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1429 Words
When the countdown hit zero, she jumped up and forward, calling ice down in front of her. She copied Matt’s use of [Hail] to block Tara’s arrows. Taking advantage of her small form and agility, she worked her way into the center of their formation. When she reached the center, there was a flash of frost as the entire team was frozen solid, entombed by the thorny vines. Roses bloomed as life was drained from them. It was a beautiful sight.
They were out of the ice and moping off to the side as Aster ran over and tried to bring their mood up with her usual antics.
Matt joined Liz and quietly asked, “You don’t mind helping them, do you?”
She glared at him but softened her gaze. He wasn’t the one who she was angry with, and that particular individual had vanished at the first sight of the fight concluding. She was sure that he was lurking around somewhere, but she would never be able to find him if he wanted to stay hidden.
Liz marched over and was met by a very stern-looking Melinda.
She spoke before Liz could, “We suck compared to you.”
Liz didn’t want to agree, as that would be in terrible taste, but it was true.
“We got this way by pushing ourselves and training.”
Matt picked up where she ended without a pause. “And we can help. We can spar without worrying about injury or mana cost.”
Liz inspected Melinda’s team’s faces and internally sighed as Mathew stood up first. He said, “This is a good thing. We found a weakness and a perfect opportunity to correct it. This war won’t be short, so as long as we try and get better when we have free time, we can fix it.”
He looked awkward as he asked, “I don’t want to presume, but we can spar after this, right?”
Liz gave him her gentlest smile as she said, “What are friends for if not helping each other?”
Luna watched her charges spar with a list of a million suggestions and critiques. She was momentarily impressed with Matt’s use of his Concept. He hadn’t practiced that in combat yet.
But then, the drive to improve her charges took over, and she started noting the flaws in his usage of his abilities. Moonie told him to play with them, so she didn’t note how he extended the fight, but he could have been smoother about it.
Cleaner.
Her other hand wrote down a laundry list of what the other team could work on. They needed help, and the need to help them fulfill their potential ate at her.
It was only her long practice in controlling her compulsions that allowed her to hold herself back from rushing down and forcing them to be better.
As the final fight ended, she paused, hearing what Liz said.
“What good are friends for if not helping each other?”
She paused her pens and stopped writing for a moment. Harvest entered her sphere of influence and sat next to her quietly, letting her enjoy a moment of calm.
They were old friends, and he knew her well enough to enjoy a rare moment of peace together.
She ground out, “Are you going to be taking their manager position?”
“If they make it to Tier 10, maybe. Where’s the rest of your team?”
“Kurt and the new girl are taking a break.”
Luna shook her head. She had to resist the urge to change into beast form. The healer next to her radiated the same feeling that moons gave off, and she was named for her love of that feeling.
She had lost her bond, Nora, to old age from not advancing quickly enough and not pushing herself. It was what drove her to make sure others met their potential.
With an effort of will, she stopped herself from retreating to the past and focused forward.
She needed to prevent others from making the same mistake that she and Nora had. That was why she pushed her teams so hard. Nora had died from not having a Concept, and not being able to break into Tier 15. When she first started in this career, it was enough to stay sane. But as she advanced to better teams, it was no longer enough to quiet the caged animal inside that demanded everyone’s best efforts.
No, she needed them to push harder and faster. The better they were, the more they could advance, and the stronger they could become.
Seeing wasted potential was like being stabbed, and watching the little healer’s team was like being shredded. The waste of potential was that bad. They had so much to offer, but they threw it away like it was worth nothing.
Little did they know, it was worth everything and more.
She was mollified slightly by the fact that her team was taking the initiative to help, and that the healer’s team was also trying to correct their mistake. Friends were the only thing that kept you going after becoming immortal, and too many people lost theirs along the way. Too many were too engrossed with themselves to look outwards. She was happy that her charges were willing to help.
She looked at Harvest and said, “You look stupidly young.”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s too much effort to change back and forth. Deal with it.”
It was difficult for him to just change how old he looked? The man was Tier 47! Making cosmetic alterations to his body should have been as easy as breathing. Possibly easier, if he actually breathed anymore. Luna idly contemplated a few body modification exercises that he might benefit from, before settling on a set that the man would most benefit from.
When she handed him the paper, he just looked at it for a moment, and in a flash of moonlight it was gone. He gave her the finger and said, “You’re obsessive.”
She didn’t have a retort for that one.
They watched as the children started to spar while getting corrections from Matt and Liz. Their corrections weren’t perfect, but Melinda’s team didn’t need perfection. She could see the mix of embarrassment and anger driving them and made a note to check if they continued to push forward. She had to know if they would make the improvements she thought they could.
“She’s going to change warfare for the Empire, isn’t she?”
He sighed next to her. “She has that potential. More than we did.”
Luna thought about that. She had created thousands of powerhouses, and he had forced the other Great Powers into a new agreement about healing stations after his was attacked. He slaughtered the attacking army in a single night during the planet’s autumnal equinox. It was where he got his moniker from.
Harvest Moon was more literal than most realized.
“I hope this little wakeup call works as intended. She has an incredibly useful Concept that she refuses to use as well. I just hope she can use this to grow.”
Luna moved them forward until she was in the blonde’s face. She inspected her with both her spiritual sense and eyes.
“She looks driven. At least right now she does. We’ll see if they can keep it up. War is coming, and she could be of use.”
Harvest looked at her and bumped her shoulder. “Your new ones are just as impressive. Maybe more so. I can see an endless list of things that his Talent could be used for, if it works how I think it does. Even the non-combat potential is wild.”
She ignored his bad attempt at a pun and moved them back to a higher vantage point.
“He could be great. I intend to make sure he lives up to it.”
“Have you told Mara and Leon that you’re managing their daughter?”
That caused her to laugh. “The airheads have been avoiding me after I critiqued their play fighting when it moved over my house. It covered my sun bathing spot so I went up there and put a stop to it. I made Mara act as my heat lamp for a week. Apparently, it brought back bad memories of their time under my tutelage, and they’ve avoided me ever since.”
- Writer
