Callie's Heroes

PART I - SUPPLY PROBLEMS

Outside the window, the shadows had grown long, the sun having disappeared behind the hill up to the training grounds. Seated at the conference table, a frustrated Thorn reviewed the papers in front of him for the umpteenth time. The numbers were bad, really bad, and they were starting to paint a bleak future for what they were doing here.

“It’s not good, is it?” Xera asked. They were walking back into the room, having briefly needed to talk to Kyra before sending her off for the evening.

“Not at all,” Thorn said flatly. “We only have nineteen so far, based on this report.”

“Including the ones left over from this term? Even with Juniper’s help?”

Thorn nodded his head. “That includes the six we still had. As for Juniper, amazingly, four of them have been for advanced combat classes, but the rest are standard. One of them is a Ranger, so Reynard will be happy about that, at least.” Over the last two weeks, Juniper had led a group of soldiers in the evenings, usually with Thorn or Celeste tagging along, off into the woods to track down Symbiotes. They’d had success, each time coming back with at least one, and once managing to get five. They were even getting good at capturing them if the little caterpillars tried to jump away. Despite beating the odds with four out of about thirty, the likelihood of getting an advanced one were stacked against them, and it wasn’t surprising that most weren’t what they needed.

In order to maintain secrecy, they had adopted a rigid protocol on how to handle retrieving the wild Symbiotes. Specific people were chosen to make up the detail, creating a team of six Fairies for the task due to their Darkvision and ability to fly. Upon briefing them on what they were going to do, there was always gasps as each member realized the implications of a Dryad being able to easily locate Symbiotes. Then they were told the bad news. When they got back, their memories were going to be wiped by one of the Brownies, because there could be no risk of the secret getting out.

For the most part, that condition was accepted in the name of loyalty to their commanders, and for the safety of Juniper, but nobody was exactly happy about it. Then, they were immediately lead out of the gates, with firm instructions to be back to camp within six hours, talking to no one. Still, that limited time meant they couldn’t range very far from the camp, which in turn impacted the results.

“Even if we sell all the standard ones? And all the unicorn parts?” Xera asked, an unhappy frustration in their voice.

“It’s not the money, Xera. We’ll be rolling in it, in fact. There’s just not that many left on the markets. We’ve cleaned out Imor, Marandine, and several of the bigger trade centers in Cillisant, too. We snap up any advanced combat-class Symbiotes that worm hunters may locate as soon as we can, and have made it known to their guild we’ll pay a bonus for anything they bring us first. Even with all that, we’re not even going to reach sixty for the next term, at least not in time to get the numbers out to the recruiters and get all of the worms here.”

“Well,” Xera said, “what do you want to do? We could run the term even with only thirty or forty. We’ve done it before.” They pulled out a chair and sat.

Thorn shook his head. “We have, but you know we need more people here, if only because they learn so much more training some group tactics together, and we need that for the front. I am thinking again that we should push the next term out by a month. That would buy us time.”

Xera frowned hard. “That is quite the request, and it will hurt us in the long run. Politically, that is. The likelihood of being able to get the support for a session beyond the next is going to drop significantly. They just need an excuse to shut us down, assuming they don’t find one based on the report from Midsummer, and delaying another batch a month due to no more worms being available doesn’t look good.”

“I know. But it’s that or start the term possibly only half full.”

“Blast,” Xera sighed, thumping their fist on the table.

“Honestly, I think we could use the time, anyway. I was always wary of not taking a break between sessions. It’s just too much to do without giving our people a chance to relax. Kela hasn’t taken to whining yet, but she’s never been happy about the plan.”

“There’s no other way?”

“We just won’t have enough, unless there’s a sudden influx from the worm guild or on the markets.”

“Alright,” Xera said with resignation. “I’ll take it under advisement. Let’s see how things go with him over the holiday, and we can decide next week. With a little luck, I may be able to build support for the delay. But we absolutely cannot go beyond one month.”

“Understood and agreed,” Thorn said. “No matter what, we’ll go with what we have at that point.”

“It's too bad,” Xera sighed. “I could have put off Chrysalis for another month, until we were all on break.”

“Too late to stop it?”

Xera wavered. “I might be able to, I’ve only just started preparing my body. I think, mentally, I’m committed at this point, though.” Scowling, Xera added, “I just want to get it over with, honestly.”

“Understood,” Thorn replied. Then he softened his tone. “Xera, I’m really quite happy for you. I know this is a big step and why, but I can see you’re ready. Have you thought of your new name yet? Are you sharing what your gender will be?”

Xera smirked. “I’m enough of a traditionalist to keep them both a surprise. It’s driving Tasi crazy not knowing, but that little bit of torture adds to the fun.”

“Bah! This is just going to lead to betting pools. No hints to give me an edge, I take it?”

Xera laughed. “Sorry my friend. I was taught to never give it away.” Looking around casually, Xera changed the subject. “No sign of Callie, yet?”

“I heard some amplified sounds coming from up the hill a little while ago, so I suspect she’ll be here soon.”

“Do you have any idea what she wanted to talk about?”

Thorn shook his head. “Not in much detail. She said it was about a conversation she had with her Symbiote, assuming that actually happened. Something about how they can create new skills, and what should she tell her Symbiote to teach her? I didn’t want to inquire further since we were in the open, but I’m sure whatever it is, it will be filled with the high level of Callie strange we’re used to. If you want to sit in, you’re welcome to, of course.”

Xera huffed a small chuckle. “You know, the camp may need that extra month after Callie leaves, simply to recover from her.”

“Knock, knock,” Callie called from the open doorway as she tapped on the doorframe. Kyra was gone so couldn’t announce her. “I know it’s getting late. Do you still have time to chat?”

Thorn looked up and gestured. “Callie, come on in. Close the door behind you. How did your Sigil training go? Well, I take it? I heard sounds.”

“Good! At least I think it did. I was able to draw my symbol and even push it around a little. But cripes it’s complicated magic compared to Ranger stuff. One wrong move and it zaps your hand off.” Callie glanced at the end of her fingers that had been shocked too many times to count and flexed them. “I see why you sent me to the Sergeant Major, though, even if she can be intimidating as hell.”

“She’s the finest Sigilist I know of, possibly one of the finest in the three kingdoms,” Xera said, emerging from their office. “You should feel honored to have been introduced to the magic by her. May your new skill serve you well, even if it is quite surprising why you would receive it. Thorn tells me you have some things to share? And a question about your Ranger training you couldn’t ask of Reynard or Vonn?”

Callie knew it was getting late, and it appeared Xera wanted to join them and get straight down to business. She’d been debating how to try and explain what the Symbiote had told her regarding how it creates pathways in a way that wouldn’t likely lead to three-hundred more questions, and so far hadn’t really come up with one. But she needed to do that to put some context around her decision to forgo leveling to Gold in favor of more variety of melded or off-class skills. She’d been second-guessing that decision off and on, and if it was completely the wrong one, she wanted to try and change the plan when she next talked to her Symbiote.

“Sure,” Callie said to the officers, trying to put on a comfortable smile. She wasn’t sure it was working. “Do you happen to have any paper or something I can write on? And something to write with, too? This might be easier to explain if I can draw some of it.”

Thorn had a few blank pages among the things he’d been working on, so he slid them across the table along with a charcoal pencil while he straightened up the slight mess of paperwork he’d been dealing with. In a way, he was thankful for the distraction away from the depressing headache, although he knew it would still be there whenever Callie finished whatever this was.

Callie stood on her chair and began to draw as Xera took a seat next to Thorn, the Commandant watching her with curious interest. “A question for either of you. Do they know how Symbiotes give people their skills?” Callie asked generally.

“There are a couple theories,” Thorn responded, “but it’s one of those things endlessly debated by the Scholars in The Nexus. Some say they etch the knowledge of the powers into our head. Others say the knowledge is already there, and they just open our mind to it. Honestly, like most things magic related, I’ve never given much thought to it. Why?”

Putting the final touches on her quickly sketched schematic, Callie looked up. “It might be a bit of both.” She pushed the page back, rotating it so Thorn and Xera could see it. “So, let me start with this. The night before last, just before I woke and got Silver, my Symbiote came to me again, and we had a nice, long conversation about magic and how they actually do it. Now, I’ll fully admit it may have all been a dream, a figment of my own mind, although it felt pretty real to me. I’m also pretty sure I’m not smart enough to make this up. I’m going to explain it to you the same way he did, but you should know he flat out said it was dumbed down for me.” Callie stumbled for a moment. “He? It?” She shrugged. “Whatever.” It sort of felt like a he.

Gesturing towards the picture of a brain, Callie started. “This is your brain.” Then she gestured to the jagged line through it, starting at a circle and ending at a square. She looked up and grinned. “And this is your brain on magic.”

Carefully, Callie went through the same explanation her worm had about how it creates or strengthens mana pathways, allowing for all skills to be revealed to the host when it makes the final connections, leading to leveling up to the next Tier. Both Xera and Thorn seemed rather dubious of the whole thing at first, but at least were willing to humor her. She explained how each skill or perk had its own unique path through a person’s head, and because of that uniqueness, each produced a different result. By the time she got to the end of this first part, both officers had started to take a much keener interest.

“So a synergized power is connected to one of these existing ones, right? And something similar for melded ones?” Thorn asked, running his finger over the drawing as he started to make his own analysis.

“This is where it told me the explanation starts to become too simplistic, but essentially, yeah. A synergized skill or perk branches off of another, while a melded one touches two or more paths.”

“While this is fascinating, Recruit, what is the question you have?” Xera asked. Callie could tell that as much of a Symbiote nerd as Thorn was, this wasn’t the Commandant’s thing. In fact, they also seemed a little under stress. It might be just the VIPs coming soon for Midsummer, but Callie sensed something else was occupying Xera that wasn’t the holiday.

Nodding, Callie continued on. “So this next part is where it starts to get interesting.”

“It’s not already?” Thorn asked.

Ignoring the Ratkin geeking out, Callie focused. “Apparently, the Symbiotes are able to talk to each other, if they are close enough. I’d guess through some kind of a short range telepathy, like Jesca can do with Artemis and Iris. Because of this …”

“Who’s Iris?” Xera asked, a confused look on their face.

“The Beastmaster’s new Bonded Companion,” Thorn clarified. “It arrived today. A little color-changing drakeling that apparently flew all the way here from the deep deserts to find her.”

“A Chromatic Drakeling?” Xera asked, eyes going wide. “Here? That is certainly one hell of a journey if it came from the southern deserts. It must be at least … what … fifteen-hundred kilometers? More even.”

Thorn shrugged. “Apparently the little thing felt a calling that forced her to come. She’s actually been here a week watching us to learn how things work. She’s really cute, too.”

“Iris? One of your names again?” Xera asked.

Callie nodded. “Uh huh. A winged messenger goddess, and goddess of the rainbow.”

“Ah! A perfect name, then. Just watch you don’t annoy the creature. She can burn you with her eyes.”

“Yeah, I know,” Callie groused. “She already burned up my hat. Fullo wasn’t happy when I asked for a replacement.” Quickly she relayed the story of the little drakeling’s hoard, how she accidentally took it from her, and the resulting injury and hat-burning. Xera did at least laugh at the story. It was nice to see them laugh a bit.

After things settled, the Commandant gestured towards the paper, and Callie continued. “The important thing is that these Symbiotes can talk to each other if they are close enough, and thus, they can teach each other things they know, including skills and perks. This is how Jesca learned Dash, or at least her Ranger Dash. Somebody’s Symbiote taught hers about the skill, or it’s possible it knew it from a previous host, and then in turn it was able to give Jesca the power by melding it on to others. That’s also how Pixyl got Flashstep, or even that new Homing Ethereal Blast skill. Apparently my Symbiote taught Pixyl’s about the homing effect from Homing Shot, or something like that.”

“Interesting …” Thorn said, steepling his paws under his chin as he sat back in his chair. “Continue.”

“Okay, so one last piece and then my question. As I understood it, when a melded or synergized power is inscribed by the Symbiote, it takes on the tier of the parent class, hence why my Turret skill is Silver Tier now. If it can’t be melded onto something related, then it becomes a new Iron Tier off-class skill that you have to level up on its own. That’s why my Sigil of Amplification is only Iron, because I assume he didn’t have anything related to graft it on to, and probably because Sigil magic is so weird.”

“I’m following, but what’s the question, Recruit?” Xera said, their patience seeming to grow a little thinner.

“The Symbiote offered me a choice, and I hope I made the right one. He said that he could either focus on ranking me to Gold before I leave here, or instead take advantage of all the other skills available and get me more various powers. Some presumably would be melded and end up Silver tier, while others might just be Iron off-class ones, but in the end I’d have a lot more of a variety of powers, rather than reaching Gold Tier.”

“You took the second one, didn’t you,” Thorn said flatly.

“It … he wanted an answer right then, so yeah, I did.”

“Why?” Xera and Thorn both asked simultaneously.

Callie had been ready for this question. “With so many of the worms here, I thought it made more sense to take advantage of the opportunity. Plus, he said he’ll also complete them as they come, so I don’t have to wait until I reach Gold to get them each revealed, although I’ll get sick each time, which sucks. I assume, once I leave here, I’ll finish leveling towards Gold at the front, probably not taking too long.”

The information from Callie about magic, and the reasoning for her choice, drew a loud silence in the room. In Thorn’s experience, how the Symbiotes actually functioned was one of those endless arguments, often resulting in a lot of shoving or even an occasional lost tooth when people got passionate about it. Yet, in all those arguments, Thorn had never heard it put forward that the worms were actually both intelligent and capable of communicating with each other, let alone able to teach each other skills. If this was the case, then the high concentration of Symbiotes of different types here at the camp made that even more likely to happen.

“Are you asking if you made the correct decision? Is that the question you wanted to ask us?” Xera said. Their expression was hard for Callie to read, but it looked a little sour.

“I guess?” Callie replied with a questioning inflection and a shrug. “I told my Symbiote to give me a couple days to think about what other skills to teach me, but I’ve been second-guessing myself ever since. If you think I made the wrong choice, I want to try and change that plan.”

“You know,” Thorn said introspectively, “we had a Paladin, that Elf, Jitta, receive a melded Flashstep when she reached Silver this morning. Can you imagine a Paladin receiving that skill? A Barbarian also learned a melded skill that creates an explosive disorient, somewhat similar to Flashbang. That one is an off-class skill, so only at Iron Tier. Vonn also mentioned Jesca got Acrobatics, right?” That last question was directed towards Callie.

“When she reached Silver with Ranger, so it’s already at Silver tier. Because of her Beastmaster Enhanced Senses, she was immediately pretty good at it, too,” she replied. Then she added with a grin, “I’ve already got plans for her in the Bunkerball game.”

“Reynard is going to love that,” Thorn chuckled.

“Still, a Gold Tier Ranger is far more powerful than a Silver one,” Xera pointed out, ignoring the sportsball distraction, “even if she received several additional skills. It is a war, Thorn, and we need our weapons at maximum capability.”

Thorn had leaned back in his chair again, though, hardly hearing what Xera was saying. You could see his brain turning over on itself behind his beady Ratkin eyes while his whiskers twitched. The camp had collected rather meticulous records of the recruits that had come through from each trainer, and that included what melded or off-class powers they may have acquired. He’d never bothered to go back and review them, but Thorn suspected, if they picked apart that information, they would see a higher-than-normal number of them.

He, himself, only had two melded powers, despite being Topaz. His first melded skill, which he received years ago at Gold, was called Cloud Dancing, and would form patches of rock-hard light under his feet, allowing him to essentially walk in midair. It was the perfect skill for a Martialist, which already relied on being fast and agile when fighting without weapons and with minimal armor. The other was a melded class perk called Five Animal Form, which was a fighting style somewhat similar to Callie’s morning Tai Chi classes, that he just received when he ranked up to Topaz. To add to that new form, he’d also received three new Iron-tier off-class skills with Topaz, too, which had been quite the surprise. If that came from his Symbiote talking to others all these months he’d been here … Slowly, as if fading into view from nothing, an idea started to form in Thorn’s head.

“Thorn?” Xera said, actually poking him in the side.

“What? Oh, sorry,” he said, shaking himself out of his reflection

“You have a guilty look on your face that I usually only see on Callie’s,” Xera said warily.

“Hey!” Callie said sharply, but actually laughing, “what do you mean ‘guilty look’.” Both officers turned to stare deadpan at her. “Okay, fine, you’ve got me there.” Callie conceded, rolling her eyes.

With slight hesitation, Thorn held up a finger indicating to wait as he reached for the pile of paperwork he had shoved aside when Callie arrived. He leafed through it, looking for a specific page, before finding and pulling it out and sliding it over to Xera. “I want to check some of our records first…” he began with equal hesitation. Then he tapped on the paper, “But, if Callie’s right and those records confirm, we might have a solution to what we were discussing a bit ago.”

Xera furrowed their brow, looking at the paper Thorn was pointing to. He thumped his finger again, more insistently this time, and Xera looked closer at the specific line he was pointing to. “We’ve actually found six of them?”

“And we can easily get more of those, too,” Thorn said quietly, raising one eyebrow. “We should at least discuss the possibility. We will still get as many advanced ones as we can, but If these can learn more than their base skills and perks …” His voice trailed off as he raised his other furry eyebrow. “It might fix our problem.”

“Thorn, that’s not what we do here, and I’m not interested in lowering our standards. If we do, it will politically hurt us even more.”

“Wh-What’s the problem?” Callie asked.

Thorn gestured across the table, adding a small shrug, as if asking Xera for permission.

“Why not?” Xera replied. They looked at the confused Gnome. “Help us Callie up another solution.”