The trip northwest to the lands held by Duchess Icefang was a simple and uncomplicated journey.

  While it took us weeks to cross back from the Ironclaw border, this would be a much shorter trip, as the Icefang duchy was part of the main Coldeye queendom. The roads were well maintained and the girls traveled in style aboard the carriages provided by the queen.

  The plan was to make contact with the queen’s watchers first by detouring to take the same road that had the sightings. If questioned, our excuse would simply be that Rieka was making a tour of the territories on her way to visit with the duchess to ensure no bad blood remained after dealing with Josephine’s issues.

  I honestly wasn’t sure if the duchess would buy the story, but Rieka and Gemma were both confident. I chalked it up to the desire to assure and reassure good standing as one of those things that nobles obsessed over, and was just glad that I didn’t have to worry about it since Rieka and Kassandra would make sure I didn’t mess anything up.

  The only part that was different from normal was our driver. The older feline kin was a stoic and quiet man that didn’t ask questions and walked with a marked stiffness to his movements. A stiffness that stood out to me because it was too constant, whether first thing in the morning or hopping down off the driver’s bench at the end of the day.

  I’d pointed it out to Valda, who agreed but pointed out that the man was likely a covert guard sent by Gemma, as it was very unlikely that she would have trusted just anyone to convey us to a meeting with spies.

  The girls were happy to be moving, though none of them were excited about being stuffed inside a carriage for days on end. I made sure to do what I could to lessen the annoyance however possible.

  Jane got time on my lap for cuddles. Shayla got hand and foot massages during the trip. Rieka would cuddle into my side to nap. Kassandra would wrap around me while whispering loving harassments in my ear. Valda even got extra time training her borrowed Shape-Shifting to get more used to it.

  Watching Valda work with the Shape-Shifting was very interesting to me. It was obvious that the lizard-folk was uncomfortable with how her body changed, showing obvious outward signs of dysmorphia that were slowly fading as she got used to different individual shifts. Something that I’d never really struggled with, flowing from shift to shift without any real issues even when they left me looking absolutely bizarre.

  Not sure if it’s because she’s a woman, a princess, or a trained warrior already, I thought while Valda carefully wove her sword-arm through a series of motions as the carriage jostled under us. I could see any of them playing into what is making her uncomfortable. If I had to put money on it, it’s likely all three at once with the bulk coming from being a warrior, as her body is suddenly able to act in ways that it shouldn’t and that’s messing with her.

  I’d wondered about it often enough while training with Cerebaton. The older daemon had talked at length about using specific parts of Shape-Shifting to alter and improve his swordsmanship during his years as an active enforcer in the DSR. But he’d never made it the core of his abilities like I did.

  Is it because it came after his other powers, or because he already had been trained to fight in a specific way, I thought while Valda explored the flexibility of having a second elbow. Is my easier acclimation to Shape-Shifting because it was my only tool for some time? Or is it because of something else? Cariad mentioned that it had been some time since there were Travelers from my version of Earth… Did I inherit something from them? Fuck, it’d be super cool if I was related to the last Traveler she found… Myrddin Emrys, better known as Merlin, court wizard of King Arthur.

  Remembering that Cariad had told me to ask her if I had any requests for her to research, I blinked my eyes closed to access the messaging feature of my System interface to dash off a quick message to her.

  Liam

  Hey love, hope you are doing well. I realized something and figured I might as well ask the smartest daemon I know if she knew the answers to a question I had.

  You mentioned before that you were trying to do some research on my situation and how the summoning spell hooked me since we both doubt the name convergence was the only thing. The last I’d heard was that you dug up information about the most recent recorded Traveler on Earth being a man by the name of Myrddin Emrys, but I don’t think I’ve heard anything since then.

  Were you able to dig anything else up? I’ve been wondering if there is some kind of connection between us or if it really was just chance. I keep wondering if my quick adaptation to Shape-Shifting is somehow related to it.

  Hope you are doing well and remember that I love you. The girls are all looking forward to meeting for some casual chatting time when you are free and we have the privacy for you to dip into Cortha.

  With the message sent off, I spent a bit of time daydreaming over the idea of Merlin being my great-great-great-great-something-or-other. I spent long enough that Valda finished her experiments and reversed her shift.

  “What’s got you smiling so much?” The lizard-folk woman asked curiously.

  Kassandra giggled from her spot on the opposite bench. The dwarf lamia didn’t even need to say anything, just her unprompted laughter was enough to get groans, rolled eyes, and answering snickers from the other girls as they guessed—just as I did—she was thinking something lewd.

  She’s not wrong, I thought while replying to Kassandra in the most mature way possible. I was thinking about Cari and that daemon was pretty lewd the last time I saw her.

  “Don’t go pointing that tongue at me if you aren’t going to use it,” Kassandra said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

  “Maybe I will later,” I shot back after I pulled my stuck-out tongue back into my mouth. “You tend to thrash around a lot, so we don’t have room in here.”

  Kassandra bit her bottom lip while grinning, a faint blush coloring her cheeks telling me that she liked that idea.

  “Seriously though,” I said, turning back to Valda. “Was just sending a message to Cariad. I had something I needed her to look into for me about an unrelated matter.”

  My statement sent another wave of giggles through most of my girls, but Valda just nodded with a thoughtful look on her face, taking my words at face value.

  “How close are you to advancing your ability now?” Valda asked, her head tilting to one side and making her scales sparkle in the light leaking through the carriage windows.

  I closed my eyes to check, referencing the ability that actually mattered.

  My Shape-Shifting was locked at the major rank right now, as I’d already maxed it’s mastery until I could afford to buy the master rank. So what Valda was able to do was dictated by my Grant Power ability, which was lingering in the lesser tier at the moment.

  “Still reducing the ability by two ranks from what I have mastered,” I answered while skimming the ability description. “Twenty pounds of shifted material gives us a lot more room to work with. If you are more comfortable with it now, I should be tiering up with Grant Power any day now, though.”

  “Oh, does that mean we might be able to get a more permanent effect like your Mana Pool?” Jane asked, bouncing in her seat happily.

  “That’s the hope,” I replied, opening my eyes and giving the mouse kin woman a smile. “Though I won’t know what the next tier will do until I hit mastery on the current one. Which makes it a bit annoying.”

  “I’m guessing that is why you haven’t bothered to build up the elemental manipulation skills for other elements?” Rieka asked, her head tilting to one side like a curious canine. “I had guessed as much but never bothered to ask.”

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  “Mostly.” I shrugged. “I don’t want or need the distractions right now, and you girls have the other elements covered as well. I’ve had multiple times where the System rewards me by boosting a skill I’m working on. Sometimes it’s been something useful, sometimes it hasn’t. So I’m trying to not spread myself too thin and dilute the effects of those rewards as well.”

  “That makes sense,” Valda said thoughtfully, her arms crossing over her chest and her clawed fingertips tapping against the hilt of her sword.

  The leather caps on her claws caused the sound to be dull rather than sharp, but it was distinct and recognizable. Something that I’d learned signified that Valda was deep in thought.

  “Is there anything we can do to help you train more, Liam?” Shayla asked quietly, her long, fluffy antennae wafting over her head.

  The moth woman was snuggled down in the corner, having been napping earlier, and she looked adorable at the moment, peeking up out of the downy ruff that circled her neck like a muffler. It currently covered her up to her nose and just left her black eyes gleaming out of her rounded face, reflecting the mass of white floof like snow reflecting in a dark pond.

  “Besides just summoning you more often for random tasks,” Kassandra said before I replied. “We do need to get better about specifically requesting a service when we summon you. We did well for a while but fell off after the competition.”

  “It’s fine,” I said, waving the concern off with a hand. “Honestly, I just need to practice specific skills more. I’ve got a lot of abilities that are waiting to advance to the next rank that I’m just holding off until I can afford the master rank of Shape-Shifting. I kinda cheated to get the current rank mastered, since I didn’t know how much the next would cost. Now I’m kinda kicking myself for doing that.”

  “You cannot change the past, you can only learn from it to change the future,” Valda said confidently, pulling out of her thoughtful distraction.

  “Which is what I’m doing,” I told her, smiling. “I’m working on training my other peripheral abilities without expending any extra SP so I can save for the master tier of Shape-Shifting. That’s the core of my power set and once I have the master tier, then I can start expanding outward again. Improving my mana pool, gaining new magic, or exploring to open up new abilities entirely. Honestly, this mission we are on is already set to give me a large chunk of SP toward mastery. Any little tasks will help, otherwise it’s just using my abilities like I have with helping Valda train.”

  “We should all be doing that, then,” Jane said with a frown. “I know the four of us prefer it when Liam grants us his Mana Reservoir, but Shape-Shifting is something we can work on while we travel. And while I know from your stories that we all can be sneaky enough while visiting Earth to avoid detection, it’d be easier if we could just blend in.”

  “Jane’s right,” Rieka admitted with a sigh, her fluffy blonde ears wilting to either side. “I just… Ugh! It feels so uncomfortable to not have my ears in the right spot and my tail missing freaks me out.”

  Kassandra just pointed at her scaled tail with raised eyebrows, saying without words that she understood. What I could grant the girls right now was nowhere near enough to allow Kassandra to shift her tail away, and as the most obviously nonhuman of the girls at a glance, she’d need the most help sneaking around on Earth.

  “Fair,” Rieka sighed, giving herself a shake. “I shouldn’t complain. You do have a harder time of it, Kass.”

  The girls continued to discuss, and I could tell that my four older contracted were talking themselves into another practice round. Which was good, if we were lucky, I could snag the next rank of Grant Power before we got to the capital of the Icefang duchy. The mastery experience came in a steady but slow trickle since there was a built in cool-down time, but with five trickles it’d be a lot faster than just one.

  I was distracted from the girls’ conversation when the edges of my vision flashed with familiar light. Closing my eyes, I skimmed over the message I’d just received, smiling when I saw Cariad’s name appended to it.

  Cariad

  Since you sent this via the System, I’m assuming that this is an official request from my assigned Traveler. Smart move there, since it means I can use departmental resources. I’d been digging before but when the C-suite shut down Mr. Cerebaton training you, saying that he’d done enough, I had to cool my research. Since you are asking directly and have built up a reputation with the DSR as a helper, I can pick back up!

  From what I’ve gathered, I can at least confirm that you are not actually related to that other Traveler. His powers were more arcane, so the System would have likely gifted you some form of Manipulate Element first if you were related, rather than Shape-Shifting.

  You’ve invested quite a bit of SP back into the System, which has been helping it map your genetic potential and history to find more powers it can activate. I’ll start there and keep digging to try and figure something out.

  Send the girls my love as well, too! I know you are over on Cortha at the moment. I’ll see if I can find an opportunity to drop in for a chat, or you can poke me with a direct communication if you find yourself somewhere private. It’ll just be the challenge of syncing schedules.

  Smiling, I sent a simple acknowledgement back to Cariad before returning my attention to the girls once more.

  Valda was watching me as soon as my eyes opened, one eyebrow going up in silent question.

  “She’s looking into the question I had,” I answered. “Once I have some actual information, I’ll happily share it with everyone.”

  “It is quite refreshing how open you are with information, Liam,” Valda said quietly but still managing to cut through the other girls’ conversation and drawing their attention to us. “My people are… blunt most of the time, so I appreciate that you do not dance around problems and speak plainly. But you still freely share secrets with those not directly involved, which is odd. My people may not lie, but we do not share power as openly as you do.”

  Valda made a waving gesture with one hand, and I took it to indicate my Shape-Shifting power as an example from how she moved her arm.

  “That’s just who Liam is,” Kassandra answered for me.

  The dwarf lamia leaned forward in her seat, the tip of her red-and-black-scaled tail flicking the air slowly as she studied Valda. I was glad that my mischief-noodle interjected, because I was wrestling down a burst of guilt about not telling my girls about the mission the System had sent me on to eliminate the dangerous papers from Gemma’s library.

  “Yes, and that is one reason why I made the choice to accept Liam’s kind offer to contract with him,” Valda replied with a small smile. “It just continues to surprise me how often he casually informs us of things that do not involve us.”

  “It does involve you,” I said, firmly stepping on my guilt to squash it flat. “You all are my contracted and I am your Traveler. I have Guardian contracts with each of you, and you deserve to know both what I’m capable of and what might be distracting me.”

  “I appreciate that you believe that,” Valda said firmly. She leaned forward, elbows on her knees to lock eyes with me. “But realistically? A bodyguard only owes their employer their duty and work to protect the employer’s life. Not intimate details about their lives or private matters. Not extra training and favors without compensation. It is… refreshing.”

  “The Ironclaw tribe are not that mercenary…” Rieka said, confusion in her tone.

  Valda answered the princess with a slow nod, elaborating further a moment later.

  “No, they are not mercenary in that mindset. But there is a give-and-take to everything. It’s how we survive in the harsh environment that we do, fighting the battles that we do. The Coldeye queendom are staunch allies and support us, both militarily—as you are all familiar with—and via commerce. Because of those bonds of friendship, we are able to endure without needing others' support that might pull our loyalties away or cause divides amongst the families. It’s something that is deeply ingrained in our people’s psyche. The give-and-take ensures that everyone is appreciated and compensated for their work, despite resulting in hardships for some.”

  Valda looked up at me through her lashes and I felt her sharp eyes pierce me. But despite that driving, intense stare, there was no malice or judgment to her gaze.

  “Liam, on the other hand, gives without expecting anything back. Yes, he is compensated by his System, but on multiple occasions over the last several months I’ve seen him risk himself for those not under his guardianship. And listening to him spill his private conversations because of some idle teasing and questions reminded me just how much power you all have over him. Power he willingly gives you.”

  That statement brought silence to the carriage as the girls all digested Valda’s words.

  Rather than let the thoughtful—yet awkward—silence continue, I decided to speak up.

  “Like you said, Valda.” I leaned forward to match her posture conspiratorially. “I willingly give that kind of power to my contracted. But not all of them.”

  Valda’s eyebrow went up curiously, but I didn’t make her ask for details and continued to speak.

  “I’ve taken contract with Gemma and several of Rieka’s family for communication purposes, as you all know. But they do not command me like you five do,” I said, not looking away from the lizard-folk woman.

  Valda’s cheeks colored in surprise at that. She normally wasn’t the most expressive, but I knew her well enough that including her with the other four would set her off. Valda, for all her outward coldness, wanted to be included. Just like Rieka had the ‘noble obligation’ keeping her from relaxing in public, Valda had the stoicism of her people reinforcing her spine.

  I continued to stare neutrally back at Valda until the lizard-folk woman gave me a tiny nod of acceptance, the faint stain of her blush slowly deepening as I kept staring at her.

  “That’s our Liam,” Kassandra said, her laughing tone breaking the resolute moment like a warm breeze breaking a chilly shadow up. “It’s why we trust and love him, after all.”

  The other four girls all murmured their agreement, even Valda. And I noted that the lizard-folk woman’s blush remained for some time afterward as she stole glances my way while the carriage bounced over the road toward our destination.

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