Maid with Necromancy

“They’re going to know.”

“They’re not going to know.”

That was how the debate with Maekus Von Trell went about Adric’s identity. Harmony wasn’t worried that they’d discover her pet’s undead status, as the only place that showed up was in the growth chamber readings in the Ascendant Games. It was the fact that they’d believe the man was something other than a regular human boy.

“Look at me, my monkeys, and I went over both of you with an epic quality exotic visual filter. After the first layer, Adric is not human. Exactly what he is, he hasn't yet reached that potential. In the betting pool, if we get him to his 3rd evolution, I have him as some kind of Avatar of Life. No one will know he's technically your undead pet, or was a human prince, because whatever he is right now is neither.”

None of the competitors blinked an eye at the man being her pet, though a few of theirs flashed with hints of advanced inspection skills being used.

Adric started his new role as her strategist by issuing orders.

Somewhere in his princely skill repertoire was a [Gentle Command] skill. The man liked training as much as he enjoyed spending time with women. He’d learned skills around both from his uncle at the fort near The Deadwoods and the adventuring teams he’d traveled with in an attempt to avoid any other duties.  Before Rose stole him away, he’d been valuable in training and managing what had been the Red Team in the Ascendant Games.

He took over the training for the morning and had them running and doing sprints as a team. The logic was simple. There would come a time when they needed to retreat and regroup, and they couldn’t let the slowest be lost. It was a real issue as people advanced and gained skills and body types at different rates. It was a great tool for showing who needed to work to catch up.

The second set of exercises had Harmony picking up Alex and running sprints so they could match the speed of the second slowest person. “You’re a melee fighter, how can you be so slow?” The man had to have a body-type too, because of how high he ranked in the class rankings. It made no bleeding sense.

“The choice didn’t come up.” He answered as she hauled the larger man around.

Which was total gnome shit. He could have used a skill gem or picked a body type to cover that weakness. Hauling him about at speed was more awkward than tiring. Still, if this was a joke, it wasn’t funny. Worse, was that she could feel with soul sight that he was lying. Power inside the man hungered to get out.

His combat against the golem had been lacking as well. More than simply his speed. It weighed on her more than he weighed on her.

“That’s enough, you should go get lunch!” Adric cried, ending the training.

Harmony dropped the boy. She loathed to give up any hints of the secret around how well she could get a sense of people's skills and abilities. Chewing some fate with [Eternal Fable’s Heart] could give a very visual effect, with the glowing eyes, advertising that they see everything. But that skill was still feeling a little off, ever since entering the dungeon. Just showing off her strength was a bit much for this round of training, but testing during the seminar had let that possible secret loose. No, she’d have to be blunt about how painfully obvious Alex’s performance was with respect to his school ranking.

“You and I will talk in private about this later.”

Social skills on Alex’s part tried to smooth out a very awkward shrug and failed.

“There is a tavern just off campus I want to try out,” Tasha suggested, but not without revealing a look of embarrassment about Alex’s situation beforehand.

Now that she had spending money, Harmony agreed to join them, if not only for the social camaraderie but to figure out a time to deal with their fighter. Tasha seemed like the obvious angle to approach. If Alex was too embarrassed, maybe Harmony could extract the information from her.  Hopefully, leaning on the friend wouldn’t be necessary.

Adric peeled her off the group and away from her social planning with an arm around her shoulder. “We’ll catch up. I want some words with my master.“

Harmony suppressed a cringe at being called “master” so openly.  She allowed him to take her out of earshot. “That was a disaster.”

“It’s horrendous. Did you know the stable master approached me last night about leaving my housing? He’s got me lined up for obedience school. I only got permission to leave this morning because I’m serving my master, and after lunch, I have to fill out forms on how I served you and advanced my skills. Every minute of every day needs to be logged. I got myself kicked out of the palace to avoid paperwork!”

“I was talking about our practice. Alex is hiding something. That and the fact that those fake guards aren’t even close to fast enough for an actual test.”

“All of you were holding back. You didn’t even need any of them to handle that dummy. Xera showed the most, and even then, do you really doubt she couldn’t handle that alone?”

“No.”

Adric pulled himself in tighter. “Then you need me to run around and manage your new team to its full potential. It will be just like managing the Red Tribe.  If you can figure out what Alex’s problem is, that will be great. But I do need you to sign some documents first.”

The paper came out of his back pocket and straight into Harmony's hands while he flashed her his winning smile.

Not buying it, Harmony read the document.   “This is you just wanting to get out of class work!”

“I'm committing to a valuable task to help my master. It's not my fault. Do you really want me to have therapy pet lessons, so I can use my primal bond to figure out your exact emotional state and keep you calm? You love your privacy.”

Just thinking of that made that spot in her soul itch. Tracing that back... “You're doing that right now!”

“And that's how I know I'm right. This only gets me out of three of my six classes: being a therapy pet, Obedience Training One, and Blending in with Humanity.  All I need is your signature right here, and I’ll dedicate some of my free time to helping get your dungeon crew in shape on and off the practice field.”

Forcing Adric to do classes wasn’t something she wanted to do. With direction, he could be a good boy, but without it… He’d run his way into some kind of trouble, being the kind of bad boy other women drool over or wanted to scratch to shreds.  This was exactly the kind of help she needed right now, one item off of her plate so she could focus on school once it began. Harmony readied her finger like it was a pen to sign with.

“Wait. You had that in your pocket when you arrived. How did you know I’d need help with this?” This time, she pressed on his primal bond with her. Only fair after he’d used his end to spy on her state of mind.

“Ouch. Not so rough. If it wasn’t that. It would have been some other task. I’m perfect for this. I even promise not to sleep with the girls in the group.“

With a growl of annoyance, Harmony used her magic to sign the document. “Let’s get back to the group. We shouldn’t be too late for lunch.”

The detour hadn’t been that long. The Darklord’s Tavern, contrary to its foreboding name, was a brightly colored shop, with metal walls painted in pastels of pink, yellow, and blue. Popular was an understatement as half the customers were in their school uniforms, chatting away.  It might have been hard to spot the group if not for the fact that Tun-Knee was the only beast-kin at the tavern.  Questions about that fact swirled in Harmony’s head.

“Sorry, we’re late.“ Harmony started as they took the seats the others had saved for them.

“It’s okay, managing primal bonds is important. Healer White, Siren Adric, I’ve ordered your meals for you. My treat.” Xera answered.

Letting a child, even a wealthy one, order her meal wasn’t how she wanted to start this post-training meeting. But she wasn’t the most awkward one at the table. Alex had two empty mugs of ale and was looking a little flushed, with an embarrassed Tasha next to him, so there were worse ways to have started this meal.

“So Adric, how does a planar siren bond with a healer?”  Tasha asked.

“By being practically dead, a rare scroll, and a good bit of luck. I wouldn’t be here without Harm.”

Inquiries about where he came from were deflected by stating that an oath prevented him from divulging too much, not uncommon. Conversation drifted to more talk of classes. Topics like which teachers they were excited to have, and the classes they were most looking forward to. All of which Harmony socially sidestepped.  Which she tried to derail by asking about the Tavern’s name.

“The original founder claimed he quit his life as a Dark Lord and started this business, but that was centuries ago.”

The conversation continued to drift toward the start of the school year, which was days away. It made her feel very out of place.  She’d never been in the classroom, and as luck had it, Defense Against the Forbidden Arts would be her first one. A class dedicated to how to defend against her was frightening.  

“Have you gotten your books yet?” Xera asked

“My advisor said books and supplies will be delivered this evening.” That was an easy one to answer.

Alex belched as he slumped over his stew. The alcohol was finally winning.

Getting drunk at The Warden’s Rest had been one thing, but this is lunch. There would be no getting any information out of the boy now. If no one else was going to confront the issue at the table, she would. It also let her exit the first day of school conversations.

“Tasha, come with me as I go to powder my nose.” Harmony practically ordered.

The redhead got up shakily but followed.

Harmony slapped [Silence] down the moment the pair were in the women’s privy. “What in the rotting meat is going on with Alex!”

Tasha flinched. “He’d convinced himself it wouldn’t be too bad to train without his body. That he wouldn’t be too far behind. That’s why he arranged the training session. But you saw, no, more than that, you were carrying him. It was too much.”

“He’s ranked high enough; he shouldn’t be this weak. I know you have a half-step potion being delivered soon. I’m honestly more worried about the day-drinking. One of the Coodly lords had that problem, and he never recovered.“

Tasha sighed. “He only evolved a week ago. Just in time to get a spot in this class. I think he thought this constitution would help him with the ale and got carried away.  That there might be some benefit to his golden-werebear body.  It boosted his school rankings, but he can’t use half his skills unless he transforms.”

 This was the problem with having a poor education from a backwater kingdom. The words might make some sense, but she was missing the social context outside of Alex’s embarrassment and fear that was shared by Tasha.  

“Then why doesn’t he transform?”

“Because he can’t control himself when he does. It can take over a year for those with werebodies to gain control.”

A brief flash of annoyance had Harmony wishing every so briefly that maybe she should have taken the golden boy Quartus up on his offer.  Alex’s misery being passed on to his friend wasn't helping. Sometimes it was a pain to be so soft-hearted. If she could scare Gareth into getting over his fear of swimming. She could bloody well tame a bear.

“Tell him he picked the right healer for his team. Maybe his serendipity stat is working in his favor, because he picked the right woman to solve his problem.”

It wasn’t the revivalist in her calling her to this task; her profession rose to the occasion, as this was one of the obstacles she aimed to erase.

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