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"When you put it that way…" Ike allowed. He gestured at Wisp, who reluctantly came back to his side.

"What?"

"We\'re going to have to carry the kid if we want to make decent pace. I\'ll carry him in mornings, and you carry him in evenings?"

Wisp glanced up, checking the sky. Seeing that the sun was still far from its apex, she nodded. "Sure."

The two of them traded off carrying Shawn. Like that, they continued, only stopping to hunt the occasional spirit beast.

"What\'s the plan?" Shawn asked one day, sitting next to a roaring fire.

"What do you mean?" Ike replied, somewhat distracted by the deer he was skinning. Its enormous ruby-red antlers scraped against the ground as he worked. Hooves in the same shade of red pawed slightly at the sky, tugged around by Ike\'s work.

"With me. What\'s the plan?"

"I don\'t know. What do you want to do?" Ike asked.

"Do I stay with you forever? Do I leave at the next city?"

"I dunno. Sounds like a you problem," Ike said. He gripped the deer firmly in one hand and yanked the last of the skin free with the other.

Shawn jolted at that. He turned away, his face twisting in disgust. "Do you have to do that in front of me?"

"You\'re the one who came over and started watching," Ike informed him.

"Someone still thinks he\'s a precious artifact," Wisp sing-songed.

Shawn narrowed his eyes at her. "I might go find a new sect to join at the next town."

"Sure. If that\'s what you want." Ike pressed his fingers against the deer\'s body. Closing his eyes, he focused on the deer\'s body. He carefully guided his aether through the deer\'s veins and mana passages, chasing out the last of its aether and all of its blood. The blood splashed to the ground, wetting the earth to mud.

"New technique?" Wisp asked.

Ike shrugged. "It hasn\'t registered on my skills menu yet. Maybe soon."

"That kind of technique, you could even use in combat—if it registers on your skills menu," Wisp said.

"It\'s a real all-rounder. Good for the home and good for battle," Ike agreed. Holding the deer in one hand, he drew his sword and chopped the antlers and hooves with the other. Those he added to his pack, in case they\'d sell for a good price.

Shawn looked from one to the other. He stomped his foot. "No one\'s listening to me!"

Ike frowned at him. "I\'m listening."

"But you aren\'t listening," Shawn insisted. "I\'m having a crisis over here, and you\'re playing with dead deer!"

"I\'m making dinner, and you\'re whining," Ike returned. He pulled the stick he\'d sharpened earlier away from the tree it had been resting on and pierced the deer with the spit. He bound the deer\'s limbs to its body with a bit of thread, then set it over the flames on the spitroast he\'d already built.

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"You aren\'t taking me seriously!" Shawn snapped.

Ike turned. He looked Shawn in the eye. "I\'m taking you as seriously as I take anyone. Your problems are your problems. It\'s the same with me or Wisp. If Wisp wants to do something else, she would leave and do it. She might even find me again afterward. You are just as free to do whatever you want. What you are not free to do, is needle me for what you should do. I don\'t know, and I don\'t care. That\'s solidly your problem, not mine."

Shawn stared at him. He looked at Wisp, gesturing at Ike. "What?"

Wisp shrugged. "Spiders are solo animals. Humans are social animals. If anyone\'s going to be sympathetic, it\'s him, not me."

"What\'s wrong with all of you? Everyone I was with before would\'ve considered this a totally normal topic of conversation! I mean, it\'s my future! Don\'t you want to counsel me, or something?" Shawn complained.

Wisp sighed. She sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, kid. There\'s one thing you seem to be misunderstanding."

Shawn looked at her.

"We\'re fucking insane. Both of us. He\'s, like, an ex-slum kid, or something. I get the vibes that he didn\'t leave a whole lot of friends behind."

"I wanna kill the guy who raised me, if I get the chance," Ike chipped in.

"Right. And I was raised in the wild. By myself. I ate my infant brothers and sisters to escape the egg sac, because if I didn\'t, they would have eaten me. I\'ve barely survived more fights than you\'ve watched from your treasured throne. So… yeah. I don\'t think you want advice from either of us."

Shawn stared. He backed away. "You are insane."

"See? I told ya. You probably don\'t want our advice. In fact, you\'re probably raised better than the both of us combined. You\'re asking Ike if you should hop off and join the next sect you see? He\'s not going to say no. It\'s probably a far better decision than staying with us. Though I can\'t guarantee they\'ll see you as a person. Or do anything to prevent those black-robed mages from stealing you back."

Shawn thought for a second. He backed away, nodding to himself. "I need some time."

"Sure. Take all the time you need," Wisp said. She stood, joining Ike by the fire, where he turned the spit.

"You\'re good with kids," Ike said.

Wisp snorted. "I wouldn\'t say that. You could\'ve done everything I did there, you just couldn\'t be assed to talk to him. Which I totally understand."

Ike shook his head. "I wouldn\'t have laid it out so clearly."

"That\'s probably the part that isn\'t so good with kids." She paused. "In any case, he\'s probably the oldest member of the party, so we shouldn\'t call him a kid. Even if he is a little brat."

"Hey!" Shawn protested.

Ike paused. He looked at Wisp. "You know, we didn\'t kill those foxes. I forgot, because they were \'reformed\' and all, but they were still eating people."

"Yeah, but Mont liked them. Do you want to piss him off?"

"True," Ike allowed, nodding.

Shawn drew up alongside them. He stared at the deer roasting over the flames.

"What?" Ike asked.

"Many mages refuse to eat. Of those who do, many refuse to eat animals. They\'re impure, and it\'s immoral," Shawn intoned.

"Yeah, but they\'re delicious. And they have aether in them," Ike pointed out. "And it\'s not like those other mages aren\'t killing the beasts. They\'re just letting their meat rot and go to waste rather than eating it. It seems like that\'s more immoral than using it, to me."

Shawn tilted his head. "I never thought of it that way."

"I haven\'t noticed any impurities, either. Maybe they were just eating shitty meat?" Ike suggested.

Wisp snorted. "A sect, rich enough to own a mountain spirit, eating shitty meat." She sobered. "It\'s possible, though. Lots of sects don\'t hunt far outside their boundaries. The beasts near sects tend to be polluted and weak."

"Huh," Ike said. He settled in to turn the spit, watching as the meat slowly roasted.

Something distant crushed leaves. Ike quieted, putting his all into listening. Footsteps drew closer to their camp. Human footsteps. He extended his aether, subtly checking the newcomer. Mana met his touch. A mage. From a cursory glance, no higher than Rank 2, maybe a little higher than Ike\'s rank. Ike retracted his mana and glanced at Wisp. He nodded at the trees.

Wisp\'s eyes subtly widened. She gave him a quick nod and scooped up Shawn, laying a hand over his mouth before he could protest. Both of them vanished into the trees overhead.

A few moments later, a mage in blue appeared. Tired and bedraggled, her robes were stained and bloodied, but the rips and tears only served to accentuate how beautiful she was. She stumbled toward Ike, then sank to a sit, at the very limits of her strength. Her face crumpled. "Another one."

Ike stared. Who the hell are you? What do you mean, \'another one?\' I\'ve never seen anyone like you in my life.

She put a hand to her chest and glared up at Ike. Deep resolve flashed in her eyes. "As my last act, I\'ll explode my core and take you with me. Even if it\'s the last thing I—"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. I\'m just a traveler, lady. I have nothing to do with whatever you\'re doing," Ike interrupted her.

"Huh?" she said, startled.

"Yeah. Literally just walked over the mountain. Please don\'t blow yourself up. And if you have to, do it away from dinner, please?" Ike requested, nodding at the roasting deer.

Her eyes flashed. "The deer! I knew it! You are one of them!" She put her hand to her chest again.

Ike sighed aloud. "I swear—"

Light began to glow around her chest and abdomen. Ike pressed his lips together. Fucking hell, why\'s everyone trying to be my problem today?