CHAPTER 44: LAST THINGS

Joe told Merek that evening.

The old healer was sorting dried roots when Joe arrived.

"Theodere approved it."

Merek did not look surprised.

"Blackwood?"

"After Starlight."

Merek nodded once and continued separating the roots.

Joe waited.

"That's all?"

"What did you expect?"

"I don't know."

"Crying?"

Joe smiled.

"Maybe a little."

"Ask your mother."

They worked quietly for a while.

Merek eventually spoke again.

"Don't pretend you know more than you do in town."

Joe looked over.

"That's your advice?"

"It's the important part."

Merek tied one bundle.

"There will be healers better than me. Some worse. You won't know which is which immediately."

Joe nodded.

"Don't show every recipe you have. Don't buy an expensive ingredient because somebody tells you it's rare. And if a patient looks wrong after treatment, believe your eyes before you believe the book."

Those sounded more like Merek.

Joe remembered them.

Before leaving, Merek gave him several small packets of common medicine.

Joe started to object.

"They're not free," Merek said.

"What do you want?"

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"Come back knowing something useful."

Joe accepted.

"That's expensive."

"It should be."

Joe visited the Talent Hall library one last time before Starlight.

He had already copied the notes he cared most about, but one section remained too valuable to ignore.

Muscle Tempering.

Technically, he had no immediate use for it.

His second Skin Tempering was nowhere near complete, and Joe had no intention of rushing forward simply because he possessed the next method.

That did not mean he intended to leave the knowledge behind.

He copied the essential structure carefully.

The progression.

The cautions.

The initial circulation method.

The conditions required before beginning.

Joe found it slightly strange that the Muscle Tempering material had been available in the library at all.

Students normally gained library access after both foundations reached Minor Success and then spent years in Skin Tempering. Most would not be ready for Muscle Tempering until much later.

Perhaps Theodere simply trusted the inheritance restrictions.

Perhaps Hall expected advanced trainees to prepare early.

Or perhaps nobody had considered that a child like Joe would sit there copying everything useful long before he publicly needed it.

Joe preferred the third explanation.

It amused him.

Either way, leaving without the notes would have been foolish.

Far-sightedness cost very little when the information was already sitting on a shelf.

The day before departure, Joe walked through Green Hollow alone.

The festival preparations had already begun.

Merchants were arriving.

Children ran between half-built stalls.

Someone near the square was arguing over where a cart could be left, while smoke from early cooking fires drifted between the houses.

Joe walked without any particular destination.

Past the elder compound.

Past the fenced training ground.

Past the road toward Merek's shop.

He followed the eastern side until he could see the river and then returned through the fields his family had worked throughout his childhood.

Green Hollow had been his first checkpoint in this world.

He had arrived here as an infant with memories he could barely make sense of.

He had learned the language here.

Learned to walk again.

Learned his new family.

Discovered Starlight.

Blood energy.

The Talent Hall.

Medicine.

The village had once felt enormous.

Now Joe could walk from one end to the other without thinking about the distance.

That did not make it unimportant.

It simply meant he had grown.

Lily had already packed most of his things when he returned.

Joe looked at the bundle.

"That's too much."

"No."

"I have to carry it."

"Then become stronger."

Joe decided not to argue.

Dinner that evening was quieter than normal.

Not silent.

Just slower.

Mike eventually said, "Blackwood first."

Joe looked up.

"What?"

"You always talk like you're going farther."

Joe smiled slightly.

"Eventually."

Mike nodded.

He had dreamed about town life for years without ever quite managing to move the family there.

Joseph shared that dream more quietly.

Permanent markets.

Better roads.

More reliable work.

Actual shops rather than waiting for traveling merchants.

Joe looked around the table.

"If Simon and I settle properly, I'll try to bring everyone over."

Lily immediately said, "Settle yourself first."

"I said eventually."

Pam nodded.

"Town isn't automatically better."

"You've spent years telling us everything Blackwood has."

"That doesn't mean I want to live beside criminals."

Joe did not ask which story had produced that conclusion.

Mike smiled.

"I'd like to see it."

Joseph nodded once.

That was enough.

Joe looked toward Mary.

She was staring at her food.

"You're still getting the gift," he said.

"I know."

"And letters."

"I know."

"You can visit eventually."

She finally looked up.

"You better."

Joe nodded.

"I will."