Gifted

I climbed silently out of the woven willow basket that my mother had deposited me in. Easing myself to the floor was going to be the second riskiest part of my manoeuvre. When none of the adventurers looked over, I knew that part one of my master plan was a success.

Progressing across the intervening space was fast as the silky fur of the rug was silent to my ears, so I crawled quickly to the edge of one of the lounges that surrounded the fireplace. Peeking around the corner, I assessed the second challenge of my master plan. Crossing the space from the rug, over the polished floorboards, and finally to the table at which the four adventurers were sitting.

The elven woman, Vianola, looked tired from where I hid, her shoulders slumped and her head drooping with her straight blonde hair falling around her, hiding her amber eyes. I guessed she’d been up all day and night by the side of her lover. Happy days, he was going to survive. At least that was what Grandfather had said. I was still grumpy that whatever magic had taken place had been invisible to my eyes and senses.

Next to Vianola was her brother, Keryth. He was the only other elf in their little group and a mirror for his sister with blond hair tied back in a warrior’s bun and sharp almond shaped eyes the colour of fresh amber. Thankfully he was angled away from me, his gaze set firmly towards the windows and the blizzard raging outside. His positioning was actually why I had chosen this angle of attack, as I was most concerned about him noticing me.

On Keryth’s right was my target. The male human that hadn’t been poisoned by the Giant Eyeless Spider. His name was apparently Leo, a large bald brute of a man. Also, he was deathly afraid of spiders. Poor choice of job he’d chosen then, but that was his problem to contend with.

The final member was a stocky female with shortcut brown hair and matching eyes. The others called her Cart. Didn’t sound like a name to me, but what did I know, right? Either way, Leo’s broad chest meant I should be hidden from her view so long as I came at Leo from the correct angle.

I suppressed a smile that bubbled up at my baby-like amusement and began my silent approach. My movements were painstakingly slow as I kept my head up and eyes on my target. Each step required me to raise my leg up as high as I could so that my clothes didn’t drag along the floor and give me away.

Closer… closer… closer.

I was within a metre of Leo when Keryth glanced at me casually out of the corner of his eye. I froze, leg half raised. I was done for! He was going to call attention to me and ruin the whole thing! The elf shouldn’t even have been able to see me. I was right at the edge of his peripheral vision. Then, like two ships passing silently in the night, his eyes moved away as though he hadn’t seen a thing.

Was he giving me his approval to continue my game? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I closed the intervening distance, getting right underneath Leo’s chair. My tiny hand reached out and then I moved my fingers in a rapid motion up the adventurer’s pants leg.

There was an explosion of movement as Leo launched himself upwards out of his seat.

“The fuck was that?!” Leo screamed as he glanced down at his leg.

Instead of laughter, my eyes were wide with fright. Not because of Leo. I’d expected his reaction. What I hadn’t done is considered how his sudden movement would reposition the chair. As he’d stood, the wooden seat had almost gone flying. Only Keryth’s hand on the back of the chair had kept it from clipping me in the head.

Note for future self, I thought, always consider how inanimate objects will move when surprising someone!

I finally got over my shock, with the faces of four adventurers looking down at me as I sat on the floor on my bum. The patter of my mother’s feet was coming closer quickly so I did the only thing I could think of. I plastered a big happy smile on my face.

Gotcha big guy! You can’t get mad at a cute little baby! Right?! I proclaimed in my own mind.

“Can’t believe a baby snuck up on you, Leo!” Cart crowed in amusement.

“You try keeping track of him!” Leo grunted in annoyance. “How’d he even get out of that basket?”

My mother finally arrived and scooped me up, my pleased grin still plastered on my face.

“I’m so sorry,” she muttered. “He’s a very good climber and is perhaps a little too curious. I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm.”

Harm? I thought, No. Surprise? Definitely.

“It’s no problem, Miss Penelope,” Keryth replied as he shut the other adventurers down with a glance. “Though I am unsure if it was luck or cleverness on his part, but the path he took had the least chance of getting caught on his little foray.”

“Oh, I know,” grumbled my mother. “He’s always finding new places to sneak off to and hide. I’m constantly worried that if I don’t keep my eyes on him I will lose him. But don’t worry, I’ll take him into the kitchen with me so he won’t bother you again.”

“No need for that. If you want to put him back in his basket I will keep an eye on him,” Keryth offered. “I actually saw him approaching Leo so I can make sure he doesn’t escape again.”

“You what?” Leo said in shock. “Why didn’t you warn me?”

“About what, Leo? That a baby was going to grab your leg? I was more worried about you hurting him than the reverse,” Keryth countered before his almond-shaped eyes looked back at my mother.

“Well, if you’re sure?” answered my mother hesitantly.

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“I’m sure,” Keryth confirmed.

I was gently admonished for escaping again before my mother placed me back in my basket not too far from the fire and placed a few wooden toys in with me. Ignoring the toys, I had a quick look and saw that my Path of Stealth had increased again, though not by as much this time. I guess my mission was only a partial success. Successfully surprising Leo had been my plan, but getting noticed by Keryth reduced the steps I earned along the Path. Still, progress was progress and the numbers were going up, which made me unreasonably happy.

Keryth kept a close eye on me and while I did escape my woven cage a second and third time, the effort was only enough to advance my Path of Crawling by a couple of steps. My Path of Linguistics - Helenian also increased by four, but I am pretty sure that was mostly because the adventurers were swearing at each other. At least, that’s what I guessed the unrecognised words were. As for my Sneaking, Hiding, and Stealth Paths, they languished under the keen-eyed gaze of my diligent elven overlord.

The adventurers left two days later when the snow storm finally abated. Thomas did not look well as they half carried him out. Still green in the face and vomiting occasionally, but apparently well enough for his companions to take him back to Ajinport where he could seek the help of better healers. I was bundled against the cold and held close to my mother’s chest as the adventurers were waved off.

“Why didn’t you suggest they seek Magatha’s help?” asked my mother, her sparkling blue eyes shifting to my grandfather.

“Magatha does not like to be disturbed. No one in this community does.”

“She might’ve made an exception for the adventurer,” countered my mother.

Wide-eyed, I listened to the back and forth, absorbing everything I could. Who was Magatha? Why would her help have mattered? Could she teach me magic?!

Cornelius sighed. “If I had thought he was going to die, I would have. Bothering her to improve his comfort on their return trip? Not worth it, Penny.”

“He still might die. The roads back are not safe, and even if the cold will not be as bad further down the mountain, it doesn’t mean it’s good for his chances.”

“Which is why I tried to get them to stay. Either they left to return to Ajinport, as they said, or they wanted to search the area around where they killed the Champion for the Trophies from the Rift Breach. Either way, it’s their lives and their choices.”

My mother huffed, jostling me against her and clearly still not happy. She let the matter drop though.

With the matter of the Adventurers over, my life returned to the quiet solitude. We didn’t see another soul for the rest of winter. Four months passed, and my progress continued at a steady pace. I had started talking in single words to try and get what I wanted. The addition of speaking accelerated my Path of Linguistics.

My first birthday came and went without celebration. I guessed it wasn’t a thing here or I had the timing all wrong. I didn’t know the day I was born but I did know that I had been brought to my new home in winter, which made this my second. Either this world had two winters per year, or more likely, birthdays were less of a thing in my new culture.

Still, I had things to celebrate. All my Paths had been progressing, some faster than others. I brought up the notifications again, basking in their sweet, sweet light as the numbers just kept going up.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Climbing I (1144/10)

…

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Climbing VII (1144/1000)

Reward: +3 Strength, +2 Stamina, +2 Coordination

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Deception V (471/200)

Reward: +1 Mental

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Sneaking VII (1831/1000)

Reward: +1 Coordination

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Hiding VII (2007/1000)

Reward: +1 Coordination

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Linguistics - Helenian IX (9892/5000)

Reward: +1 Unallocated

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Crawling VIII (7885/2500)

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Crawling IX (7885/5000)

Reward: +1 Stamina, +1 Unallocated

I was so close to completing my Path of Linguistics I could taste it. Or perhaps that was the bacon I had gotten for breakfast. Either way, it was fantastic and made my mouth water thinking about it. Not just because I would free up a slot for a new Path, but because completing it would provide enough steps to push Path of the Completionist to the next Tier.

Crawling wasn’t too far behind it, but I had to choose when to crawl and when not to because I was now walking. If my mother caught me crawling she would pick me up and encourage me to walk. I just couldn’t say no to her.

My Path of Deception had been progressing slowly, and that was a good thing in my mind. I didn’t want to be a liar, and while I intended to keep my secrets, that didn’t mean I liked having to behave differently around my mother. I was a child with fragmented memories of a past life and enough mental fortitude to make the best of my new life. My childish nature sometimes caught me by surprise, but most of the time I didn’t even notice when I was doing it. One minute I would be singing silly songs with my mother in the kitchen and the next remembering floating in an ocean talking to other souls about the lives we had all lived. The shift was jarring, but it had been getting better.

All of my progress was good, but not great. Numbers went up but nothing new, nothing special. That was, until now. My goal was so close that I could taste it if I wanted. Its shiny surface taunted me. I had to stop putting things in my mouth! Without a moment’s hesitation I reached out and snatched the pipe off Grandfather’s desk and ran. I heard the old man jolt up from his nap, but I was already out the door and running down the hallway, my chubby little legs pumping furiously.

“Get back here with that, Bastian!”

I ignored him and instead looked at the new notification as I continued to run. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Stealth III (205/200)

Reward: Skill Seed (Stealth) (Minor)

What the hell is a Skill Seed? I wondered.

Then I ran into the wall.