"It was at this table, wasn't it?"

Cter leaned back from the table in question, placed next to the upstairs windows with the view over the lake in the green distance seen between the outskirt buildings of Jarasevo. The chair was different, but the view sure was the same as it had been so manu years past. It hadn't changed despite her having changed more than she could ever have imagined the first time she looked out the same window. She inhaled longingly. "I think so," Cter answered Kry who too was leaning back and enjoying the view. He had seen it before too when Cter had.

Which had Cter thinking a bit.

"If it's not too much to ask, Kry?" was enough to tear his attention back to her from the pleasant view of Monster Country's landscape. "But how many more mages have you evaluated since then?"

It was difficult for Cter to juggle remembering the excitement she had when she was asked to demonstrate her magic to applause and awes on her first day at Jarasevo, then have the excitement planted right back down into the cold ground when she went up on Castle Hill only to be told that the well-mannered human who had encouraged her so much had been evaluating her and found her magic so weak and apathetic that they wouldn't give her the time of day, both in a positive and negative sense.

Conflicting enough were the memories of that first day on their own, but added to it how she had come to see Kry throughout the years?

Conflicting enough that she had to drink some more tea. It wasn't the best as what she was used to being served up at Jarasevo Castle, but there was a nostalgic calmness in drinking something serviceable at best. She didn't have to keep in mind the taste should anyone prompt her to explain its richness and complexity. It was just...nice. Just nice, and nothing more.

"If you're asking just for conversation's sake then I'm not sure you'll like the answer," came an answer above the steaming cup lifted in solidarity by Cter's table companion. King Asgore's influence on Kry came to shine as two sides of a coin with him first folding his brow at the cheapness of the tea's taste, but then smoothing them out as he understood why it tasted as it did and enjoyed what he had so graciously been given. Thankful, even if it wasn't full of taste.

"You found a handful that were better than me?" asked Cter in half-jest. She didn't ask the question expecting an honest answer. However, if Kry would give one she wasn't gonna snub at it. She was curious, but the answer wouldn't impact her much. Like he said, she asked just for conversation's sake. The two had been sitting upstairs at Krygino's Tavern for over an hour waiting for the local Monster Hunters to deliver their weekly meat, and the newspaper wasn't worth reading a third time over.

Kry lifted up both his palms while mouthing a silent "Two" as an initial answer before poking the ear of the cup he'd put down quicker than usual so that it faced to the side. "Last one I evaluated was two months before we headed to Noitaidarr. A fresh graduate from Soul's School like you were that was traveling through Monster Country in search of work in..."

A strong index finger tapped on the table. "Was it carpentry or masonry? Don't remember exactly. A craft it was though, that I'm sure of. When evaluating I'm mostly nodding along to keep the mage talking while I study their aura. What they're saying is less important than what their aura is saying, to me."

"Mhm," Cter nodded along while taking another sip of bland tea. "All of that came to ahead in the trial, I'm guessing?"

"Hadn't thought of that, to be honest," replied Kry after a thoughtful pause. His brown eyes danced up and to the side behind his gold-rimmed glasses as his arms and legs folded with a heavy lean onto the back of his chair. His slicked-back hair was tugged slightly forward as his forehead creased in thought once more. "Thinking back on it..."

The familiar sound of his sleeve balling into a fist had a nearby monster looking down thinking it were the floorboards creaking. "Even though it hurts to do so." His hand relaxed with a long breath out. "I can see that being correct." The relaxing traveled throughout him, loosening his folded arms and legs. "For there have been some evaluated mages that I've talked to that I remember having a similar, yet different fear to them, deep within."

Cter made herself more comfortable in her chair seeing Kry lean forward with his elbows on either side of his bland cup of tea.

"It's happened with quite a few of human mages that have recently graduated from Soul's School. At least with those that have decided to seek their luck here or through Monster Country, that is." He made sure not to indicate anything towards Cter, be it his hands, eyes, or words.

"In Soul's School the environment that everything is taught in and around is that of many. Many humans and many monsters learning from each other almost as much as they do from the teachers. It's to help meld together the two races and their differences so that once they have graduated they can spread that message of cooperation between the races and lead the world towards a greater future."

Kry swallowed as Soul's School's mission statement felt a bit sour to him with how the led world was going and all that. "The problem though is that with the reliance on the many to help guide the few when said few graduate they are alone to lead the world on their own."

A squint birthed on Cter as her head angled in thought. Kry wasn't wrong in that, but there was a part of Cter that wanted to remind him that he hadn't gone to Soul's School himself. Would just have been a stick in the wheel though for the conversation.

"So," Kry faced his palms upwards, "when they then are cut away from the many they've grown to rely on during their magically formative years they have a slight sink in confidence when they are all alone all of a sudden to carry on the mission from Soul's School. Some begin to question if what they had learned was only due to them being around others and if they will actually be capable of doing on their own what they had done with so many around them helping out."

Cter drank her tea to show that what Kry said did not hit at all close to her. No, not at all or any.

Not.

Even.

Close.

...

"With a few that comes up to the surface as a fear towards what they are capable of. A fear about their magical aura that they have built up with many but then only applies to them alone. What if they can't handle it alone? What will that mean for them? What will that mean for those around them? In Jarasevo, the Monster Capital, there ought to be many monsters that they can surround themselves with, right?" Kry rolled his wrist while harking away the voice he put on. "And so on and so on."

"They talked to you about this fear of theirs?" Cter couldn't stop herself from asking as Kry paused for some more tea. He raised a finger to let her know that he was getting to it.

"Not what they said with their words, but how their aura told it," he reminded with his index finger furling down. "It's easy to tell with new mages since they aren't the most adept at keeping their emotions in check once those start boiling. Hence why I make sure to prod them out to be able to read them better, and with each one I've gotten better at it."

Which brought it all to what Cter asked in the beginning. "Good enough to read the Hero of Xoff?" Before she asked again she checked around her to make sure that the monsters in the tavern were busy with their own. It had been a bit of a commotion when she and Kry arrived, same as with the monsters seeing her and Kurant walk the street some odd week or so prior.

Krygino gave the two the best table, of course, like he did all mages, be it Monster Mages or newly arrived mages awaiting evaluation from the First Monster Mage. While he offered more than just some bland tea the two Monster Mages did not bother him for anything more, only that he informed the Monster Hunters delivering their weekly catch that there were two Monster Mages wanting to see them. Kry and Cter could've waited at the Spider Butcher and caught the Monster Hunters earlier, but Kry did not like being in public if he could avoid it.

Krygino's Tavern was less public.

And also had chairs to sit in.

"Well I didn't have to prod it out of him, that's for sure." Kry caressed his sleeved arm with a few long strokes. There was pain in his aura from him thinking back to when he lost his Cooperative Connection with King Asgore. The light scoff he huffed out of him fluttered into an uncomfortable chuckle. "But yes, I did manage to read him the same as a newly graduated mage from Soul's School, I suppose."

His hand came off his sleeve. "It was when he stepped away from the Royal Mage that the idea struck me, so my guess would be that it was when he reached outside of her aura's influence that had me surprised at recognizing the fear of what he had within him?" Kry thought more inwards. "Yes, he did have that same fear, but even more unrefined. A more sloppy handwriting to the note saying that he's afraid of the magic his soul has taken upon itself."

A family waved to the two Monster Mages from the stairs leading down to the ground floor of the tavern. To hide that Kry was only paying attention to his own thoughts and nothing around him, Cter made sure to leave a cloudy trail of sparkling crystals with her wave back to the family. The glow inside the skeleton children's eye holes widened like a flame of a candle being fanned stronger seeing the expressive magic, and tugged at their human parents' clothes speaking too quickly for Cter to hear.

"But how come then that I didn't think the same with Dr. Fech aura?" had Cter's wave stopping, trailing sparkling dots down her arm frozen in the air. Kry leaned his strong nose on top of his folded hands. "Was the Field General's aura stronger?" His eyes closed for a moment.

"No, no it wasn't. Dr. Fech's was stronger." Whether it was his balling hand creaking or if it was his hard thinking that made it sound like the table he was leaning on was about to break Cter could not tell. "So why didn't I?" It was as if he was accusing himself of something, but he wasn't sure of what exactly. "Why didn't I see Dr. Fech the same?"

Cter had a few guesses as to why which she offered with her sleeved index finger hooked hard into her cup's ear held nuder her chin. "Sarbor… I mean, Dr. Fech, wasn't really...um...the priority when you first felt his aura properly, right?" She motioned over the length of her body with her free hand. "What with me..."

"Point," Kry conceded with a tiny nod. "I wouldn't say that it was the full reason though. Feels like something is missing." The tiny nod perpetuated deeper and deeper until it was enough for him to lift his head's bobbing weight off his interlocked fingers. "Maybe..." He pouted to the side. "Because I was making a case against the Field General? Was it that which prompted it?"

With his long, broad-shouldered weight Kry's chair rocked back onto its hind legs as he fell further into it. "It is what I have been doing with the human mages projected to pass through Jarasevo. With the Field General it was I that went to him though. Reversed."

Kry's eyes widened in satisfaction, and Cter lifted her cup to celebrate him figuring it out. "Seems you got it." Before she could drink it though she caught a familiar shape in the corner of her eye. "And just in the nick of time."

The tavern owner nodded once as he crested the top of the stairs. "Yes." He had most likely been waiting for the Monster Mages to finish their conversation before making his presence known. "The Monster Hunters should be ready to meet with you, should you wish, Monster Mages. They are unloading their catch into our storage currently."

"Anything good?" said Kry seemingly out of the blue, catching both Cter and Krygino off guard. Realizing that his attempt at easing himself back to small talk failed, he cleared his throat into his sleeved hand and nodded for the tavern owner to fetch the Monster Hunters. "You wouldn't mind bringing some more tea with them?" the First Monster Mage tried again with a bit more success.

"Certainly, sir," said the tavern owner with a bow. "I'll bring the tea and the Monster Hunters up here immediately." The small monster bounced down the wooden steps, stopping halfway to say something to one of the waiters.

He pointed around the two Monster Mages, and the waiter acknowledged with a raised feather where its thumb would have been. Once the waiter monster managed up the stairs it opened a drawer next to the staircase, fetching a handful of signs noting that the table was reserved which it placed on the tables within hearing distance of the Monster Mages.

A precaution that the Monster Mages hadn't asked for directly, but appreciated nonetheless.

"You wanted to see us, Monster Mages?" broke the silence a few minutes later by a fire monster ascending the stairs with the upper half of a longbow sticking up from behind the flames on his head that flickered against the well-worn wood and string on the bow with light-blue bends as the flames detached from his body with each step taken with his thick forest boots.

Once he and his fox monster companion clad in a dark green managed up the stairs they both took a bow at the top of the staircase's bow, exposing their bows which they had been bowing their prey with and–

"Cter?"

"Yes?" she blinked to Kry looking at her with a slightly skeptical look as if he just caught her snoring at one of the Monster Royals' speeches. He shook his head in disbelief at which point Cter realized that she was smiling like a goof.

"Yes, we did call for you, Monster Hunters," Kry let the two monsters know, straightening them up from their bows. "We would like to hear a few things from you, should you have time?" It was out of courtesy that he asked the monsters, for they knew fully that they did not really have a choice in the matter.

With stasis magic Kry moved two more chairs to the table he and Cter sat at. "Please, sit. The tavern owner should be up with some tea in a moment." Again Krygino's timing was impeccable, and he was just one step behind the two Monster Hunters taking their magically given seats after hanging up their bows and half-full quivers diagonally on the backrests.

"Since I know that we have interrupted you and that you have other deliveries after this one I am going to ask you directly how you have gone about responding to the decrease in demand of your services from the humans living here in Monster Country?"

The Delta Rune etched at the arrow notch of the two Monster Hunters' bows told that they were a part of the Monster Hunter guild tasked by King Asgore to employ the best Monster Hunters to both share their skills and to find comradery in the conviction that they are not harboring killing intent, but that it is the intent so feed and provide warm clothing. The deer girl from Cter's village had declined the offer to join it multiple times, from what she understood.

The guild was also a way for Jarasevo Castle to also keep an eye on monsters who were about to stray more into the killing intent than was...good for the guild's image. There had been some close calls, but like with Soul's School smoothing out curiosities of the Cooperative Connection with the help of the surrounding students and teachers, same had the Monster Hunter guild done the same for the monsters who had found too much thrill in the hunt.

Since the trial at Noitaidarr though there had been a similar tide of worry within the Monster Hunter guild, almost parallel in terms of escalation as with Soul's School. It was an external worry though rather than an internal. Since the Monster Hunters had been, in a way, shielded from scrutiny and narrowed looks from the humans due to the potential existing of killing intent within monsters with the help of the Cooperative Connection, suddenly having that shielding crack had put some strain onto the guild, to say the least.

Kry knew from the reports from the guild how things were at the upper level, same as with Soul's School, but knowing from the rank-and-file of the guild too would give him a more complete picture, he had argued. None had argued against it, and Cter even offered to help by keeping check on the Monster Hunters auras.

A pair of auras which seemed to deflate with Kry's question. "I would not want to say that things are grim, sir, but..." the green-clad fox answered with his hands cupping tightly around his cup of bland tea. His fluffy tail sank down behind him like the last breath of a broken bellow. "There have been less hunting parties with humans these last few months, and those humans who have joined us have done so rather reluctantly. Kept their distance from us when possible. Kept quiet about their own hunting grounds. Insisted to be on the second line rather than the first."

"Second line?" Kry perked, which was understandable. The language used by the administrative part of the guild reporting to Jarasevo Castle wasn't the same as the rank-and-file, after all. "How do you mean?"

"When we hunt in an area we have a first line which scouts before the second so that should a prey catch wind of the first line the second one can try and flank around the wind to intercept. It results in more bountiful catches," explained the fire monster after seeing his friend look deep into his cup of tea. "It's a cooperative effort to yield cleaner shots and less wasted meat from the animal."

It requires trust though, Cter figured. Having a line of archers behind her would have Cter look over her shoulder a few times, even if she knew them well. That the humans insisted on being in the second line spoke about distrust building between humans and monsters, the same as the higher ups reported from the Monster Hunter guild. From the fox monster Cter sensed a heavy weight in its aura. A loss of something, a lack of hope. She decided to ask. Even if the monster refused to answer she could get an answer by reading his aura.

"You seem troubled, Monster Hunter," she remarked to the green-clad monster. "How did you mean by things being grim?" She knew that he spoke before he could think, but she had to prod at it.

The heavy weight in the fox monster's aura deepened. "They're not..." he said onto the calm surface of his tea. "It's just me and my..."

His...intent?

"It was an accident, Binor," tried the fire monster to calm with his calm-blue hands on his friend's shoulder, but to no avail. "It was not due to you. The human was–"

The fox ears flattened with the monster's hard shake of his head. "The human knew!" he growled with a harsh throat at his friend while swatting away the fiery arms. "He knew that I had killing intent! He knew that I notched that arrow angrily! He knew that I–"

It took but a pulse of Kry's inherited authority from King Asgore through his aura for the fox monster to quiet down and clench his teeth. "My apologies," he said through his fangs before standing up with one hand grasping hard at the end of his bow hung on his chair. "We have other deliveries to make. Excuse us, Monster Mages."

Kry's eyes followed the fox monster descending the stairs, looking straight past the fire monster who struggled to find what words to say or to explain with. His flames flustered through various colors until Cter caught his attention.

"How do you hunt?" she asked, seemingly from nowhere. Seemingly enough to catch the fire monster stunned and even more at a loss for words. "You're making an advantage out of your colored flames, I'm guessing?"

Flaming fingers wrapped around the end of the weathered bow as a puff of hot air was coughed out of the fire monster's mouth. "I hunt near lakes and rivers," he told while standing up. There was some relief to his voice. "Like this." His flames began to move like waves on a lake during a light breeze, breaking up his form. It didn't do a good job hiding him in a tavern, but Cter could see it working pretty well out in the forests.

She allowed him to join his partner. "You may go now, Monster Hunter. Thank you for your time. It was most useful to us and to Jarasevo Castle."

The flame monster nodded meekly, and headed down the stairs quickly, leaving swirls of small flames behind him.

"They have a legit reason to distrust, the humans," said Kry while picking up his cup of bland tea which he drank deeply from. It clinked empty as he put it back down onto the saucer with a tired grumble. He let the tastelessness flow through him, culminating in his throat, which he growled out low and disappointed.

"Dammit."