Noble felt her heart skip a beat.
'She knows ?'
The floating woman had done her best to separate herself from her usual persona, even changing her looks and the appearance of her Echo.
Had she worked with Helie in the Academy? The brunette was older than her, so unless she returned to continue her education much later, the lady would never have been Noble's student. But if the newcor had spent ti in her company, why did her emotional signature seem completely unfamiliar?
Suddenly, Noble was glad that the nickna had not been that far off from her usual one.
'I'll still have so explaining to do.'
The floating Master braced herself for the big reveal.
Helie opened her mouth, smiling pleasantly. "You're Master Blondie!"
Noble's jaw dropped.
Roan smothered a smile.
Aether coughed into his fist.
"Finally, the little woman talks so sense!" Flint guffawed.
"What?" Helie furrowed her brow. "I-I heard Master Flint call her Blondie, and I assud—"
"No, no. The girl is right. I did, and I'm never wrong. Her mother misnad her, not ." Flint nodded seriously.
"You can call Bel." Noble forced a smile, refusing to give Flint the satisfaction of irking her.
'He thinks he's so clever. I should call him skunk with that streak down the side of his head…'
"Flint is well-known for his unique sense of humor." Roan slapped his hysterical companion on the shoulder. "Now, let's be off, shall we? Unless soone hasn't saturated their core, we have no more business here."
The others shook their heads. None of them needed the soul shards littering the field.
Noble was not surprised that others had saturated their cores. They were legacy clan mbers, after all.
Among them, Noble felt out of place. By their bearing, they had all been born and bred to be powerful Awakened, whereas she had been the unremarkable daughter of a governnt agent when the Spell took her.
Despite her success in the Dreamscape, Noble had never sought to make a na for herself.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Even after being revealed as being Queen Bee, her mild manner still made those closest to her forget how fearso she could be.
Just the other day, Rain asked her mother if she knew anyone who could help her move her latest hunt toward the market. The daughter only belatedly rembered that her mom could lift it with her levitation or use Helios to carry it.
Noble didn't mind. It ant her children were comfortable around her. She would rather them feel loved than intimidated by her.
These people around her were not her family, though. While it was nice to be liked, it was more important to be respected.
So here, among society's elite, Noble put her political experience to work. She would not give them any reason to think she was inferior. Thankfully, other than Flint—who seed to hate everyone—none of the others seed to regard her as inferior.
And since she had saturated her core years before, Noble had no reason to object to the departure.
She simply agreed, and the group journeyed from the battlefield.
While scanning the forest for any additional dangers, Noble listened intently to all that was being said.
Helie lingered beside her, unwilling to open her mouth and embarrass herself again just now.
Noble wanted to comfort the other woman, but then she rembered that Helie had been tracking them. A little discomfort would discourage the woman from lying or at least make it easier for Noble to detect it emotionally.
So the ladies walked in silence in the middle of the group. Aether strode behind them, his head on a constant swivel.
The two oldest n led the charge of selecting a new camp. Flint huffed along beside his companion.
"I get why you picked , Roan. I'm one of the few who genuinely enjoys frustrating your wife and is not afraid of the consequences of angering her. But out of all of the Masters in the world, these two are who you ended up with? A fairy and a child? Don't get started about adding a second woman…"
Aether coughed, "You know we can hear you, Master Flint."
Flint looked over his shoulder, clicking his tongue. "With ears as young and green as yours, I should hope so!"
"You think they are inexperienced?" Roan allowed a ghost of a smile to play across his lips. "Other than being thrown around like a ragdoll to save your life, did you have any objections to their fighting thods? Did you see my team lacking in any way?"
"I was a little focused on my own business, thank you very much." Flint turned up his nose.
"You an to tell that an experienced Master like yourself didn't take the opportunity to evaluate your cohort mbers in battle? I know I did. I couldn't have planned a better warm-up myself." Roan watched the other man out of the corner of his eye.
Flint's ears burned. "Of course I watched them! I just wasn't obsessed enough to evaluate their every move."
"That's too bad. If you had, you would have concluded what I already knew. These Masters are phenonal at what they do. And just as importantly...they were willing to go into a Nightmare with ."
Tyris had forbidden anyone from helping Roan in his endeavor to Transcend. Few were willing to risk making her angry when other opportunities were available.
"If Master Flint objects to being thrown like a ragdoll," Noble added innocently, "Perhaps he can tell how he would like to be tossed about. I am rather skilled in that arena, I can assure you."
"Hmph," Flint pressed his lips together. "Young people have no respect."
Seizing the mont, Roan slowed and spread his arms. "I think we will camp here for the night. This clearing looks as good as any. Bel?"
"Other than the trees, the closest living thing is nowhere near here," the floating Master answered with a nod. "I can make a campfire if one of you is skilled at cooking whatever Helie can provide."
Helie produced a small store of dried at and so water to share. It wasn't a lot, but with so vegetables that Noble had left over from her journey to Bastion, it was more than enough for them to share.
In the end, Noble was put in charge of the stew pot while Aether built the fire. That suited the floating Master just fine. It was easy to listen to Helie's tale while she stirred the simring dinner.
Surrounded by the other Masters, Helie laid out the events of the past week before them. Orum had called her to Bastion on what he said was urgent business. It was only when she arrived that he told her of a cohort that was heading into a Nightmare very soon.
"I was puzzled how my uncle had such detailed notes on where to et, but very little info on the mbers of the group. He urged to join you." Helie adjusted herself on the log that was now her seat.
"If he wanted you to Transcend, why didn't he form a cohort for you to do so?" Roan stroked his beard.
"Uncle was planning to, but he said sothing about running short on ti." The brunette shrugged.
It made sense. Roan had taken years to get to this point.
Flint squinted against the setting sun.
"Orum isn't a fool. He wouldn't have sent his precious niece here without careful consideration."
"Master Flint is right. Uncle is very thodical." Helie nodded. "I know my arrival was unexpected, but I hope that after my performance with the Terror, you will consider a valuable team mber. So, what do you say? May I join you?"
The rest of the cohort looked at each other, but it was the surly Master who spoke first.
"I've heard enough. There is only one thing to do." Flint stood, brushing off his hands. "We kill her and dispose of the body."
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