Little Blue gave a little chime of sympathy and ran down, leaping off Lindon’s sling and over to Yerin. Yerin caught her, looking pleased.
“You are a peach and a half. You don’t have to ride him around all the time, you know. You’re invited to stick to me.”
Little Blue whistled that she was sticking with both of them, and if anything, Yerin looked even more touched than before. Lindon thought she might cry.
“Aren’t you a gem. You know how to pick ‘em.” Yerin nudged Lindon’s shoulder. When she jostled his arm, she noticed his sling again. “Still can’t piece that together?”
Lindon sighed. “The underlying structure of the binding is damaged. No matter how much hunger madra I add, I can’t fix it.” In fact, the problem was essentially the opposite. He had flooded the arm with madra of a higher quality than he could handle when he’d Consumed energy from the Wandering Titan.
At this rate, he’d have to replace it, but he was holding back. He needed to find hunger madra of a higher quality, and there was only one source for that. Without it, he could potentially get the binding working temporarily, but it would be a patchwork fix at best.
Yerin hesitated, stroking Little Blue’s hair while she searched for the right words. “Not taking a side myself, understand, but why don’t you grow a new arm? Like, one with skin.”
“I don’t want to lose the technique. Consuming power is the fastest shortcut I have for advancing.”
Most people didn’t have the option of regrowing body parts, and they needed a Remnant prosthetic. But most people didn’t have Sages and Monarchs who owed them favors. Lindon was certain he could get his arm back if he wanted it.
But he didn’t. The new one was more convenient, and his sense of touch was even returning with time. When he advanced to Herald, he expected it to be just as good as his old arm would have been.
Of course, when he advanced to Herald, that would make him a Monarch.
“You planning on fighting one-handed all the way to Monarch?”
“I could fix it after that, I suppose.”
She broke into a crooked grin and leaned into him. Little Blue gave a tinkling laugh.
“Just thought hitting Monarch wouldn’t take long, didn’t you?”
Lindon cleared his throat. “Not exactly…”
“Can’t lie to me. My dream techniques are too powerful.”
“Well…without Consume, I will definitely be slower.”
Yerin leaned deeper into him until he wrapped his arm around her. “Wouldn’t mind trying that myself, for a change. Dragging our feet, seeing the sights.”
Lindon was reminded of a blood-spirit who had been excited to see the world with her own eyes. Ruby. He glanced at the red streak of Yerin’s hair and wondered how much of that longing remained.
People had been telling Lindon to slow down for years, but he had never felt like he could afford to. Now, though…
Yerin went on. “Most sacred artists are advancing for something. Keep a home, take over a sect, kill a rival…bake a cake, I don’t know. Not saying that’s for you and me, but I just thought…maybe we could try it for ourselves, since we’ve got the chance. See through their eyes for a while.”
As much as Lindon ached to do something, he was beginning to think she might be right. The Dreadgods were loose out there…but they weren’t about to kill him, and they weren’t his responsibility anyway. He couldn’t explore the labyrinth yet, he couldn’t fix Dross yet, and he couldn’t advance yet.
All he had left to do was cycle normally and investigate his Sage powers.
And just…live.
“I guess we could try that,” Lindon admitted. “For a while, at least.”
The caravan of cloudships were not as advanced as those provided by the Akura family to reach the Uncrowned King tournament. They took three months to get from the Desolate Wilds to Serpent’s Grave, landing regularly to refuel their constructs from ambient aura and their store of scales.
Over the course of that journey, everyone went on with their lives.
Naru Huan sparred against Lindon more than once, making Lindon glad that he wasn’t an enemy. He was quite practiced in fighting against Blackflame, possessing several sacred weapons designed explicitly for that purpose, and he himself was a powerful and crafty opponent.
Not that he was able to win. Lindon himself had more madra than he did, even if he didn’t use any Sage authority. Not to mention his other special advantages. If Dross had been able to give him a combat report, Lindon thought he could beat Naru Huan every time even if he limited himself to only his pure core.