The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 23: Making Plans

Chapter 23: Making Plans

I placed the phone vertically on the table and stretched it to the size of a mirror. The phone was locked in place and I just sat back as across the galaxies a familiar but changed face appeared.

Even when crying she still looked refined, guess she never stopped taking perfect care of her body. Her long purple hair flowed down her back with multiple blue–matching her eyes–flower accessories within it. 

“I can’t believe I can See Ella again.”

I frowned… and joked “Did you have to bring that up? The best part of being missing for five years was not having to hear that.”

At my response Beatrice’s lovely face began to tear up more, “It’s really you, it’s really you…”

“Yes it’s me…” I replied, “Long time no see.”

It took over ten seconds before Beatrice responded, continually trying to wipe away the tears. “More than once… I’ve been contacted by AI scams… They started after I tried to learn about the situation all those years ago… ”

Those fucking bastards! 

I thought to myself, before Beatrice then asked, “Can I see your face properly?”

“...haa sure.” I pulled back the hood and let my long messy hair flow–no matter what I did I couldn’t keep it neat for some reason–my golden eyes stayed locked on Beatrice’s during the whole motion. The only change in expression she gave was an increase in her smile.

“Decided to copy my hair?”

“Not exactly, but I wanted to try something different…” I spun a curl of my hair in my gloved finger. “Doesn’t exactly want to calm down though.”

“You should visit, I’ll fix it up nice for you.”

“I don’t think even your magic will be able to fix it.”

“You don’t know that, I’m a [Hair Specialist] now.”

I smiled brightly, “So that’s what you chose? Fits you.”

“Thanks for helping make the decisions,” Beatrice flashed a silver comb with purple gems embedded in the handle. “Passion for one's Vocation really is everything…”

We both had a light chuckle after her statement.

I then asked, “So what have you been up to?”

“I married Simon.” Beatrice blushed, before looking up to notice my mostly unchanged expression, “You don’t seem surprised...”

“Everyone knew it was going to happen one day.”

“Besides me I guess.” Beatrice sighed.

“So where do you live now?” Beatrice was originally from Averon so I was curious if she still lived there.

She replied, “Earth.” That was Simon’s and Rosa’s home planet.

We spent over thirty minutes talking about Beatrice's married life and all the small steps between our last parting and the two finally getting together. It was a life I couldn’t really imagine, after three extremely bad relationships and then spending five years alone I was quite comfortable just being single for the rest of my life.

Simon was a nice man and in the few times I met him his love for Beatrice was on full display. Overall quiet but got very loud when one tried to debate him on a topic he was passionate about… Rosa made many mistakes challenging him.

Once that topic was done, it was time to ask about something which had been on the back of my mind throughout the whole conversation, “Do you know what happened to Benard and Rosa’s families?” 

Beatrice bit her lip, frowned and then sighed. “Depends. I wasn’t close to Benard but I did do some digging… for everyone… I was desperate at the time. Hoping anyone survived. But he was apparently an orphan from what I was able to find. Rosa’s on the other hand…” She bit her lip harder.

“Her parents seemed to be fine, it seems like they were always looking at things with a pessimistic lens.” Beatrice became quite angry before softing her expression and her eyes shook, “Lila didn’t take it well though… apparently losing a number of friends in the process.”

Hearing what happened to Rosa’s sister made me even more worried about what could’ve happened to my own family. “Has she been able to move on?” I asked. My family sure didn’t but it might’ve been better if they did.

“I won’t lie, we did move closer to the Rewolf family because I wanted to keep a connection… to something. But I can’t say I’m super close to Lila, she stops by the shop for her haircut. But I think she has, over the last three years she seems to have completely stabilised.”

I just stared at the projection, thinking.

“...I’ll see if I can visit you, soon…” I unconsciously said. It was just this whole conversation made me happy–not as much as just chatting with my family again–but speaking with a friend was good…“There’s just a lot on my plate right now…”

Beatrice covered her mouth, “Were you caught in that concert incident!”

“I’m surprised you even knew about that.” Not that the attack wasn’t a major incident but it wasn’t big enough that it would flood the news feeds of other planets. The fact that the Blazers–a popular band–was caught up in it might’ve helped with the media attention then.

Beatrice responded, “After I got your initial message I’d been paying attention to Metous news, it helped that I remembered what city you lived in–Acrostar.”

“Well... I wasn’t caught in it but my sister was…”

“Mella?!” Beatrice panicked, “Is she okay?!”

“Thanks for worrying, yes she’s okay… for now. But she’s lost some limbs…”

“... Good, as long as she gets proper treatment…” Beatrice worrily sighed, “Not sure how good your serious bodily damage recovery is over there, here it’s good but…”

I interrupted, “It’s fine.” It wasn’t really. Passable for sure, depending on the solution one sought.

Beatrice who was acting normal, her expression quickly switched to one of shock and panic before returning to normal, speaking to me in her normal turn. “It’s getting late, I need to start my shift soon.”

“All good, take care now.”

Beatrice asked, “Let’s chat again okay?” 

“Yes, let’s.” We both smiled as the call closed.

…

I just leaned back looking at the stars through the daylit sky, thinking about a few more troublesome things.

“Okay, time to deal with that other lot of people.” I got up off the chair and walked passed Tyell’s room–he was still asleep.

I carefully walked through the city until I reached the Hungry Wolves Hunting Guild.

Walking through the entrance I got jumped by a familiar face. “Ceella!” Ketty.

Ketty’s friendliness for an acquaintance wasn’t something I expected, but she hugged and pulled me into the guild.

“Are you okay, so sorry we couldn’t do anything, if only–”

The guild was mostly empty, a few tried members sat at a collection of the tables–exhausted from their previous mission.

“It’s alright.” I tried to calm her down. I didn’t think she was this worried just because I could’ve been involved, but the stress of the situation looked like it weighed on her and I was a good outlet to let those feelings out. 

“So you came around.” Mern walked out from the back, while Ketty and I moved to the front desk. 

“Yeah, got your message, just been dealing with a few things. This place is pretty empty though.”

“After we got back and received word of the situation most left to provide support, however there were many who were too exhausted, so they reluctantly went home or stayed here…” Mern then asked, “You okay kid?” 

Nearly thirty, old man. I kept my thoughts to myself and kept the conversation serious, “I wasn’t caught up in it, but my younger sister was.”

“Oh no…” Ketty’s eyes shook in worry and Mern closed his in a pained expression.

“Fucking bastards.” Mern grunted under his breath, “So many kids hurt…” 

To make the atmosphere a little positive I asked something I wanted to know, “Do either of you have any good suggestions on what to do for a missing limb?” If anyone knew it would be those who spent the most time in direct danger. 

Ketty first recovered herself, then placed her hand on her chin and thought, “Potions are probably a no go, any that could recover a limb are too expensive.”

Mern scorned, “That stupid market doesn’t know what’s best for them! So absorbed about making the best potions. Every potion is bloody expensive! The only ones sold are the miracle makers or the ones which can heal week old burns.”

What Mern was saying wasn’t exactly true, there were many different types of potion of varying quality and affordable price but recovery potions were a different story. With ingredients that were hard to come by, the industry after many years had settled into its current state. You either had the choice of the bandage of potions or the miracle drug.

“Do you know what she prefers?” Ketty asked but quickly regretted asking.

“I don’t know what she wants yet… haa… she still hasn’t fully recovered enough to have a long conversation about that.”

“...There are some good robotics replacements on Metous,” said Ketty.

“Many in the guild have one, you can ask them when they are around. They feel just like normal limbs.” Mern continued. “If you want someone to heal it… I don’t know anyone around who would do it for a reasonable price.” 

Ketty added, “Earth has the most healers, and the most genuinely kind ones at that, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one to help your sister as long as you don’t wait too long.” Using skills to heal injuries was all fine and dandy but they had a limit on how long could pass before the injury couldn’t be recovered.

“...Thanks.” Was really all I could say, sadly most of what they said was information I already knew. At this point the only real plan was to… wait for my sister to recover.

I let some time pass–some people said goodbye and left the guild for the day–and I asked.

“Also do you know where I can get some good gear?” I knew some places but I thought it would be best to ask people who actually had been in the field for an extended period of time. I hoped this would get me better answers than the previous question.

“Didn’t you already have a suit?” Ketty asked.

“Not just talking about armour, but a new suit would be nice as well.” I replied, “I just need some better equipment.” 

“Hmm, well I know a few good places.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it Ket.” Mern waved at her and pulled out his phone, “Let me get you in contact with our friend and the guild’s main artificer.” 

“Thanks.”

“Don’t be.” Ketty quickly rebutted, “It will be expensive.”

“Huh?! All good equipment is expensive, Henry at least tries to make it more reasonable for us.”

“While also making it harder for us to get them by constantly travelling the galaxies…” Ketty sighed.

Enjoying my conversation with Ketty and Mern was all good, fun and informative–Henry wasn’t available when we tried calling but Mern sent him a message to expect a call from me–but I was also keeping my eye on the other members of the guild.

Henry was apparently a long friend of Mern, a [Smashing Artificer]. He helped with the guild's affairs when he was around, which was apparently never. Spending nearly all his time travelling.

And as I watched the final remaining members of the guild walked through the exit. 

I took the opportunity to ask, “Also if you could do me one more favour…”