"Monster Mage? Ma'am?"

Cter looked over her shoulder to the child walking up to her tending to a part of the wheat field with a mix of healing magic and ice magic forming thick drops of condensation as it hovered like cold fog. Her eyes narrowed at the child, confused as to why he was walking up to Cter. "It's Cter to you children," she reminded with a smile after shaking away the confused narrow of her eyes. "Why are you out here, if I may ask?" It was good that the kid was strong enough to walk normally after the distance between Clinic Village and the crop fields. "Is anything the matter?" That he was alone though had Cter quizzical. There were children in the village which were healthier than him, so for what reason was he sent out and not any of the others? Were their strength needed more?

The Fourth Monster Mage again shook her head to stop her mind from running wild. She didn't blame it though, as she had been pulled aside almost exactly the same the day before by Ziki approaching her yelling about her needing to return the village to assist Sund in dousing a burning house. The child was walking slowly though, almost leisurely, but what if he couldn't walk faster? Maybe walking slowly was the fastest he could walk and–

Stop!

Cter pushed her right palm up to her temple to silence her thoughts again.

"M-Monster M-Mage?"

Dammit, she scared the kid.

"It's nothing, human," she lied with a smile. "Would you like some water? You look a bit warm." Cter made sure to not have it sound like she was implying that the child had a fever. "Here." With stasis magic she hovered her nearby bucket with cold river water over to the human child who took it in their hands with a thanking nod.

Once refreshed, the human tried to hover the bucket back to Cter, but only managed to have it wobble out of their hands before their magic failed and the bucket came tumbling down with the remaining water soaking into the edge of the wheat patch Cter was tending to. The human looked to his arm where faint Cooperative Connection lines looked quite sporadic around the patches Ziki had sewn to mend the ragged cloth.

"Come here," Cter beckoned gently. "I'll give you some more." She held out her sleeved hand with its spiraling lines for the child to refresh his lent magic. She made sure that the lines extended over Ziki's mended patches so that it didn't look as sporadic as before. "There." With a nod towards the drained bucket she urged the human child to try again. "Go ahead."

Timidly, the child tried once again, and with some effort that had the front of his tongue poking out between his thinned lips, the bucket was soon again next to Cter, albeit tipped over and empty. Still, it was good enough. "There you go," she congratulated with an encouraging nod. "Good work, human."

Cter had to ask about why the child came though, and even though she wanted to savor the moment for a bit, there was still a reason that the child came to visit her. "Was there an important reason you came out here, human?" Again she made sure that her voice was as calm and collected as possible. "Am I needed back in the village?"

She was, as the child communicated with a nod down into the ground. "Z-Ziki..." he said from behind his long and unkempt fringe. "Ziki is w-worried about S-Sund." His unlined arm brushed against his lined one. "He h-hasn't said it, but we can t-tell."

"We as in you human children?" Cter asked despite knowing full well what the child meant. "Is it because of what happened yesterday?" Even with Sund almost letting Sir Gerson's influence dictate his every move his aura was still distant, drained, and hollow, as was his eyes and quivering mouth when Cter finally got through to him. He didn't speak of what he had seen to Cter, with the argument that it would be better if she didn't know.

While he had promised to communicate with her, what he had seen shouldn't be spoken ever. Him refusing to say anything was plenty communicated as he stood back-lit by the smoldering fram of the house he had burned down with his magic.

Cter was taken aback by the churn in his voice as he almost screamed it to her in demoralized panic after the two had made sure that the house fire he ignited was under control and surrounded by ice magic to protect the other houses. Sir Gerson's influence had him standing up, but the slump and twisted disgust that gripped his face no one's influence could ever get rid of. The embers and heavy smoke tugged down by the cold of the surrounding ice magic bathed Sund's horrific expression in ominous obscurity with bending slivers of glowing orange casting slashing cuts in the shadowed dark that had descended over his face.

No surprise that he chose to turn in early for the night. He was pale as a ghost and shivering harshly. His shoulder which had always strode the fine line between relaxed and slumped had sunk even deeper than slumped. So much so that his Monster Mage mantle risked falling off of him. The sight of him turning away from his hopeless stare deep into Cter's soul through her eyes and fading into the thick smoke haunted her during the night.

But not as much as Sund must've been haunted.

"Z-Ziki is looking at the house where Sund is resting in the same way he w-was w-when my mom and d-dad..."

Before the child could continue Cter gently hushed him and offered a knee for him to sit on. Even though she had just been at Clinic Village for a couple of days she had found that just being a healthy adult gave the children courage and hope. Some of them had asked her if they could hug her, and then stayed with their arms around her waist for minutes on end.

She had become their parent.

For all of them.

Once the little human was on her knee and with his lined arm around her back to pull closer to her, he managed to continue. "We think that Ziki thinks that Sund might be sick." The child didn't sound that convinced about it though. "I and some others told first that he can't be since he's a monster and that monsters don't get sick, but then we remembered that you're both human and monster which means that you can get sick, right?"

Cter didn't really know how to answer that…

Especially not to the rounded eyes that still showed signs of the weakness that Cter and Sund arrived to. They were asking her if they should worry. If they should be crying instead or just be on the verge of tears. The eyes did not know, and they pleaded with Cter to tell them how to feel.

"A-And then l-later when S-Sund still didn't come out even after breakfast Ziki began looking over h-his shoulder towards Sund's house when he thought we weren't l-looking. His lips are curling b-back the same way they were w-when the plague started..."

The arm around Cter's back squeezed tighter as the human child leaned in more inside her mantle. The other patched-up arm wrapped itself with the purple cloth of the Monster Mage mantle, pulling it closer to the child's frightened expression.

"Sund s-still hasn't come out. He had not when I left. W-We drew straws that one of the others conjured so that Z-Ziki wouldn't f-find them afterwards, and I g-got the short one."

"Hm..."

Cter patted the back of the human through her mantle while she collected together what he'd said, allowing him to nest himself for a while as she pondered. He could feel through his weak aura that he felt at peace. Something his aura also told that it was a feeling he hadn't sensed for a long, long time.

In a way, him doing that reinforced the notion that Cter was human. Even though mixed families were relatively common, the way the kid leaned into Cter made her feel motherly, almost. As if it was she was supposed to be doing. Instinct. Human instinct. She had been monster for quite a while, and to feel human as she hadn't before was quite a novel feeling.

Pleasant as well.

It wasn't an unconditional pleasant though, as having been reminded that she was human also meant that Cter was reminded that Sund was human. A human that could potentially catch the plague.

But how though?

He was using his barrier magic to protect himself from the miasma as he searched the houses, right? Why would he ever dismiss it? For which reason?

None that Cter could figure. None at all!

It could have just as well been Sund trying to come to terms with the previous day's happenings. His exhaustion during the early evening was palpable, with his aura barely external or readable. The terrified mask he'd worn among the foggy smoke had sunk into a distant look that watched a horizon that was only of his own making.

While Cter knew that it wouldn't be a pleasant night for Sund she didn't expect him to sleep in for the entire day. Something was wrong, but what exactly? Only one way she had to find that out. "Could you, please?" she said softly to the child while bumping her knee slightly. The human jumped off her knee, and Cter stood up her entire length before offering the child her naked hand to hold. He took it eagerly in his, squeezing it tightly as it had been so long since he had done that. "Shall we be off?"

The child nodded, and the two headed back to Clinic Village.

Walking back to the village was uneventful which Cter appreciated wholly. It reminded her of how her mom or dad would walk her to the different crafts and stores in her village back in Hjearta. Being the one holding the small child hand rather than the one having their small child hand held was different as different could be though. In a way, it felt like Cter was practicing a new type of magic. The same new warmth brushing against her fingertips and sinking deeper up her arm and into her soul. She would not be able to savor it the same way she did a new type of magic though. She would not be able to call upon it to experience it again for future use like with her magic.

But that was...fine.

That was okay with Cter.

For while it would be fleeting as she eventually was to let go of the child's hand, and thus also let go of the feeling, it meant that she had to savor the moment of his hand inside hers. To not focus on how she could use the feeling in the future, but how she appreciated it in the now that she shared with the child.

To be human rather than monster.

Ever so dedicated to her role as a Monster Mage Cter was though that she still thought about how to angle the human sensation through a monster lens. While her human side was enjoying the way the child felt so secure with his hand held in Cter's, her other monster side was…

While not exactly jealous or envious it was still trying to impose itself upon the human moment that Cter shared with the child during their walk back to Clinic Village in the early Xoff afternoon. To learn from it so that Cter could understand more of what makes humans and monsters different, and more so, what the similarities were. Where the bridges were connecting humans and monsters, in a way. She had figured out her own changing magic by finding such a bridge that no one knew about, so exploring for new ones was her bread and butter.

Still though...

"Shh!"

Could she just be allowed to enjoy a moment without anything more to it?

"No, not you, human. I was hushing myself."

To just have a quiet walk while holding a child's hand because it was what he and she wanted to?

"No, not like Sund letting Sir Gerson and Priestess Frioke consult his soul. I was hushing my own soul because it was being a bit loud. It is hard to listen to the gentle silence from outside when inside it is buzzling for my attention."

Just for once?

"Hm? Yes, I should probably stop talking so that I can hear the silence, hehe. The quiet game begins now."

And Cter was gonna win it over her own soul!

…

…

Although come to think of it–

No! Hush!

But it was interesting that–

No! Hush again!

But–

No!

ItwasinterestingthatittooksuchasmallhumangestureforCtertoclingtoitharderthanthechilddid!

Hus… No, wait, what?

It was interesting that it took such a small human gesture for Cter to cling to it harder than the child did.

…

Alright, that was interesting…

"Singe my soul," Cter sighed quietly enough that the child didn't hear.

Luckily enough she had managed to keep quiet long enough that she and the child caught the distant attention of Ziki cleaning out large piles of dust from one of the houses on the outskirts of Clinic Village. His apron swiveled as he turned his armor and himself underneath the frilly cloth. "Cter?" he asked in half a shout which had his ears perking up within the cloth he had wrapped around his head. "Why are you here?" The Royal Guard positioned his broom before him the same way he did his family weapon, leaning on the top of its handle and pushing down the bristles wide against the porch wood. "And Onyia!" Ziki also saw. "Why aren't you with the others?"

Before the hint of panic in his voice could take root and germinate further, Cter raised her sleeved hand to greet as casually as possible. "No worries, Royal Guard!" she shouted back with a wave. "The other children knew that Onyia was heading to me, so not to worry at all." With a warm smile Cter nodded down to Onyia, who let go of her hand quite quickly and without any hesitation.

While at first it had Cter feeling mellow at the sudden disappearance from her hand, when she saw with how much life and spring the child had as he hurried back to his friends further into the village, Cter realized that he let go quickly because he felt secure in knowing that it wouldn't be long until he would hold her hand again!

And if holding the child's hand was a novel feeling to Cter.

"Anything the matter, Monster Mage?"

Then her heart melting like a frozen dairy treat in the midst of Xoff summer was something else completely.

"No, nothing," Cter answered while wiping away a few tears that were her melting heart escaping out her eyes. "I'm fine." Her nose as well she wiped as it also ran the risk of letting her melting heart dripping out her body. "Just the heat, that's all." She drank some water to try and wash her melted heart back down her throat. "Just the heat."

"Just the heat," Ziki replied with a slight downwards curl to his lips. "Forgive me for not finding those words calming, Monster Mage." He tapped a claw on top of his broom's handle as his curl furthered down. "I don't want to bring you worry, but..."

Oh yeah…

Cter had almost forgotten about Sund. Not in a bad way though. She didn't mean to, of course. It was just…

Just…

Not something she wanted to actually face.

"Sund," she stated after another swig of her water pouch kept cold with a layer of translucent ice magic around it. "He hasn't come out his house the entire day, has he?"

Ziki cast a glance that followed Onyia before he disappeared around a house corner. "He hasn't," the Royal Guard informed with his head still angled. With a few blinks his head turned back to Cter. "And it is not necessary for me to state to you that it is worrying that he hasn't." His eyes were hard, but not with any hardness aimed at Cter. "I don't want to fear the worst. However though, I cannot ignore what my soul is cautioning me about. I have seen this so many times before, it says. I know what has happened with Sund."

"It can't be that he's traumatized from what he had to do yesterday?" Cter was direct about it, as it was clear that Ziki was too. "He was very cautious about not being exposed to any miasma, wasn't he?" She motioned over to the house Sund had commandeered as his own for the visit. "Have you visited him and looked?" The flower beds he had tended to lay untouched for the day.

It took just the uncertain look from Ziki for Cter to know that he hadn't visited. She wasn't gonna blame him for that, as she herself had hesitations about visiting. There weren't really any scenarios that were good from finding out why he hadn't exited the house. At worst…

"Dammit," she uttered with her teeth clenched. "Perhaps he'll come out during lunch or..." No, she was only fooling herself, and failing to boot. "Dammit all." Her sleeved hand came up to massage her forehead while she shook her head slowly. "Maybe we should send word up Dr. Sallus about it? Have him send down one of this apprentices to assess the situation?" Maybe that would be too late though? "It would be better if we could detail exactly what ails Sund though in the message..."

Oh how quick that pleasant, carefree feeling just disappeared as Cter returned to being a Monster Mage.

Dammit all.

Again.

"I'll do it," she decided after a long silence with her forehead resting on her tensed fingers. "That way I can both assess how he feels physically and how his aura is doing." She raised her naked hand to stop Ziki just before he could suggest that he would go instead. "You make sure that none of the children see me enter or exit the house, Ziki. That's an order."

An unfair order, true, but an order nonetheless.

"Understood, ma'am. I'll continue...sweeping."

Cter didn't like the order either, but it was one she felt was necessary to make. Ziki was on his toes ready to argue against Cter heading over, so she had to nip that bud before it could raise a loud and well-found objection. She was in complete agreement with that Ziki should be the one to go visit in a vacuum, but with all the children that looked to him as more a parent than even Cter was, his innocence was the one that needed preserving the most.

"You do that, Royal Guard. I'll be back soon."

With that out of the way Cter turned towards Sund's borrowed house on the other side of the neighborhood with her mind and soul mulling about which of her magics would give her the most protection should the worst be true. A shell of crystal magic held hovering via stasis magic was the simplest choice, even if it was complicated. It was the easiest way for her to imitate Sund's barrcade magic though, which she still didn't believe had failed Sund and exposed him to miasma.

It can't have!

His barricade magic was advanced enough that he could prevent magic from passing through it. Inside a room boxed-in with his barricade magic the air quickly became moist with exhaled vapor from the ones inside, so anything gaseous couldn't get through either if he didn't allow it to. Sund was also used to the magic enough that he could keep his barricades active without much thought to it.

Hell, he had even forgotten to disperse them plenty of times!

Like that one time with the ball at Jarasevo castle when Queen Toriel and King Asgore did their–

"Ow!"

Cter's hand clutched at her nose as she stumbled back down the porch of Sund's house that she had opened up with a busy mind. It didn't hurt, really. What she really reacted to was the startling recoil from her hitting said busy head onto the shimmering, white, and magical wall that blocked her even after opening the wooden door.

Proof if proof was needed that Sund's barricade magic could block anything from passing through it.

Stepping back from the porch to look up at the opened windows on the upper floor Cter also saw the magical shimmer that stood firm against her in the door frame. She figured that Ziki and the human kids didn't see it earlier due to the angle of the sun, but since Cter knew what to look for she could clearly distinct it from shimmer that might have come from dust inside the house.

It did not bode well, it didn't.

Even worse it bode when Cter rested her sleeved hand against the barricade in the door frame to feel the emotion Sund had when he summoned it. She looked for any signs of tears or internal strife from what Sund saw the day before. Sadness, confusion, terror. Anything that was mental and not physical discomfort.

She felt that his stomach was turning when he summoned his barricade magic.

But not in the metaphorical way.

Cter's hand balled into a fist which she threw with exhausted disappointment and worry against the shimmering wall.

"Dammit."