Chapter Thirty-Six

  “I’m so jealous, Harm. The semi-finals. The semi-finals! Big Blue is going up against the Three-Cwed Beast.” Stu excimed excitedly.

  Harmony was only three bites into her dinner.

  “I’d be more excited about the bonus if some lord dumps more than pocket ge for her tract.” Fel cooed.

  “And if our visiting duke buys me and has me shoveling stables for the rest of my tract as revehe neancer asked. Hemlock worried her more, but that ile of worms she didn’t want to share with the other staff.

  “Then you level up and evolve as quickly as you . I’m sure you won’t get stuck like Jessica did.” Fel replied.

  Nobody wao think about that depressing option.

  “The semi-finals, girl. Aren’t you excited? After the time you spent drilling me on how pet battles work. You’ll finally get to watch the best of the best.”

  Ambrosia ehe kit to get her meal. “Watg pets hurt themselves for our amusement. So… exg.” She interrupted disdainfully.

  “They want to fight. Those trainers bond monsters. Not pretty birds.” Stu snapped.

  “They want to please their masters. Letting your pets take trol of your future will stall your path. If that’s why you want your pet, theing one is a mistake.” The tamer dished back.

  Harmony winced, knowing that was meant as a slight jab at her. “I’m starting to think Ambrosia is right. No stability in relying oo keep you away from ing stables. Evolve or die.”

  “Bah.” Stu cursed.

  “Have some faith and trust your friends, Harm.” Ambrosia sat beside her, throwing an arm over the neancer’s shoulders. “You’re bound fger things.”

  “Yeah, a big payday. I wish my tract was getting bought.” Fel threw in.

  Harmony couldn’t picture it. She’d pay to get out of this mess. “Fine.” She said.

  “I’m only stopping by briefly. Would you be ied in ing out again after your stunning performance? Songstress and The Flows are being requested everywhere, thanks to your help. Got to keep the momentum while we .”

  “No. I o work on my skills. You know how it is after you get new ones.” The unstable new skills got her in trouble with the duke in the first pce. Dang wouldn’t get her out of this mess. More trol, and he wouldn’t have had the excuse. It took time to take care of that.

  After a side hug, Ambrosia got up. “Work to do, and songs to sing.” She called back as she rushed off to her evening.

  “The semi-finals, and you won’t even appreciate it.” Stu moaned.

  All the pining was too much. Harmony quickly finished her stew and bread, skipping the opportunity to savor the fvorful meal. It had been too much to hope that the rest of the staff hadn’t heard everything about the tract sale. The Lords and their guests weren’t known for having tight lips around people they thought of as little more than furniture or decoration. She said her farewells and rushed off to her room. There she stripped and slipped into her armor, Night, grabbing her personal notebooks on the way out.

  The manrounds were extensive, maintained by the power of the staff’s skills, and teo be mostly empty. Everyone who worked there teo have a spot in or outside the manor that was mostly private for when you o be aloher than in the dorms, good pces to train. Harmony was no different and stepped outside into the chilly evening air. Winter, irely gone, was fighting bae before relinquishing t. The neancer’s breath fogged up, and she could see spots of frost f on the ground. Yet, she felt fine. Night, while more c in many ways than her uniform, was still a thin coat over her skin like it oured on ihat were not artistically armored. Since she’d gotten [Cold Touch], she’d noticed how chilly weather wasn’t affeg her much, ahing she made a o explore.

  Hyath followed as she made her way to the more wooded and wild edge past the manicured garden. He knew where she was going. It was usually a spot for warmer spring days or the summer.

  led off the path and hidden by some bushes was a small, nearly single-person-sized pond butting up against a rge ft boulder that, on good days, could be used for enjoying a smattering of the su cut through the foliage or f off from a quick dip in the pond.

  Now the pond had a thi of id looked a bit murky from being unattended all winter. Harmony had spent a lot of time practig [Manipute Dead] by pulling ks of debris out, fighting the weight and water. She doubted she’d have time te the pond this night. This time was fetting a handle on the new skills.

  Dismissing Hyath to chase local wildlife away, she climbed on the rod focused inwardly. Skills influence you. It’s a fact of life, aing a new skill was always an adjustment. Harmony remembered needing to keep her mouth shut from critig or suggestions when she first acquired [Beauti]. Even [Dust] Had her wanting to run her fingers over door frames and tell Dugan to stop scratg his fky scalp. When you used the skills, it only got worse.

  There’s a lot of talk about using the skill and building up a tolerao the influence. Most called it getting skill drunk. Thibodeux called for making yourself numb. He also reended exercises where you mentally pack it in a box and shove it away. And it made sense when your use of skills redicated on fully activating one quickly aitively.

  Carter’s schema talked about finding your oneness. The dusty old text only mentiohat ond then focused on other things. She couldn’t find anything else oopibsp;

  So she brought her idea of it together. Fog on how she used her skills at different levels, with synergies bining them, and how she kept some active for more extended periods without triggering the main effect. The urges were always there, and it wasn’t like shoving them in a mental box removed their existenade it so they couldn’t explode out in a fit of drunkenness. Hyath ended up being key, back when he was a little toad. She asked him how he handled his skill use. While it was a weak impression through their [Familiar Bond], it was obvious that “I am me” came through with a sturdy self-image of himself. Her version of oneness was having all the skills be part of who she was, like emotions, breathing, and errant thoughts. All of which could be trolled and incorporated into who you are.

  Looking inward now, was seeing a different se than what was at the start of this mess. The css and profession skills Harmony had mastered and synergized with were still there. They sat in the of [Mana Rotation], which held the pieces of her skills. Activating them had never been easier. [High Kick] and [Small Armor], alien to her css and professio as solidly her as any gaihrough leveling. [Cold Touch], her neancer skill, hummed along, almost happy at the weather, making her wonder if she’d feel si hot days.

  Her unlocked stats shone over everything, highlighting possibilities, making everything more potent and different, dangerous even. Seeing what e flexed poorly could do to dresses and books scared her a little because it seemed to feed off her oneness idea. Everythi more ected, but not in a safe way. Like eating spicy food, doubling the spice, and hoping your insides take it. Then add in synergy. The ball of rats, bats, and dust from ing the attic, a horror of her creation, fshed into her thoughts, and that was when it went right. It only took the bucket of what was ohe book Monster Girls to remind her of what would happen if things went wrong.

  So she didn’t activate any of the skills. Instead, she introduced herself to her new skills and worked on aligning their feelings with who she was. [High Kick] had a lot of patient violend anger. It wasn’t like she never wao sh out when mocked for her css or leered at by Tyler. Now she had a skill that could tell her the best and most effit way to kick them in the privates, making that quiet voice loud. The anger was there before the skill. The skill simply added fuel to the fire. Aowledging that, let her get the barest of handles on it, a beginning. [Small Armor] urged her to never be without prote. An attack skill might have you never leave the house without a khe way it ected to her new armor seemed to sate much of the energy there, which she supposed is why it hadn’t acted out the way her other new skills seemed to.

  Satisfying the urges worked to calm them. Not that Harmo like she could kick Tyler whenever she wao, but there had to be other ways to work out that anger. In her book, she his for further study.

  The squeaky wheels get the attention as they’re more likely to bother others. That didn’t mean Harmony could ighe oldest of her powers. They felt a bit heated after all the ges she’d gohrough. After a whole season of effort, her perfect self might be achieved, but who had the time. Today she made a o evaluate them closer ter.

  [Mana Rotation] seemed to represent the anized chaos of life. opping, even at rest, there is potential energy there, potential problems as well. Like the minor problems of a messy house or the bigger ones of a princely pet, the more she uood what was happening, the better she felt. The ay of not uanding the skill or the problems made her queasy and sick. She could ride the feeling of chaos with practice, but knowledge would be key here.

  [Cold Touch] was the worst. It surprised her that an ability that felt core to her css acted out more thahers. The bucket, the masquerade, that oime Hyath had to save her from herself when she synergized with it. If there was ever a skill she wao shove away in a mental box, this was it.

  Harmony shoved her armor bato the space made for the paired item. She felt the frosty air and ice-cold stone against her naked skin. It didn’t bother her. Standing up, she took a deep breath ahe internal as as the cold filled her lungs. [Cold Touch] accepted it as it intersected with her physical skills. A be, but also ter to that cold finality she felt with it supp survival. Almost how the prince was extra-living in his risen state. her is something her neancer css protested at.

  The neaook a good hard look at the feelings around [Cold Touch] and how they reted to who she was. She shivered at not the freezing temperatures around her as the st of winter met the slowly ending day, but what she saw. Her emotional ess. That tendency to suppress stroions in the face of difficulties. No response was better than shing out when Tyler leered and asked for favors. Her choice that it was better to be cold thaional, as her mother kicked her out after years of suffering, as others mocked her half-damned css. Not just ive feelings did that to her, but also positive ones. Even Ambrosia, the warmest, most affeate, and g person she knew, only elicited a slight response from her. The truth of it made her sick. Cold wasn’t the life she wanted.

  “Harmony! You’re naked!”

  The woman’s voice caused the maid’s eyes to shoot open. At the entrao her little private oasis decked out in warm furs over expensive leather armor rincess Rosaline, whose eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head.

  Harmony fumbled internally. All this introspe left her raw and uncoordinated. ostatis wasn’t even kig in to let her fumble at an accelerated paight snapped bato pce a few heavy breaths ter, arm her against the goggling. As it resisted because Rose’s eyes weren’t a real threat.

  “Um. I was skill training. Alone. In private.” Internally she tapped her [Familiar Bond]. Old Bones, Hyath. Why didn’t you warn me?

  The image of Hyath with jagged cw marks, and a struggling snow panther, pissed and struggling while half-chewed came back to her. Busy.

  “Naked? It’s freezing out here. Tyler better not have suggested this.”

  No way this was a random enter. “How did you find me?”

  “My css has a trag skill. Not that it helped me find the bitch who stole my brother.”

  It teically did. Not that Harmony had any i in expining to the prihat she was that woman. That didn’t expin why the princess was here now. All she could do was let the unfortable silence speak as she searched for the best way to ask a princess, why did you e to find me?

  The princess filled the silence first. “Sorry, this whole corpse problem is bringing up feelings again. We weren’t the closest of siblings. He got his royal profession and was whisked away for training. Then I got mine and was sent to mine. When it became clear his cursed evolution was killing him, I had to mourionship we could have had. It was blind luck he decided to ese here in an attempt to speak to the guild master while I pleted my leveling in Old Bones. He was weak and dyi eid optimistic. I was only getting to know him when… Now I feel like his cursed choice is making me main.”

  In a fairytale, now would be the time to fess and then for her to summon Prince Adain for a lovely reunion in the private hideaway. Harmony couldn’t do it. She’d seen home much the world wasn’t a fairytale for the unlucky. Icy tendrils of fear snaked around her heart and reminded her of her current problems. This wasn’t the moment to fight against bad emotional habits. She didn’t know this girl.

  “It’ll work out. Why are you looking for me?” [Poise and Bearing] helped craft the proper g yet respectful tone, even if she khe response was short.

  “The duke. That bastard Hemlock has worked some ideas into his head. He’s pnning something at the au. The man’s so jealous of ah real authority. It’s my fault he’s aiming to make you a whipping boy for me. He may have provisional authority over the city, but he ’t stop me from buying your tract at the au. I should have the funds to do it. I felt asking your permission first aing you knopropriate.”

  Asking permission first. That’s new and unusual. Harmony’s choice to not reveal what she did to the girl’s brother made her want to say no. The princess’s care might not be the worst of pces to nd. Even if the princess felt she could outbid the Duke, Harmony knew Rose couldn’t outbid the guild master. That man seemed unaced to not getting what he wanted, but why involve the duke? Harmo a slight headache ing on, even trying to guess.

  “You have my permission to try, my dy.”

  “I’ll make everything right. You’ll see.” Rose answered with a smile.

  Harmony doubted that.

  The princess left, back between the bushes and into the wooded area of the manrounds.

  Mentally exhausted, Harmony gave up w on her skills and instead worked ouring Hyath through their bond about keeping a for her, no matter how tasty an animal appeared to be. What if something less distressing than the princess ambushed her naked, like a sed damned snow panther.