When it came to recovering from a battle, the physical injuries were never the hardest part.
At least, not for their party.
They had Kaelen and Aiden, both of whom could provide healing, which was more than some parties had. Cuts closed. Bones mended. Burns faded.
The real problem was the mental and emotional toll.
Before, Aiden had only understood that in theory.
Now he had felt it.
He remembered his body draining of energy as he was stabbed, remembered trying to stay awake and failing anyway. It had been terrifying.
Like being forced to fall asleep while a boat drifted toward a waterfall, knowing he would not wake up before going over the edge.
According to Thalia's calculations, they could arrive by the end of the day.
Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to pack up, much less travel.
So instead, they decided to take a day off.
For the past few weeks, they had fallen into a cycle.
Wake up in the woods.
Pack up.
Get moving.
Stop at a town.
Do a quest.
Go to bed.
Wake up in an inn.
Get back on the road.
Repeat.
Because of that, there were several things they had been putting off for far too long.
Three problems, specifically.
The first was laundry.
They had not had a chance to wash clothes in a week and a half, which meant they now had a pile of dirty clothing that was less a chore and more an environmental hazard.
The second was food and water.
They had been putting off restocking their rations for days, which meant someone needed to hunt for dinner tonight and find food for tomorrow.
The third was maintenance.
Their gear had taken a beating from constant use. Shirts had holes from injuries. Weapons were chipped and dulling. Even the vehicle needed a general maintenance check.
Of everyone there, Aiden had to stay back and handle the vehicle, mainly because he was the only one who knew it well enough to do proper maintenance.
Thalia volunteered to go hunting for food and water since her strings could help find animals and set snare traps.
That left the other four.
All of whom were staring at the basket of dirty clothes like it was an executioner's gallows.
"As party leader," Jax said, stepping toward Aiden, "I would say I get the greatest say in who gets what responsibility."
Three hands clamped onto him.
Jax froze.
Aiden could see him starting to sweat.
"It is said the greatest leaders are those who lead by example," Liora said, tightening her grip on Jax's shoulder, "and take on the hardest challenges to show their coomrades it can be done. I think you should lead by example."
"Yes, I agree," Kaelen said with a smile that was far colder than it was happy. His hand tightened on Jax's other shoulder. "After all, you are our leader. How can our leader be scared by something as simple as a dirty sock?"
"I-It builds character," Selene said casually.
She used her left arm to pick Jax up like he weighed nothing, then turned him to face the laundry basket.
Selene started walking toward the basket, dragging Jax along with her.
His paws left claw trails in the dirt as he tried to stop himself from being pulled away.
"I don't need more character!" Jax yelled as Selene carried him and the basket into the woods. "I have the tragic backstory to prove it!"
Everyone stared after them.
Then they turned to look at each other.
A second later, they broke down laughing, each of them trying and failing to hold it in.
In the end, Liora went with Thalia to hunt, leaving Kaelen and Aiden to handle maintenance.
Kaelen had done plenty of sewing back at the church, so he took the clothes and gear that needed mending.
That left Aiden with the vehicle.
"Gods, I hope we remember what Eustus taught us about this."
Will floated through Aiden's mind, crossing his legs as he spun slowly in place.
"Well, your job is to remember things I forget, right?" Aiden said aloud. "I remember some of this. See what you can pull up from our memory of maintenance."
Kaelen turned toward him, confused.
Aiden tapped the side of his head.
Kaelen nodded in understanding and went back to sewing.
Aiden had discovered that because Will was a thought brought to life, thinking while Will was talking made it difficult to tell what was Will and what was him.
So ever since the others had learned about his skill, Aiden had found it easier to just talk to himself when no strangers were around.
It was only slightly less weird than silently arguing with an imaginary version of himself inside his own head.
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a second," Will said.
He started sorting through memories.
The feeling was strange. It was like when a memory came to mind without trying, except faster and flashing through dozens of moments at once.
Then Will stopped on one.
"Foolish dragon!" eleven-year-old Aiden yelled, holding a vial over his head. "Kneel before the most powerful hero of all! Potioneer the Bold!"
He splashed a vial of liquid crystal onto a small board where he had drawn the face of a dragon.
"Super secret lost ultimate move! Aether Cannon!"
"WRONG ONE!"
Aiden suddenly blurted it out and tried to sit up.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten he was under the vehicle.
His forehead slammed into a metal pipe in the undercarriage.
"Crap!" Will hissed, both of them clutching their foreheads in perfect unison. "The cringe! It hurts!"
Kaelen walked over to where Aiden had inched out from under the vehicle, one hand pressed against his forehead.
The priest stared down at him with an incredulous look.
"What even happened there?"
Aiden looked up at Kaelen, holding his head while trying to think of a convenient excuse.
Instead, he met Kaelen's eyes.
Then he slowly slid back under the vehicle.
"Your skill brought up an embarrassing memory, didn't it?"
Aiden stayed silent for a moment.
Then the obligation to answer became too strong.
"Noooooooo."
He turned back to the maintenance.
Once Will finally brought up the right memory, the work was not as hard as Aiden had expected. It was not even as much work as he had feared.
If anything, it spoke to the craftsmanship that had gone into the vehicle.
Aiden simply went down the checklist.
The suspension was fine and had no cracks.
The wheels were holding air.
The axles were not warped or bent.
The engine was tuned well enough.
By the time Kaelen finished the sewing, they were mostly done.
They glanced toward the woods where Selene and Jax had gone to wash the clothes.
They could still hear Jax's howls of anguish.
So Aiden and Kaelen started gathering wood for the fire.
"Hey, Aiden," Kaelen said as they walked back toward camp, arms full of wood. "I know Sir Braedon ended up being a mimic, but are you still planning to learn that axe-spearmanship thing?"
Aiden stopped for a moment, then shrugged.
"Why not? The book seems legitimate, and I don't see why Sir Braedon not being human means I shouldn't use the items he stole. Thing I can't figure out is why he decided to teach me in the first place."
Kaelen nodded.
For a moment, he seemed to think something over.
Then he looked conflicted.
Aiden turned back to him.
"Is something wrong?"
Kaelen looked at him, then let out a sigh.
"What would you do if one of your party members had a bounty on their head?"
Aiden blinked.
Despite himself, he immediately imagined Kaelen dressed like some sort of alley thug in his teenage years, threatening someone with a knife while still somehow looking politely apologetic about it.
The image fell apart almost immediately.
He could not imagine it.
"You say that like you have a thousand-gold bounty on your head," Aiden said with an awkward chuckle.
Kaelen avoided his gaze and pointed one finger upward.
Aiden's smile faltered.
"F-Five thousand?"
Kaelen pointed higher.
Aiden started to sweat.
"T-Ten thousand?"
Kaelen leaned in and whispered a number into his ear.
Far away, Thalia was so close to catching a rabbit in a snare.
She just needed to not spook it for a few more seconds.
The rabbit froze.
Thalia held her breath.
Then Aiden's voice echoed from camp.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO MILLION?!"
The rabbit bolted.