven’t heard even a word of complaint from Tarra about the task ahead of her speaks well about her. That she has been patiently showing the other two healers how to improve their potions, despite them both being involved in the invasion either directly or indirectly, is even more telling. And I know from the months I’ve spent as leader of this village that these two snapshots are indeed indicative of Tarra.

  I’m glad that I decided to give her a chance, despite what she did to Lathani. As she said in the Battle of Wills, she has always worked for the good of her people; nothing more, nothing less. And that’s significantly more than can be said of many Evolved, especially if the definition of ‘people’ is extended to the Unevolved as well as just the Pathwalkers and Warriors. And River has made it plain that even before I took over the village, she used to be kind to Unevolved – by samuran standards, anyway.

  “I want to give you an opportunity,” I tell her as the moment of silence extends. Pulling the stone out of my Inventory, I hold it out to Tarra.

  What is it? she asks warily, not reaching out to touch it.

  “It’s something called a Skill stone,” I inform her, watching for any signs of recognition. There are none. “Were I not the creator, upon holding the stone in my hand, I would be able to absorb the Skill held within it as my own.”

  Tarra’s eyes flash up to meet my own.

  A skill? One like the Unevolved who carve bowls out of wood with a knife…or like my own ability to infuse potions with healing magic?

  “The latter.” I have to admit to a good degree of satisfaction as wonder spreads across her spikes in a wave of gleaming gold. “More specifically, it is my Skill in Flesh-Shaping – the Skill which allows me to hurt and heal, to shape bones, skins, spider-silk. The Skill which I use to manipulate venom to either withdraw it from someone’s body or spread it further.”

  And to affect Energy channels? Tarra asks, her eyes alight with eagerness. I shake my head at that one, though.

  “No, that’s a different Skill. I’m still considering whether to hand that one over to someone else or not. But first, I need to find out if this works the way I hope it will,” I finish, half-warning Tarra as she reaches towards the stone. I don’t blame her – it’s a powerful Skill. She freezes, her claws only a short distance away from touching the pale pink stone.

  If it works…? She eyes me with wariness. Is there a chance that it will not?

  “I have no idea,” I admit. She slowly withdraws her hand, eyeing me with wariness and a hint of anger.

  It is cruel to tease me with something that will never be, she reprimands me.

  “I’m not teasing you,” I tell her. “I’m just being upfront with you. I’m offering you this stone. I want to give you Flesh-Shaping if you also want it. But I don’t know if you can absorb it since you haven’t absorbed a Class stone first. And before you ask, I don’t have a Class stone and have no idea how to make one.” And since the reasoning for not trying to imprint Dominate remains the same for sharing my Class, I probably wouldn’t give the stone to anyone here even if I knew how to create one. “Perhaps nothing might happen. Perhaps it might even hurt you. Or perhaps it would be absolutely fine and you’d gain a powerful new Skill.”

  Tarra gazes at me for a long moment.

  Why do you wish to give this to me?

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  It’s a good question. Tarra certainly wasn’t my first choice, but River made some good points which I found I couldn’t argue with – indeed, I only found more reasons for why Tarra was a good choice. I list them for her now.

  “I have several reasons. You are already familiar with the bodies of samurans and other creatures, if only from retrieving your ingredients from them. That helps when using Flesh-Shaping, particularly when you want to heal since you need to know how to shape the flesh to heal. If you just tell it to heal, it won’t work. Another reason is that you already have a decent mana pool. This Skill requires a lot of mana to work. Then is the fact that you’ve proven that you have the best interests of the village at heart. Even before I came along and changed things, I know that you sometimes helped Unevolved even when they couldn’t pay you, or deferred payment until later. Since the changes, you haven’t complained once about me requiring you to heal anyone who comes to you without payment.”

  Of course not, Tarra breaks in. You’ve proven that having healing available to everyone strengthens the village.

  “Exactly my point,” I agree. “But can you say that everyone would respond in that way?” I challenge. Tarra looks away from me after a moment – she can’t say that and we both know it. Windy is obviously the first person who would complain, but Sticks wouldn’t be far behind if she was asked to do something for nothing. Pre-Energy fragments being used as currency, they used to trade favours or food tokens. And some of the Warriors have grumbled about being asked to teach the Unevolved how to fight – though I haven’t heard any of that since the invasion.

  I cannot, she admits.

  “So, that’s something important to me – I don’t want this Skill to become used only for the Evolved, or only for those who can pay. I’ve put a lot of effort into healing injuries both current and past in our villagers, and I want that to continue.” I hesitate, wondering whether or not to say my final reason. But Tarra is too sharp – she notices my hesitation and her eyes demand an explanation. “I don’t know whether this will happen,” I preface. “I have no evidence, just a hunch that it might help. But I know that you’ve been blocked from Evolving for a while now. And from what I’ve seen, you don’t know how to get past that block.”

  What is your point? demands Tarra, clearly not happy with me raising this.

  “That perhaps, just perhaps, gaining a new Skill like Flesh-Shaping might be enough to push you over the edge.”

  Tarra stares at me, her eyes wide.

  You think it might help? she asks, her voice almost a whisper.

  “I don’t know,” I emphasise, holding her gaze. “And I’ll warn you that it might mess up your Energy channels completely, and set you back by months or even years. But if it does mess up your Energy channels, I promise I’ll do my best to help you repair them. And who knows, maybe we’ll find the solution anyway. But introducing a new element might be just what you need.”

  Tarra is silent. I don’t interrupt – I can see she’s in deep thought.

  Must I answer you now? she asks almost plaintively.

  “Yes,” I answer her, a little regretfully. “Because if you don’t want it, I must consider someone else. And I’d prefer that whoever gets it gains enough experience with it before the red tribe leader arrives to actually be of use if needed.”

  Tarra sways her tail in acknowledgement.

  I will do it, she says decisively.

  “You’re sure?”

  I am. She glares at me defiantly as if to challenge me to withdraw the stone now and declare that this was all a trick. Life is risk and challenge. To advance is even more of one. Wind-whisperer broke through her own barriers when she accompanied you to challenge a Great beast. Grower advanced when she challenged her own view on the world. I…I fear I am falling behind my sisters, that I am growing stagnant because I thought I had already achieved the highest power I could. That the only thing left for me was to perfect my skills; to seek ever more efficient and effective potions through improving the ingredients and the means of preparing them. Yet you offer the opportunity to learn something new, that affects the bodies of beasts and People alike. I will accept the risk and seek to better myself, whatever happens.

  I nod solemnly. It is a philosophy which I can admire – seeking eternal growth. It’s an itch which I’ve often felt myself, and one reason why I have rarely been bored in this world. After all, who wouldn’t be interested in seeking growth when it’s possible to quantify it with numbers on a stat screen and measurable changes in one’s abilities?

  “Alright, first take the stone in your hand. We’ll see what happens and go from there.”

  Tarra reaches out once more and only hesitates for a moment before she picks the stone out of my palm with delicate claws. She turns her hand so that the ovoid which so resembles rose quartz rests in the centre of her lightly-scaled palm.

  And now? she asks sounding uncharacteristically uncertain.

  “Try to focus on absorbing the stone,” I suggest. That’s what worked with my Class stone right at the beginning of all of this. I don’t know if it will work with a Skill stone, but it’s the only thing I can think of doing.

  For a long moment, it seems like nothing will happen. But I remember a similar hesitance in my own use of these stones, so I just urge Tarra to be patient when it looks like she’s about to hand the stone back, disappointment filling her spikes.

  And then, before our wondering eyes, it happens. The stone, previously so solid, collapses into a thick liquid which fills Tarra’s palm. She instinctively cups her hand to hold the newly liquid mass, but the quantity quickly reduces. There’s a glimmering in her fingers, and then even that’s gone.

  Abruptly, she grunts in pain, her eyes roll up into her head, and she goes limp.

  I leap forwards to prevent her from knocking her head against the floor as she falls, and then dive into her internal matrix to see what’s going on.

  And the answer is a lot. Tarra’s internal matrix, previously quite neat and tidy, is abruptly experiencing a complete overhaul. It’s like someone, who used to live in a minimalist house, mostly because they didn’t have the time to renovate it, has a TV series crew suddenly sweep into it, tidy up bits which are starting to become a little shabby, completely replace things which are broken, and transform the plainest areas into spots of pure beauty.

  Little by little, I see the very basics of my Flesh-Shaping Skill weave themselves into place, almost absorbing the previously most-dense area into it. The two areas – Skills, I guess – don’t actually merge, but they are so close together that they might as well have. The other Skill is close by too, and the three of them now form a centre which balances Tarra’s Core, the rest of her threads spiraling off in the directions they previously had.

  I find myself hoping fervently that this has had the effects I want – if not, I’m not sure I’ll be able to fulfil my promise to Tarra to be able to repair her internal matrix.

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