Shady

Jerica looked at Aska for a long moment. She didn't want to touch him. She was still psyched out from the whole headless-knight thing. But, it'd be rude not to ...

Jerica followed Nen and Aska through the palace, mind reeling as she tried to comprehend what they'd told her. She wasn't scared of the two of them. It was clear ...

Jerica led the way into a tavern and glanced around. This was a more spacious area than the one in Elmira had been the night before. There were plenty of ...

Jerica was tense, her mind filled with 'what-ifs' of how this could go badly. What if someone recognized her? What if they tried to detain her? What if Elias ran ...

"We'll... see," Jerica answered uneasily. "We're getting food first. And there's not much to see, anyway. But the architecture is a singular redeeming quality of this godsdamned country, so I ...

"Well, you're in luck, I don't think Nykeria has any vegetarian meat," she answered dryly. The town was approaching quickly. Jerica got stiffer the closer they got, eyes flicking around ...

"Sure." Jerica nodded, trying to think what would be in season in Nykeria this time of year. "Nykeria has a lot of grains and we can probably get a fair ...

Jerica scowled a bit when she finished her set of puns, and Mel chose just then to break in to cheer for Jerica's opponent of all people. And in that ...

"So you're basically saying 'hey just hang around for a couple weeks until a witch comes back and curses you'?" Her voice was a bit harsher than she'd meant for ...

"Well, good luck to you." Jerica tried not to feel bitter that he might even have that option. Her only reprieve from warfare was pretending to be Aerik's prisoner, and ...

"Wait, so the powers are the only thing keeping you in the military?" she asked. I wish it were that easy for me. "Once you can't heal yourself, they'll just ...

"Heh." She smirked mirthlessly. "Tell that to my uncle." Singular that time. Derik would love nothing more than for her to quit so that she could go do something that ...

Jerica sent him a venomous glare, jaw set, before decidedly looking away from him again. So it was an intentional question. She snorted. I shouldn't even deign to answer that. ...

The smile melted off her face. He always did this. Took a fun topic and made it not-fun anymore. What part of that made you think I want to go ...

Jerica gaped at Hildy. Had it been too much to hope that she'd throw the competition like Corrick had? Probably. Had she been hoping for it anyway? Yes. This was ...