Melia the Magnificent

“Depending on what your main goals are,” Melia said, “We have options.”

[Sunrise] had loafed around the abbey for one more day, specifically because Moeldywn was visiting. Melia wanted to show off all her cool toys to her friend, and even made a second round of [Holy Guacamole] for the princess to try. She ate the dip with some freshly prepared chips, sprouted wings, and immediately tried seeing if they’d let her fly.

They did not.

Moeldywn was not harmed physically, but her ego took a blow and she pouted furiously until Melia cheered her up by giving her another bear. This one was (fittingly) modeled after a cherub. It was a cream-colored bear with a white toga, small feathery wings, and a little bow with a heart-shaped arrow. Jessica and Ellesea were somewhat jealous of the brand-new, never-before-released [Meli Bear], which allowed Moeldywn to gloat. Her mood sufficiently lifted, the group spent the rest of the day relaxing, heckling each other, and generally goofing off. But, because Moeldywn was a responsible little princess, she sighed and went back to work in the morning. However, the surveyors and civil servants she brought with her to oversee the integration of Abbyshire into the kingdom’s records would remain for several months.

“Do we go back to the [Palace of Darkness]?” Y’cennia asked. Brandy frowned and waggled a hand.

“We could, but unless I’m misremembering, the experience gain drops off sharply after level four…hundred.”

Melia nodded and wondered if Brandy was about to say “40,” which would have been more in line with the game.

“So I’d be the only one really benefiting from another trip,” Brandy finished.

“Al and I would get a few levels, I’m sure,” Jessica said. “We’re close to hitting 400, but we haven’t done it yet.”

“How big of a drop-off are we talking?” Ellesea asked. “Would it be worth delving again to catch Brandy up?”

Melia found it fascinating that, over the short time she’d known the group, they’d already stopped thinking of leveling as a lifelong goal and instead pictured it as a way to advance their careers.

“Hmm,” Brandy frowned, deep in thought. “I suppose that’s something to consider, but I don’t think it’s worth it. It would take us another full day to clear all the way to floor 40. We could go deeper if we wanted to, but we’d have to camp out in the dungeon overnight. To top it off, I’m not familiar at all with the layouts and monsters that spawn past floor 50, which means we’d definitely need to take Melia along. While that might be something we’d want to do anyway, it raises other questions we haven’t even considered, such as what happens if Melia needs to revert to her dragon form? Or what does she do if she needs to eat? But that wasn’t your question, was it? Strictly speaking, the drop-off is significant. Last time, Y’cennia only gained 5 levels and she’s the highest. I’d say another run might get her a level or two up until she hits 420, but anything after level 425 would take multiple runs or require us reaching down to the very depths to see any real progress.”

The others frowned and fell into contemplative silence. Melia wouldn’t mind dragging the crew down to the lowest levels of [PoD] if that’s what they wished. But she also knew that running [PoD] wasn’t making huge strides on Brandy’s quest.

“There are other places that would work fine for letting Brandy catch up,” Melia said. “While it might seem strange to you guys, since we haven’t spent much time in Whispershade at all, you’ve pretty much seen everything it has to offer. I’m completely fine with basing the party there for as long as you want, but I got the impression you were on a time crunch. Don’t you have a quest to finish?”

The others glanced at her nervously and Melia laughed.

“Oh, I found out about it, don’t you worry. I don’t know exactly what it says, but basically you’ve got to put down a demon king, right?”

Melia smiled cheerfully as the others looked at her in disbelief.

“Put down a demon king,” Ellesea repeated while craning her head back and staring at the ceiling. “Only you would say something like that, Melia.”

“Like some sort of rabid dog,” Jessica grinned. “Just…put him out of his misery.”

“Well,” Melia retorted, putting her hands on her hips, “In a perfect world, we’d go talk to him and settle things peacefully.”

“Right,” Jessica snorted. “You try that. I’ll be over here.”

“I mean, it’s worth a shot,” Melia shrugged. The others looked at her like she was crazy…and then they seemed to remember she was a powerful dragon. Then their faces turned thoughtful. Melia shook her head.

“But that’s still far in the future! We don’t have to worry about that yet!”

And hopefully they could delay sending Brandy home a little bit longer. Melia would miss her dearly when she was gone.

“In the meantime, as I’ve said, we have options.”

“Okay,” Alastair agreed, “What do you suggest then?”

“Welllll,” Melia drew out her words dramatically. “We could go north…or south…or east.”

Again, everybody looked at her like she was crazy.

“Melia,” Jessica said patiently. “You just listed out 3 directions. We’re practically on the west coast. North, south, and east is literally the rest of the world.”

“I mean, I could fly us over the ocean,” Melia countered. She didn’t know exactly what was out there, but when she took Moeldywn for a joyride, Melia discovered that her stamina was effectively limitless. She could fly with everyone on her back for days if not weeks without stopping, and she was pretty sure they’d find land long before she needed to land to eat.

The others went slightly pale as the prospect of taking an ocean voyage by dragonback became a distinct reality they could experience. But that wasn’t the route Meila recommended; she simply wanted to point out it was open to them.

“Never mind that,” Melia said. “Now’s not the time to circumnavigate the world. Maybe we can do that later some time.”

She heard Y’cennia mutter later? under her breath and ignored the catgirl.

“That brings us back to the other three directions.”

“And of those three?” Alastair asked again.

“North might be the most immediately helpful if you’re considering powerleveling,” Melia stated.

She hopped onto a table, brought out a large bolt of white cloth and some black ink. She didn’t have a map built into her system as she had in the game, but that didn’t mean she didn’t remember what the game’s continent looked like. And with the huge variety of skills she’d picked up in this world, she was practically a [Cartographer]. Not only had she spent hours looking at the map while moving from point A to point B, but she’d thoroughly explored every nook and cranny of every zone while hunting for quests and achievements. After several moments, Melia stood up, wiped her hands on her skirt, put away her tools, and smiled.

“Not bad, eh?” She preened.

The others gathered closely (with Brandy picking up the small gnome so she wasn’t blocking the map) and leaned in. Al immediately furrowed his brows and tapped his chin thoughtfully, while Ellesea let out a frustrated sigh.

“Melia,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the map, “Why do you have to make everything look so easy?”

Melia was slightly taken aback.

“I’m…sorry?”

“No, it’s just…,” Ellesea rubbed her temples and pointed behind her at the table. “That’s a better map than any I’ve ever seen. It’s certainly better than anything my father owns, and it beats out everything I’ve seen in the Academy’s library. Not only is it more detailed, but it covers other kingdoms, too. I doubt anybody has a map this complete.”

“Ah,” Melia mumbled. To her, she just scribbled some chicken-scratch and called it good enough. She didn’t bother marking topography or adding known gathering deposits. Maybe…that was a good thing?

“I bet Melody has a map like this!” Melia said hastily, and even if she didn’t right now, Melia made a split-second decision to send her this one when she was done with it to make her prediction true anyway. “And as you can see…this is to the north!”

Melia wriggled free from Brandy and landed on the table. She traced her finger northeast of Abbyton, past her Obsidian Mansion…straight into the Ashlands. She circled a large valley filled with lava pools and sulfur springs, eventually tapping her pudgy little finger on the sole, dominating mountain in the middle of it all.

“The [Incinerated Spire]!” Melia beamed. “We could run it a few times, grab some good gear, and see how much the experience is worth.”

“Run…it?” Ellesea froze. She looked at her teammates, Alastair in particular, and turned stiffly toward the gnome. “Melia…do you know what that is?”

“Sure!” Melia nodded eagerly. “It’s a tough dungeon!”

It was hard for her not to sink back into gamer-speak and call it “end-game.” Alastair cleared his throat, placed his hands on the table and stared her straight in the eyes.

“That’s a level 550 dungeon,” he said seriously. “Rank 7 if you want to tackle the raid.”

“Well, yes,” Melia nodded easily enough. She was very familiar with all of the encounters, and she could probably recite their lines back as the NPCs spoke them.

“That’s the lair of Khazrudin the Black,” Ellesea said with a gulp. “Surely you’ve heard of him.”

Melia looked at her friends. She saw the fear and apprehension in their eyes, and for a moment she’d forgotten that to them, he was a real-life terror that had threatened to enslave the dwarven race and exterminate everyone else. It seemed, in her friends’ minds, there was room for only one black dragon. To Melia, that was a good thing, as they were obviously not ready.

“Well, just keep it in mind,” Melia said. “It’s an option if we want to go that way. But that’s not the only thing on the table.”

“Yeah,” Y’cennia muttered, “An insane gnome is also on the table.”

Melia glanced down, realized where she was standing, and giggled. Y’cennia must’ve realized she’d been caught, because she instantly turned pink, but Melia didn’t tease her for it.

“We could also go noooorth,” Melia said, dragging out the vowel as she waddled up to the map. She traced a line through the Ashlands into the snowy winterland of the dwarves. “We could visit Deepholme,” she nodded enthusiastically. “Perfect if anybody wants to try roast meat and spiced cider.”

“How does that help us with our quest?” Ellesea muttered. Jessica nudged her in the ribs.

“It’s food. With Melia, everything comes back to food.”

“Ah.”

Melia wanted to pout. Not everything was about food! Only…most things. Yes.

“Though if we visit Stronghold, I wouldn’t want to fly. Dwarves are a bit sensitive about dragons, especially black dragons, so I don’t think they’d take too kindly to us dropping in. But! That would give us plenty of time to take the Tram! In the Underground!”

Oh, the Underground! How Melia desperately wanted to ride on the Tram! That was definitely on her top 5 places to visit list. The only reason she hadn’t gone yet was because she wanted to experience it with her friends and it never really fit into their schedule. Melia had no idea how long the journey would take, but judging from all the other distances she’d traveled, it would probably take several days. This wasn’t like the game where a simple 7-minute ride could cover what was essentially two countries.

The others looked intrigued but skeptical, and Melia guessed the time was not yet ripe. A pity, but one she expected. There’d be other opportunities in the future.

“Though, to be honest,” Melia continued, “I’m not sure visiting the dwarves fits our current goals. It’s fun, exciting, and we’d get to meet new people and experience fun things, but it wouldn’t immediately help us level and it would take a while. Not to mention…if we do need to confront a demon, we’re going the wrong way. So that’s also a reason not to go east.”

Melia glanced at her map and the single, gargantuan tree to the far east. The Everbloom, home of the elves and their [World Tree]. It also featured the Evergloom, the great failing of the gnomes, Melia’s people, and someday, she wanted to do something about that. But, again, the time was not yet ripe, and Melia didn’t know how real-life elves would handle a rambunctious gnome and her best friend, the [Saint]. Melia wasn’t oblivious; she knew there would be some drama if the two ever came into contact. Brandy was known as a follower of Celestara, not Lunaria…and the elves never sent somebody to collect her as soon as they found out she’d returned. Melia didn’t think there was a world in which the elves didn’t hear about the return of the [Saint]. As much as Melia didn’t want Brandy to leave…she also didn’t want to submit her to misery and workplace drama.

So that left south.

Technically, south didn’t offer more or less than any other direction. As each point on the compass was the starting point for a faction of races, there was supposed to be an equal opportunity to level in each zone without traveling across the map.

In practice, that theory died off pretty quickly. Some zones were, by merit of the quest chains and dungeons they contained, simply better. On top of that, the various expansions for the game added more accessible landmass the continent had previously locked off. Far past the dwarves was the Frozen North. Somewhere beyond the elves, on the other side of the world, was the Far East. And, to the south…the demon lands. If Melia was left to her own devices and was tasked with leveling another character, where she knew all the flight paths and optimum grinding spots, she’d take a very different route.

But since this was somewhere in the middle of “hardcore powerleveling a tight group of friends” and “going on a really snazzy sightseeing vacation,” Melia decided to go another route.

“South it is,” she declared, concluding all on her own. And if her team really didn’t like it? She could always fly them back later.

​

Jessica and Al went around the abbey taking care of last-minute chores, while Ellesea decided to say goodbye to the [Scholars]. She’d made decent friends with some of them, at least to the point where they’d be considered acquaintances, and [Sunrise] wasn’t planning on returning soon. Yes, they could in a pinch, and Ellesea had her classes, but until they reached their next destination, they were going to be on the road. Melia made sure she had Midna’s [Pet Carrier] secured to her belt and waited for everybody next to the [Aetherstone].

“Are we all ready?” She asked brightly as they gathered around.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Jessica smirked. She had her trusty bow slung across her back and she was using her [Harpoon] as a walking stick. “What?” She asked as the others gave her some side-eye. “I’ve got it. Might as well use it.”

“Whatever,” Alastair shook his head. “Melia, are you sure you want to pay for fast travel…?”

“Al, you’ve seen her lair,” Jessica said. “This won’t make a dent.”

“All aboard to Whispershade!” Melia cheered, and, one by one, they blinked…and vanished.

Popping up in StoneChairne’s main plaza was always jarring, what with having to adjust to perpetual twilight. Al and the others quickly moved out of the main path, but they weren’t heading for the inn. In fact, they weren’t planning to stick around in Whispershade for long. They just needed to collect their mounts, and they’d be on their way.

Melia’s [Retainers] met them at the stables; the horses, the Strider, and the ram already saddled up and waiting. Melia smiled, thanked them, and fiddled with the small box on her belt.

“What’s that?” Y’cennia asked, narrowing her eyes. “Some sort of…trinket?”

“Something like that,” Melia grinned. “Midna, come out!”

“Wait, is that [Enchanted]?!” Ellesea gasped, but she was drowned out. The Nightsaber disgorged from the box with a mighty roar and a mightier stretch. Once she was satisfied that the entire street was aware of her presence, she glanced at Melia, licked her face, and pretended to be bored.

“Stop it, you,” Melia giggled. “Hey girl, are you up for a ride? It’ll be a long one.”

Midna’s eyes sparkled with joy and she eagerly headbutted Melia.

“Easy! I need to be able to climb on you first!”

Not that hopping onto the Nightsaber was ever difficult for the gnome, and the [Retainers] were helping the others onto their respective mounts.

“Got room for me?” Brandy asked, gliding up. Midna sniffed the tall elf and seemed pleased.

“So,” Jessica said, cantering up on her ram, “The end goal is Ala Tappas, right?”

Y’cennia’s ears twitched and her tail flicked. She didn’t seem excited at first to visit her homeland…but she wasn’t against the idea, either. Melia wondered if her reluctance and excitement were both tied to the same thing. As an [Alchemist], she’d been pushed out. But now her level was much higher than expected and she had an evolved class to boot.

“That’s right,” Al answered. He was taking his responsibility as the party’s decision maker seriously. Not that he considered himself the leader, but everybody else shunted the responsibility on him.

“That’s…not a short trip,” Y’cennia warned, guiding her Strider up in a shimmying strut. “I know these are professionally bred mounts, but are we sure they can handle it? On a slow horse, that could take months.”

Melia frowned but nodded. Her sense of scale was sometimes skewed. On one hand, she could turn into her real form, scare the pants off of any traveler on the road, and be there in an hour. Less than an hour. And in the game…nothing would ever take that long. Players would riot if they needed to spend an entire month’s subscription dedicated solely to travel.

“I can port them back if the going gets rough,” she said.

And so, with very little fanfare and only a handful of mildly curious onlookers to see them off, [Sunrise] set off on an adventure.

…As it turned out, adventures could be quite boring. And painful on the butt. While Midna’s saddle had built-in features that allowed both Melia and Brandy to ride for hours without the slightest hint of fatigue, the same could not be said for the others. [Sunrise] left the gates of StoneCairne heading east on the road, and they planned to stop for the night after 7 or 8 hours of riding. That would only take them slightly past the outpost next to the [Palace of Darkness], but there was no chance for them to make it all the way to Wickhaven in one day. It was Whispershade’s easternmost city, and one of only two settlements that could live up to that moniker. It was likely for the best, as Wickhaven was on the border of Gold Coast and actually several miles further than their turnoff point. Unless things took a drastic turn for the worse, the group didn’t plan on stopping there.

But after a mere 6 hours of riding, [Sunrise] had to call it quits. The silhouette of the failed [World Tree] loomed in the hazy dusk ahead of them, and they hadn’t even made it to the outpost.

“This is as good a spot as any,” Al said, leading the group to a secure little dell within vision of the road. Despite his nonchalant answer, Al was being diligent. He didn’t lead them to the first ditch he found that would keep out the wind, and had actually scouted for signs of local spawns. They would probably need to keep watch, but they wouldn’t be overrun in the middle of the night.

“Oh, my aching butt,” Jessica moaned, tilting to the side and practically falling off her ram. She tried straightening up, but she seemed to have acquired an interesting hunch. Or, rather, her back was straight, but her legs seemed forced into an arch, splayed to the sides like an exaggerated cowboy looking for a shootout in the Old West.

“Nobody needs to hear about your butt,” Ellesea complained. She wasn’t faring much better, but she was very familiar with riding a horse. At least she didn’t look like she was about to rock up to a saloon and spit in one of those gross little pots.

“Yeah, well, it’s cheeks,” Jessica complained. “This ride was cheeks, Stumpy McGee is cheeks, and this whole journey is cheeks.”

Y’cennia opened her mouth to say something, but Jessica was in full steamroller mode.

“Your face is cheeks,” she sassed at Y’cennia, who looked suitably offended, while Ellesea laughed. “Why couldn’t we rent a carriage?”

“Because that would literally take months?” Alastair sighed. “Not to mention be prohibitive even by Melia’s standards? We’d basically need to kidnap a driver and his horses for the better part of 6 weeks.”

“Yeah, well, this is still ass,” Jessica said, flopping down on the ground. She winced as she instantly realized what a poor decision that was, but now she was stuck and couldn’t get up. She flailed around like a turtle on its back and Y’cennia gloated over her.

“Is it ass or is it cheeks?” Y’cennia asked playfully. Jessica flipped her the bird before demanding help up. Y’cennia rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it soon enough,” Ellesea sighed. She had just finished securing her mount to a post Al hammered into the ground and was about to turn to help set up a tent, but the [Retainers] already had camp sorted. Layalee ushered the [Arcanist] over to a small recliner set up next to a table and served her tea. Ellesea looked slightly lost, but she didn’t resist.

“Is this allowed?” She muttered, and Melia laughed.

“Why shouldn’t it be?” Melia asked, wiggling her way inside a tent. “If we’ve got nice things, we might as well use them! No need to suffer without comfort.”

“Tell that to my-” Jessica grumbled, but Brandy’s tired voice floated out of Melia’s tent.

“We already know all about your lower anatomy,” she said. “What is it this time? Thighs? Hips? Get over here so I can heal you and maybe you’ll stop complaining.”

“Oh, is that an option?” Y’cennia perked up. “Strider backs are hard to cling to if you aren’t paying attention.”

“Sure thing, get over here.”

“Sooo,” Melia began, watching a small line form at the entrance of her tent. “I take it the mount situation isn’t that great?”

“We can’t all ride ancient Nightsaber warcats,” Al said. Melia looked up at the [Paladin] and smiled. He looked tired, but refreshed…if that made any sense. At the very least, he had direction, and he was sticking with it. Melia was glad for her friend.

“Eh, that’s debatable,” she said with a tilt of her head. “Though maybe not on such short notice. It turns out, Midna’s a mom! There might be another Nightsaber available to purchase at the castle, and there’s always the chance my old contacts in the elves are still alive. Who knows? The guy who sold me Midna might even be around.”

“Eh,” Al gave a weak chuckle as he watched Midna shimmy her rear before attempting to pounce on a [Firefly]. “I’m not sure I want to ride a Nightsaber. No offense.”

“None taken!” Melia bubbled. “Back in the day, I had tons of mounts! I didn’t always ride Midna, you know.”

“Is that why you have Jewel?” Ellesea asked, stepping out of Brandy’s healing tent like she'd just finished an appointment at a day spa. She was practically glowing. No…literally glowing. The effects of [Renew] were still ticking off.

“Ahh, Jewel,” Melia sighed dreamily. “Maybe I should be riding her instead.”

“Please,” Jessica scoffed, no longer walking bow-legged. “If you had, we’d be here, and you’d still be in StoneCairne.”

“Jewel isn’t that slow,” Melia denied. Jessica, Y’cennia, and Ellesea all stared at her, judgingly. “Okay, she’s slow. Slow slow, I get it. But let’s be real, she’d have made it a few miles.”

“I’ll give you that,” Jessica grunted, sitting down. “But not much more.”

“Here’s the thing you aren’t taking into account,” Lethia said, handing a surprised [Hunter] a saucer with tea. “Lady Jewel is trained in endurance, not speed. While your horses, and indeed, possibly Lady Midna might eventually tire out, Jewel would not. She could travel for days without rest, and even when she did finally wear down, a quick hour or two for a nap and a good drink of water would see her on her way once again.”

“Huh,” Jessica said, while Ellesea nodded emphatically beside her. Perhaps there was a story there, but as far as Melia knew, the [Arcanist] had never met her turtle.

“Since we’re on the topic of mounts,” Melia said, reaching up eagerly as Layalee passed around a tray of cookies, “If you had a choice, what mount would you pick?”

“Haven’t we been over this?” Jessica asked, wiping away a few crumbs from her face. Next to her, Y’cennia was sitting in a daze, staring at tea time in her lap, wondering how it (or she) got there. “A horse is a horse.”

“Yeah, and I think I disagreed before, too,” Melia said. She turned to Ellesea. “You’re familiar with pedigree. Is it fair to say most horses in Horizon are closer to the ones you and Al are riding, or do you think they’re closer to Lethia’s?”

Ellesea glanced over to where the three giant horses the [Retainers] used were tied up. Next to those monsters, her horse looked like a pony.

“Maybe if you’re looking for a [War Charger],” she muttered, shaking her head. “No. I’d say they’re closer to mine or Al’s.”

“Yeah, and that’s not always going to cut it,” Melia nodded. “Someday, you’re gonna want a Midna of your own, even if she’s not a Nightsaber.”

“Mrrrrrroooar.”

“No no,” Melia cooed at the [Pet Carrier]. “Nobody’s ever replacing you.”

“Well, what can you do?” Ellesea asked. “Horses of that caliber don’t come often. It isn’t a question of money; when somebody trains an animal to that degree, with specialized skills and levels, it’s for a purpose and not to hand over to a stranger.”

“Unless you go through the House of Mounts,” Alastiar said, nodding to the [Pet Carrier]. “Which is where I assume you got Midna?”

“Yes,” Ellesea countered, “But again, it won’t be the same high level. Cats like Melia’s Nightsaber don’t come around every day.”

“Which is why she’s so soft,” Brandy preened, joining them around the table. “Her fur is so luxurious. Only the finest back for my butt.”

“See?” Jessica waggled her eyebrows. “She gets it.”

Ellesea rolled her eyes.

“Maybe,” Melia chuckled. “Ellesea,” she said, turning to the small girl, who in turn perked up. “You’re an [Arcanist] now. You mastered my old spell quite easily, and you seem to be having a much better time reading magic tomes.”

“Yes,” Ellesea agreed, nodding enthusiastically. “I’ve been going over my textbooks, and it’s like a veil has been lifted.”

“Great!” Melia smiled. “How would you like to learn some [Enchanting]?”

The ex-[Mage] froze, as if such a thing had never occurred to her. Or, more likely, she never imagined it would be possible. But the Ellesea of today was so different from the old [Mage] of yesterday that suddenly, it didn’t seem so absurd. Who knew the limits of the [Arcanist] of tomorrow? Her more cautious side took over, though, and she narrowed her eyes.

“What brought this on?” She asked suspiciously.

“Mounts,” Melia answered honestly. She pulled out several beautiful rolls of fabric, ranging from [Frostsilk] to [Emberlinen] to [Glimmerweave]. The girls, and even stoic Al, all leaned in appreciatively. “Let’s be honest. These mounts are great, but they’re not cut out for the adventuring life. There’s going to come a point somewhere down the road where they simply can’t keep up. Now, we can use them until they can’t, which seems a little cruel to me, or we can plan for the future. Did you know? There’s so many more ways to ride than on a horse?”

“Are you talking about…a manufactured construct?” Y’cennia asked.

Melia had to hand it to her. That sounded exactly like something an [Alchemist] might say, since an [Engineer] would probably call it a machine. And, oh, there were options for the catgirl in Melia’s big bag of tricks, just as soon as she got there. But one thing at a time.

“I’m talking about [Flying Carpets],” Melia said.

Al looked surprised and Jessica actually laughed.

“You’re telling me those are real? Not a legend or fairytale?”

“Yup!” Melia confirmed easily. She began digging through her inventory, looking for her [Tailoring Kit]. She glanced back up, only to see Jessica half-frozen with a smile on her face, the gears in her brain slowly turning. “Oh, to be fair, I don’t know any new fairytales. So maybe they’re not? I mean, what’s your definition of a [Flying Carpet]?”

“A rug that flies?” Jessica blurted out as her brain rebooted. “No way can you make that work. We’d totally see them all the time in Horizon if that were the case!”

“Oh, if that’s all, then totally,” Melia agreed. “But, I gotta say, Jessica; that’s kinda cruel calling it a rug, even if that’s all it is. Some are practically works of art! And Ellesea; what sort of pattern do you want?”

“Eh?” Ellesea stammered. “Eh? Me?”

“Yes, you, silly,” Melia giggled. She decided to go with a mixture of [Frostsilk] and [Glimmerweave], which would give it a beautiful, pastel-rainbow hue. “Do you have a family emblem? Or a crest? Or perhaps a favorite flower? Or a geometrical pattern?”

“You…are making me? A [Flying Carpet]?”

Ellesea sounded disjointed, so Melia looked up with a frown. The poor girl looked lost, though she really shouldn’t.

“Yes,” Melia explained patiently as she measured out a length roughly the size of a two-door sedan. “I’ll create the base. But you’re going to have to [Enchant] it, or else it won’t work for you. Does that sound fair?”

“It sounds impossible,” Ellesea blurted out as she leaned back in her seat. “But also like the most amazing thing ever.”

“Good,” Melia grinned. “I won’t lie; the spell will probably be difficult for you. But not impossible. You won’t get it on the first try. I may need to create more than one base. But I figure, by the time we’ve made it to Oasis, you’ll be flying…in style!”

The [Arcanist] was at a loss for words. Jessica, who’d snuck over with Y’cennia, ran her hands over the luxurious fabric. She turned to Ellesea and grinned.

“Oooh, Elsie,” she cackled, “As a butt connoisseur, I can guarantee that yours will love this.”

¹

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