She eventually sat back, pressing her back against the backrest of the chair, and stretched, lifting her arms above her head and feeling her spine pop. She shook her arms loose, then glanced out the window, startled to see it had already become dark. She quickly got up and put the book away before returning to the table and waking a slumbering Blood by rubbing her ears gently. With Blood awake, the two made their way down to the lobby, finding Tazeen and Lyrissa behind the counter. Beth waved to the two as she quickly exited, Tazeen nodding while Lyrissa didn't seem to notice at all, staring at whatever was on her screen.

Beth mounted up on Blood when they were out the front doors, quickly riding around the side of the building and then northward. It didn't take more than a minute or two to hit the highway and, less than ten minutes of running from Blood later, the two were circling the neighborhood. Luckily it was moving into Fall now, so it was getting dark somewhat earlier, meaning the two rode up and into the backyard without it being too late. Entering the house, Beth put her gear in the mudroom as always before making her way to the kitchen. She found both Sabs and Kim present, Kim looking through something on her phone while Sabs had her chin in her hands, staring off into the distance.

"Well, well, well, look who's finally back. Your girlfriend was withering away waiting for you," Kim commented with a slight smirk.

"I was not withering away. What does that even mean?" replied Sabs somewhat indignantly. Just as she was about to fire off another retort, she was stopped by Beth, the taller girl wrapping her arms around the shorter girl's shoulders and pressing her cheek to Sabs's.

"Sorry I was late, sweetheart," Beth said in a teasing tone.

"I-It's fine, hon," Sabs replied while flushing a little, entirely distracted from her joking exchange with Kim.

"You two are so cute," said Kim while smirking even more deeply.

"Aw, thanks Ki-" started Sabs before Kim cut her off.

"And you really need to get a room," Kim continued.

"Oh, come on, stop with the room stuff already." Sabs replied before Beth turned a little and kissed her cheek. "And you certainly aren't helping," she continued, lightly pushing Beth's face.

"Hahaha, okay, I get it," Beth chuckled, letting Sabs go. "Is there any food around here?"

"There's a bunch of leftovers from dinner you can heat up. Should be enough for both you and Blood, though I'm not really sure," Kim replied, eyeing up the towering athlete her sister was turning into.

"I got it," Beth replied, prepping the food, starting with getting a bowl of water for Blood. She busied herself about the kitchen while the other two talked, going over the events of the day briefly. It was apparently not more boring guard duty, but escorting more people to get their first level, and a few to get their second or third. It seemed Beth's messaging on leveling being key was starting to get through.

As she was finishing preparing the food, Beth quickly recounted the highlights of what she had learned to the two. The explanations about beast level brackets as well as money drops were very informative, putting their money woes into a new perspective. Beth pulled a stool around between Sabs and Kim, wedging herself in between the two as she quickly ate, letting out a loud belch to signal she was done.

"Gross," said Kim at the same time as Sabs commented, "Nice one." The two looked at each other briefly before starting to laugh, Beth getting up to rinse the dishes with a shake of her head. After she was done, she made to sit back down before stopping.

"Oh, I forgot. I have something for you, Sabs. Wait a minute," she said, darting over to the mudroom quickly and grabbing Sabs' new daggers, before darting back to the island and sitting between the girls. "I'm not sure if these are good for you, but I can probably get that miser Jaq to exchange them for one of the other pairs if they don't work," she continued, placing the daggers in front of Sabs.

Sabs picked one of them up, drawing it from the sheath wonderingly. The blade was a deep copper color, polished to the reflectivity of a bright mirror. She scanned the dagger thoroughly before testing it, spinning it around in her hand before making a few short, sharp slashing motions with the blade. Finally, she drew the other dagger and held them both, gauging their weight and balance before putting them back in the sheaths.

"These are amazing, Beth. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow; it'll be like a whole new experience," Sabs gushed, hugging the tall girl.

Beth returned the hug with a laugh, saying "We all chipped in for them, I'm just the messenger here. But you're quite welcome; I'll head out with you girls tomorrow morning to see how they work."

"Alright, I think we've had enough for today," Kim said with a little glare at the couple before standing. "Let's head to bed and circle up tomorrow."

"I'll see you out," Beth said to Sabs as the others headed out of the kitchen. "Unless you want to stay?"

Sabs turned a little red and stuttered in response, "Y-yes, I wouldn't mind staying, but I think I need to make sure my mom is alright."

"Worried about your dad, huh?" Beth asked as they walked started walking to the front door.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Yeah, she's not really a worrier, but I don't think she's gonna relax until he's home safe," Sabs replied, holding Beth's hand as they walked down the hallway towards the front door. "At least we're still able to talk with him on the phone right now, so we know he's fine."

"You think he'll be able to get back soon?" Beth asked as they approached the front door.

"I don't really know; it might still take a while," Sabs replied with a sigh. "All the flights everywhere are super messed up right now. They are still running planes, though. So, it's just that he's basically far down in the list to get a flight back."

"That really sucks," Beth said, pulling Sabs into a hug. "Just tell me if you need something. We can also ask at the CRA Hall and see if they have a solution."

Sabs sighed in response, leaning into Beth for a moment. "It's fine for now," she said. "We're not really in a desperate situation; we'll just wait and see what happens. Doing all the fighting and guard duty and everything has helped keep me distracted. I'm glad you wanted me to be part of the group."

"Oh, just the fighting is keeping you distracted?" Beth asked with a raised eyebrow, giving the short girl a tight squeeze.

"Well…" Sabs replied, "I've definitely enjoyed our time together. It's just…we don't really spend a whole lot of time with just the two of us."

"Yeah, sorry," Beth said. "I feel like that's on me a little. I'm too focused on other stuff."

"It isn't your fault," Sabs replied. "The whole world went crazy. I'd be pretty dumb if I got angry that people had other stuff occupying their time and attention right now. Especially considering how fast you seem to be growing."

"I'm definitely gonna be slowing down a lot here," Beth responded as she disentangled herself from Sabs. "I need way more practice before I get stronger. One of those situations where I have the power, but not the skill to use it."

"Well, maybe I can join you in that?" Sabs asked as she moved up to the front door.

"We could probably train together a little," Beth replied. "But I have a feeling when you and my sisters join, you'll each get your own instructor. They'll want to take up a whole bunch of your time just getting you into some kind of basic shape."

"I guess we'll just have to see what happens," Sabs said before opening the door. She turned back to say goodbye to find Beth right on top of her, planting a firm kiss on her lips. Beth pulled back, breaking off the kiss, ready to actually say goodbye, but Sabs stopped her. The older girl stepped forward and brought her arms up, wrapping them around the back of Beth's neck, and planted her lips firmly against the taller girl's in a full, sweet kiss.

Beth had to finally be the one to break the kiss off, saying to Sabs, "That was really nice, but we can't stand here with the door open all night."

The older girl seemed to just realize they had been standing in the open front door, kissing for the whole block to see. With a muffled squeak she darted off, yelling a quick "Goodbye!" over her shoulder as she dashed down the street. Beth chuckled while shaking her head a little bit, shutting and locking the front door before heading up to her room, still trailed along by Blood.

As she was passing the office, her father called out to her. "Do you have a minute, sweetie?"

"Sure, what's up?" Beth asked, stopping in the doorway to lean against the right side of the doorframe. She saw that both her parents were in the room, each sitting at their desk with notes and their computers open.

"I was wondering about what your plans are for the next few days. Could you bring us up to speed?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I'll probably spend the mornings with the girls in the dungeons," She replied. "And in the afternoons, I plan to keep training in the CRA Hall. I also want to scout around the area with Blood. We're strong enough that not a lot right now can really threaten us, especially outside a dungeon, so I want to take the opportunity to explore the local area." Blood let out a soft bark of agreement from the hall behind them.

"Well good, as long as you don't push yourself too hard. Be sure to keep us apprised of any updates," he replied.

"And let us know in the morning, even with a text, where you're going," Rachel continued, attempting to pin her eldest daughter with a glare that proved largely ineffective. "And make sure to keep an eye on your sisters."

"Don't worry, I have a pretty good handle on things right now," Beth replied. "Anything else?"

"No, not for now. Go get some sleep," her mother answered.

Beth straightened up and continued the couple more steps it took to reach her door, letting Blood in behind her before shutting and locking the door behind them. She took a few minutes to shower and go through the rest of her nightly routine before turning the lights off and flopping into bed. She made sure her phone was on her nightstand before rolling over and promptly falling asleep, Blood's light snores already filling the room.

Ding, ding. Ding, ding. Beth silenced her alarm right after it started ringing, hopping out of her bed right away and making her way into the bathroom, navigating around the massive wolf sprawled in the middle of her floor.

After taking care of her morning routine and heading back into the room, she quickly dressed before heading out with Blood. The wolf broke off when they reached the stairs, trotting around the corner. Beth raised an eyebrow but didn't follow, heading downstairs to get the day started. She took care of setting out some water for her companion and for the family cat before starting to pull out ingredients for breakfast. She was interrupted by a text message pinging her and, seeing it was from Sabs, she immediately moved out to the front door to let her in.

After letting Sabs in and greeting her with a quick hug, the two of them headed back to the kitchen. As they started preparing food for the day, mainly consisting of boar, Soph slouched into the kitchen alongside Blood, her face buried in the wolf's thick mane with her arms around Blood's neck.

"So soft. So warm," Soph mumbled into the fur.

"She's not bothering you Blood, is she?" Beth asked.

Blood lightly shook her head in response before leaning it against Soph's shoulder, allowing the tiny sorceress to continue to snuggle against her. Kim wandered in just after them, moving to assist with finishing some of the kitchen work, cleaning some of what they had been using to prep the food.

When everything was ready, Beth put down food for Blood as the rest sat around the island, joining them herself to eat. Breakfast was a quick affair this morning, in part urged along by Sabs, eager to try out her new daggers in the field. When the food was all polished off, not a bit of cereal or scrap of egg left, the girls rinsed everything out, Kim taking an extra minute to stack the dishwasher full while the others moved over to the mudroom. She soon joined the rest just outside the back door, asking "Ants?"

"Ants first," Beth confirmed, the rest of the group nodding in response.

"Starting to get a lot cooler," commented Sabs as the group made their way through the woodlot, killing a level two ant they passed.

"Well, it's what, the end of September?" Beth asked, pulling out her phone to check. "Holy hell, it's October third."

"Yeah, we'll be getting frost soon. Have to break out the winter blanket," responded Kim.

"No need for a winter blanket yet," Beth quipped while flexing her new muscles.

"No need to rub it in either," said Kim.

"I have something even better than a blanket," Soph added distractedly, petting Blood behind the ears as they walked across the empty field.

"I don't know if you'll feel the same way after having her five-hundred-pound ass draped across you all night," Beth quipped, getting an angry chuff from Blood in response.

"Well, maybe, but she's so soft and warm," Soph muttered, stroking Blood's fur and scratching her neck, getting a growl from the wolf in response.

"Well, we'll see how you feel after a night roasting even with her sleeping next to you," Beth said, waving a hand idly as they crossed the large clearing after the woodlot.

They then crossed through the sparse woods and out into the farmer's field, not finding any ants before the ant guarding the top of the mound. Their constant culling of the nest was having a noticeable impact with its ability to promulgate ants into the surrounding area.

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