Kori’s outburst was met with confused and aggrieved stares from those around her, “And what, exactly, is so ‘awesome’ about this situation youngling?” Ortik punctuating his question with a his most disapproving glare.

  Snapped out of her fixation on the pair of Titles she had just earned, Kori realized that the rest of them lacked context to her little exclamation. “What? No. Not that! Definitely not that. That’s just as terrifying as I thought it was…A little bit more so honestly” She quickly stuttered out. “I got a pair of Titles for making something Unique…” She tried to explain. “I’m not sure why I only got the Titles now though…”

  With an exasperated sigh that was becoming a staple of his conversations with the young kobold, Ortik turned away and continued the conversation at hand. “Ignoring that for the moment…” Dismissing her interruption, “I’m sorry Bolst.” Giving the trapper a look of genuine regret before turning to address Ylst. “Seal it.”

  Bolst’s head snapping back to face Ortik with wide eyed terror writ upon his expression. “What?!” he bellowed at the chieftain’s order. “You can’t just seal off my lab!” He dismayed.

  “I can, and I am.” He responded firmly, leaving little room for dissent. “We will have a full meeting about what to do about it later. But for now, it’s too dangerous to take any chances.”

  A crestfallen expression fell over Bolst, like Ortik had just ordered him to kill a sibling. He turned and stared longingly at the stone door. “At least let us fetch my collection… They’ll die if you seal them in without someone to care for them…”

  “Fine. You have an hour.”

  “An hour? But they’re delicate and dangerous, I need more time!” He pleaded with the chieftain for more time. “I need at least three. Please.”

  “You have one. I’d suggest you make good use of it.” Ortik refused to budge.

  “Fine! It’s not like I’m going to be moving deadly venomous creatures or anything…” Bolst grumbled before jumping into action and beginning to order his trappers to assemble.

  “Just you and your protégé, no one else goes in.” Putting a halt to his efforts before he could even get started.

  “What? But there’s so much to move…” Bolst complained. “I either need more time or more hands, it’ll take four of us just to move the redback cave spiders.”

  After all of the scares for the day, you wouldn’t think mentioning a spider barely larger than a kobolds claw would be of any real notice to those assembled. You also wouldn’t think that of all of those assembled, it would be the heavily armed and armoured Elder that would take said notice. Blonc did of course, proved anyone who might have made those assumptions wrong on both accounts. Quickly. As the assembled group of Elders, warriors, trappers, and mages, as well as a particular youngling, watched the mightiest warrior in the clan stammer out an excuse to be anywhere but there before departing with a statement that he was heading to “Schedule a guard rotation.” The group watched him leave, some with sympathy, others amusement.

  When he was gone, Ortik returned his attention to Bolst, “Redbacks? Really Bolst?” His tone had fallen flat, there was simply didn’t have it in him to get angry over it anymore. “You’ll just have to make do.” Ortik replied with a measure of finality. “And I’m going to want a full inventory of what you’ve got in there…” He then turned and began issuing orders to the other Elders.

  Kori wasn’t sure what part of that was worse for Bolst, but she did feel vindicated in her earlier assessment of the spiders at least. She had come to what she thought was a very reasonable conclusion, the more legs something had, the worse it was and seeing Blonc’s reaction she figured he’d readily agree.

  Within the following few minutes, the entirety of the trapper’s hall was emptied of everyone except a few warriors and mages. Both Korse and Kori summarily dismissed, with Kori having been given orders to not use her new skill on anything outside of healing ointment until further notice.

  With nothing to do but acquiesce, she departed the hall alongside Korse and returned to the brood chamber. Their walk back was unimpeded, but the entire clan had already heard that something had happened with the trappers by that point and seeing an Elder coming from there, escorting a familiar youngling who used to serve the chief no less, was just fanning the flames of gossip.

  When they eventually found themselves back home and alone at Korse’s alcove, the pair discussed the days events with some trepidation.

  “This was not your fault, Kori.” He attempted to reassure her. “Bolst should have known better than to push you to use an unknown skill on something already dangerous.”

  Shaking her head, denying Korse’s assertion that she wasn’t to blame. “No, it is. Kora told me not to. I should have listened to her…”

  “I’m certain we’ll find a way to dispose of the threat. For now, it’s safely secured and the description didn’t indicate it was degrading or likely to detonate on its own.” As Korse spoke, his eyes drifted to the ceiling roughly in the direction of the trapper’s hall. “There should be no way for a tier one item to threaten us at this distance.” Kori had a hard time deciding which of them he was attempting to reassure.

  Pausing with a look that he was about to deliver more bad news, he quickly told her, “I do not expect you’ll be returning to Bolst’s tutelage. At least not anytime soon.”

  She thought that that was unfortunate, she had a lot she could learn from the man, but it did not come as a surprise to Kori. Not by any means. After today she would be shocked if Bolst was allowed to so much as say ‘hello’ to her any time soon.

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  The pair continued their conversation for hours, Kori giving him a full recounting of her time with Bolst, her new Skill, and finally her new Titles. “I still don’t understand why I didn’t get them when I made it.” Restating her earlier concern now that they weren’t mid crisis. “If we knew I’d made something Unique I’m sure we would have treated it more seriously at the time.”

  Taking a fatherly lecturing tone, he attempted to clarify for her, “The System doesn’t tell us things we don’t already have some way of knowing. I’m sure you’ve seen it before, like when you were poisoned. Did the system tell you you’d been poisoned before, or after, you became aware of it?”

  Kori thought back to her experience with poisons. She hadn’t even gotten a notification the first time with the mushroom, if it wasn’t for her resistance raising, she’d have never known. The same thing happened the second time as well. She’d only known what she’d been poisoned with after Kora had told her what she had grabbed. Well after she’d already lost control of her muscles. A sour look came over her face as she realized the implications, “So if no one ever appraised it, I’d have never gotten the Titles?”

  “Most likely, no.”

  Kori chose that moment to repeat a sentence she had said several times when she was first introduced to the system. “That’s not fair…”

  “It is not. But the System doesn’t much care about fairness, I don’t think.” Korse responded to her.

  The excitement and their conversation had taken them well past meal time so the pair fetched something for themselves to eat before calling it an evening. Kori spent the rest of the night in her den, staring at the ceiling as though she could see through it all the way to her creation hundreds of meters above. Her rest was fitful at best.

  As the morning came, Kori did not rush her meal or preparations. She had no idea what she would do that day aside from attempting to create a spell form for hours on end, so she saw no reason to get to it with any haste. She even lent the minders a hand in cleaning up after her siblings, just for something to do that wasn’t the soul crushing repeated failure that was spell practice.

  Korse left her be for the entirety of the day, having to spend most of his in a fairly heated closed meeting in the Elder’s chambers. That evening he took her aside, confirming the assumption of the day before. “You have been forbidden from apprenticing under Bolst.” He told her plainly. “It’s possible that in a few weeks when you have to make a decision that this will have blown over, but until then I wouldn’t count on it.”

  “So, either I figure out [Spell Shaping], or what? I become a brewer?” Kori complained, watching yet another path cut off before could even take a step upon it. Brewer was the only other option that came to mind when she thought of it. Trader had some appeal as well she supposed. But aside from those, she was ill suited to the more physical professions like mining and fishing, she had no interest in cooking or farming, and was such a bad choice for a matron that she’d likely even get a laugh out of even Elder Kles were she to suggest it.

  Broaching a subject he’d been tip toeing around for the past year, he replies to her, “You could always remain here, with me.”

  Kori was ashamed that of all the options she’d thought of, that was not even on the list. When she looked to Korse, she saw that he was being sincere. Regardless of anything else, he wanted her here with him. Taking a few minutes to genuinely consider the option, Kori thought about what it would be like to be a minder. To help the new clutches grow and thrive. To have a chance to do for them what she had done for her siblings; to protect them from their own fragility in their early years.

  She saw the hope in Korse’s eyes and she considered saying yes for that alone. Then she tried to put herself into his position, raising countless young kobolds. She tried to focus on watching them flourish and begin their own lives. She tried to think of the numerous members of the clan she would have a chance to mold and guide and encourage to reach their potential.

  In the end though, her thoughts couldn’t escape images of the nursery being cleansed in fire at Ylst’s hands. Images of all of her unnamed siblings that never reached their third year to receive one. She knew that she couldn’t join him. That she’d break a little bit every year until she couldn’t handle it anymore.

  She saw the look change in Korse’s eyes; he knew the decision that she’d come to as clearly as she did. It was painted on her face for all who knew her to see. She still said it aloud, feeling a need for finality on the matter. “I… I can’t…” She shook her head alongside her denial.

  Acknowledging her decision with a nod before replying to her, “I’m glad you gave it a thought at least.” His disappointment was clear to her, but at the same time she could tell that he wasn’t upset with her denial. They continued to enjoy each others company for some time afterwards, conversation a bit awkward but it would return to normal over time.

  As she made to return to the brood chamber for her dinner, Korse thought to advise her of her options for the near future. “You are free to remain here in the brood chamber to attempt to acquire your skill for the coming days. Or you may attend the brewery, I’m certain Losq would be happy for your company.”

  Nodding in reply, “I think I’ll go with Losq. If anything happens with… you know… we might need more ointment.” She said, attempting to be practical while giving herself a good excuse to not spend an entire day on a skill she was beginning to loathe.

  “I will let the Elder know.” He replied, giving her a wave as she departed.

  The remainder of the evening was spent with her siblings teaching her other games to play with their dominoes and of course, with gossip. News had spread through the clan like a flood in a tunnel, everyone was talking about the evacuation of the trapper’s hall and whatever disaster that Bolst had unleased this time. The true details were in short supply, so some said that it was another toxic mist, or that he had set his workroom on fire, few ever called it a lab as he had, but there was a single fact that had been the same no matter who you spoke to. That he had taken a new apprentice, the one that used to work with the chieftain, and she was involved.

  Her siblings all knew that, of course, meant Kori, and given that no one had actually told her to say anything about what happened, she did just that. With her siblings gathered around her like hatchlings before a matron, she told her tale of what happened the prior day. Even a few of the minders stopped and listened in.

  She told them about her awesome new Skill, which they delighted in. The idea that not just a youngling, but their littlest sister, had discovered something that even the Elders didn’t know lit a fire in them. Before that day they had all be instructed on what to do and how to do it. They were not expected to innovate; they were expected to adhere.

  She told them of her creation, which left the lot of them staring at the ceiling as though the mountain above them would shake with a detonation any moment and fall down upon them.

  She told them of her Titles and received naught but envious grumblings from all but one of her siblings. While the others bemoaned and cursed her fortune, one of them sat quietly. He sat with a ponderous look, akin to one Kori might bear, on his face. That such Titles could come from creating something special had never occurred to the young kobold. That Titles could improve the class that he would receive was something none of them had been told.

  And better yet, his sibling that had proven these things to him was coming with him to his apprenticeship the next day.