Sophie

It was good to see Tristan behaving like he had before the "Timetwister incident," which was how Sophie had started to think of the event that should have brought them both so much joy. Unfortunately, it had been immediately obvious to her that Tristan had seen or perhaps experienced things in a very different way than she had. He'd only just begun to open up to her about it that morning, and while she'd appreciated that his wall had begun to come down, it was only once he'd taken up the challenge of putt putt that she'd really seen the fire come back into his eyes.

Of course, she was demolishing both him and Billy in their impromptu competition, and Poof wasn't worth mentioning in that regard. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her domination only seemed to stoke the competitive fire even more within Tristan. He didn't know that putt putt had been one of Sophie's favorite ways to escape from her family when she didn't want to be found. He couldn't have known about how she'd gotten so into the game that she'd even built nonmagical courses with homemade obstacles in her own bedroom.

At one point, Billy had jokingly called her a shark, not realizing just how well the term might have actually applied to her. The only reluctance to accept the term came because she'd never chosen to keep the winnings she'd earned from beating all those people when she used to play. She hadn't wanted to truly punish them just because they'd chosen to see her as merely a sad little girl with no other friends.

It was true that she hadn't played as much putt putt since her Awakening, and she'd never been to Flights of Fancies or played on their courses before, but she'd still played more rounds of putt putt in her short life than most people would by their Path's end.

By the time they reached the 18th and final hole, Sophie had an insurmountable lead. Poof had consistently hit the stroke limit on every hole but one, where she'd somehow managed to sink her tenth shot. It had seemed impossible given the astral's track record, but given what else had happened in the past day, perhaps 'impossible' was the new normal. Poof going first on the final hole was also a blessing as it meant she was about to finally finish, and the rest of them could get back to the real game.

Billy had performed admirably, but even he must have done enough of the math to realize that he didn't stand a chance of beating her unless she somehow lost complete control of her faculties. She would need to take nine strokes on the final hole, and even then he could only tie her. It was beyond unlikely, and they all knew it.

"You're really good at this," the driver said.

"Would you believe it's beginner's luck?" Sophie asked playfully.

"Absolutely not!" Billy said with a laugh.

At the driver's side, Tristan chuckled along, too. It was another sound that Sophie hadn't realized she'd been missing so much the last few days. Clearly Poof was also enjoying the boy's rising spirits, as she was currently nestled between the swordsmith's arms and chest and practically cooing. Sophie understood though and wasn't jealous at all. She was genuinely just as happy as the astral that their party member was showing signs of coming back around.

"You know what, though?" Tristan began. "I think it's a lot of fun no matter who wins. I've really enjoyed myself at least."

"And that's the entire point," Billy said triumphantly. "You both were seeming a bit down, and I'm glad to see some of that pass. Who knows, maybe I've even helped pull you out of it somewhat!"

Tristan's genuine smile seemed to be proof of that, at least in part. But both of us? Sophie wondered about that. Was I in a funk, too? She hadn't really considered that Tristan's mood had affected her quite so much.

Poof seemed to answer her, even though she hadn't sent the questions across their bond. 'Yes, Sophie, you definitely haven't been petting me nearly enough. And that happy face you kept on for Tristan felt a bit forced. A lot forced, actually.'

'Oh, sorry,' the astralist sent back.

'Meh, it's fine. I'm just glad to see you kicking these boys' asses. If you'd taken it easy on them then I would have known something was really wrong with you.'

'Never!' Sophie sent back, to which Poof grinned and nuzzled further into Tristan's arms.

Little traitor, Sophie thought but kept to herself. Joking aside, she couldn't help but think about why Tristan's funk had bothered her so much. She came to the conclusion that it was because he was now connected to her, permanently, in a way that she'd never really thought possible just so few months before. Back when she'd been tier 1, all she'd had concern for was finding a way to convince anyone else to help her level up. Now, conceivably, she'd never have that concern again. Instead, it was being replaced with concern for her friend.

Rather than dwell on that, she moved forward to the final starting green and announced, "Last hole," as if they didn't already know. "Who's next?" She knew the answer, but she wanted to see if Tristan would step up to it.

After a slight pause, Billy answered, "Well, if we're going by rotation, it should be Tristan."

"Yeah, that's right," he said, and he passed the reluctant mage back into Sophie's outstretched arms. In her place he lifted his borrowed club and stepped up to the final hole's starting green.

Sophie watched the boy assessing the final hole. By all outward appearances, it seemed to be a variant of the traditional windmill hole. Straight ahead of them stood the classic structure, spinning in the nonexistent wind. Or at least the wind doesn't exist yet, Sophie considered. To get there, they'd have to pass over a pace-or-two wide stream. There was a slightly arching bridge that seemed to offer one way across, but Sophie could see a few grooves in the felt that suggested there were definitely some surprises that might lead to other solutions. One seemed to lead straight into what otherwise looked like a cloud that was resting on the ground.

That was odd enough that it made her look up... which was when she saw what could only have been a whole additional layer of tracks and slides above them that, if she was right, would drop the ball down onto or near the final green. She was also fairly certain that the raised bridge over the river might actually rotate once the ball was struck, so that any ball that wasn't hit hard enough would have to have perfect timing to catch it on the second time around or risk falling into the drink and emerge wherever the wet balls would be spit out, no doubt fairly far from the hole.

She squeezed her little astral a bit tighter while also readjusting the little bow that had nearly fallen off her head. One of these days she'd find a way to persuade Poof to leave the bows alone. Clearly that day was not today, but she was not about to give up trying.

'Do you think he's going for the bridge?' she asked her astral.

'Possibly,' Poof silently replied, 'but more than likely not. It's too obvious, and he's been getting more and more creative with every hole.'

Sophie had to admit that the astral was right. It was only on hole 17 that Tristan had managed to surprise even her and spot a way of bypassing the faux glacier that even Sophie hadn't seen--by going over it. He'd somehow recognized the signs for a jet stream lift that had carried his little green ball straight through to within a pace of the hole on his first stroke. Unfortunately, he'd then missed the simple follow-up putt, which had been what allowed Sophie to sneak in under his three strokes with her superior technique.

His discovery had been genuinely impressive; he'd seen something even her practiced eyes hadn't. That was also the reason she'd even considered looking skyward on this hole. She'd legitimately learned a trick about this course from him, and he was a newbie!

"Alright, here goes," Tristan said.

Sophie watched as the broad-shouldered boy took up a stance that was far too steady for someone with so little experience. It made her wonder if he wasn't using some of his swordsman training to enhance his stability and calm. Then she noticed that he wasn't facing directly toward the windmill. Instead, he was pointed toward the very cloud Sophie herself had spotted.

Very observant, she thought, but will it pay off?

The young man drew back his club, and there was smoothness to the stroke that Sophie had seen lacking in far too many of the people she'd played with before. It wasn't exactly confidence. It was something else that she'd noticed about him during their travels together. It was like Tristan had the ability to fully commit himself to a course of action in a way that most people couldn't. She also knew that wasn't for any lack of doubts, as he often gave voice to those. Instead, he seemed to possess the rare ability to outright silence and push past those doubts as if they ultimately proved no obstacle at all. For someone like Sophie who had grown up constantly worried about every move she'd made and how they would be perceived, that strength of focus seemed like a tremendous gift.

The swordsmith's club struck the little green ball and sent it briskly down a straight line toward the cloud. Except before the ball could strike it, at seemingly the last possible moment, the cloud dissipated. The ball itself began rising into the air as if lifted away by a great gust of wind. Up the ball flew, along nigh-invisible overhead tracks that spun and looped almost as much as the wind itself must, until eventually the ball began to swirl repeatedly in an approximation of an eddy or miniature cyclone that forced it to descend instead of rise. The ball hurled free at the bottom, spinning outward onto the green felt surface toward the final hole. It fell in with a very satisfying clunk that was reminiscent of an ice cube falling into a glass.

Tristan practically leapt into the air, pumped his fist, and cheered.

Off to one side, Bobby was agape as his eyes shot around and around in a circle from the boy to the cloud to the hole and back again. "What a shot!" he exclaimed.

Poof was also cheering--and also squirming in a way that seemed designed to get Tristan's attention. So the astralist let the little mage go and watched as Poof hurried over to Tristan and gave his ankle a big nuzzle. Her smile grew even broader as the swordsmith swept the small mage up into his arms and gave her a big hug.

Sophie contented herself with clapping her now-empty hands. "I guess now we all know how to beat this hole," she said.

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

"Assuming I can hit the same shot," Bobby said with a bit of consternation. "Was it the cloud he hit? Do you think every ball that goes there is a hole-in-one?"

"It's possible," Tristan said with a huge, cheesy grin plastered on his face even as he tightened his grip on Poof. "Why not try it yourself and see?"

The driver rolled his head and neck slightly as he stepped up to the starting green. "Yeah, alright. Sure! I can do this! Can't let the actual newbie show me up!" The man took his time settling into his putting stance and allowed his breathing to grow calm. Sophie saw the driver once again put his very-well-practiced putt putt skills to use. His stance was stable, he practiced two very controlled and uniform swings, and then he drew his club back and struck precisely, sending the ball toward his target with only slightly less power than Tristan had used.

Except the differences didn't stop with just slightly less power, as he also had a little less accuracy. While Billy's ball did cause the cloud to disappear, it actually struck the edge of the ramp instead of sliding easily down the center as Tristan's had. The result was that it rode the railing longer and picked up a spin that fundamentally altered its exit and caused it to catch the small lip just before the hole and roll wide.

Billy was frustrated, but he seemed to mostly forget about that when he tapped his second putt straight in. "Two strokes on 18! Not bad at all!" He paused as Sophie approached the starting green. "Although I suppose it hardly matters, given a certain someone's ridiculous lead."

Sophie tried her best to look innocent. "I'm just playing a pretty good round of putt putt."

"Pretty good!" Billy said, scoffing. "You're so far under par I might accuse you of growing up on this course if I didn't know you better."

Sophie shrugged and considered which way to approach the hole. Given how far ahead she was, she didn't really see a reason not to fully explore what the hole had to offer. So rather than follow the lead of the two boys, she chose to play her ball over the bridge to see what that might be like. It was a long and fairly straight hole, after all. It seemed straightforward. The cloud path had already proven that wasn't entirely the case, though. There was bound to be still more to discover. She couldn't help but notice that the golden color of the bridge extended beyond it and toward the starting green for a pace or so. She wondered if they might be connected to the slightly depressed lanes where balls had clearly often rolled directly into the river. There was likely to be some trickery along the bridge path, but it might also be nice to challenge herself some.

She struck her ball with just enough force that would have easily crossed the center of the bridge and thus been carried over to the far side, but not so hard that it would roll all the way to the final putting area. She thought she was playing it safe and taking this route might give the others a bit of a chance.

The hole's designer had other plans.

The moment her ball reached the golden section before the bridge, a gap began to form between the two sides, which had begun to pivot and rise like a drawbridge seeking to let a tall boat through.

Sophie knew her ball didn't have enough speed to leap the gap. As she watched it, she wasn't even sure whether it would reach the top of the quickly-increasing slope. Surely enough, the ball came to a brief stop before beginning its backward slide toward the bottom, where it simply rolled all the way back to its starting position at her feet.

"Oooh, that's too bad!" Billy said snidely. "You could always follow our lead and head for the cloud."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Well now I definitely can't do that. Besides, I want to see everything that this hole has to offer."

"Suit yourself," the driver replied, moving aside to stand beside Tristan, who Sophie now recognized hadn't moved or spoken much at all since sinking his own putt.

Sophie lined up her next shot and hit the ball harder. It leapt cleanly over the splitting bridge, sailed well into the sky, and then landed with a squishy sound that definitely did not sound correct. That was clearly also why her ball didn't continue rolling toward the hole.

"What in the--?" she began to ask, but across the way from her, Billy actually started laughing.

"Oh, that's fun! Tristan, look at what she landed in."

Sophie couldn't see what they were talking about from her angle while the bridge was still raised, so she immediately began speed-walking toward where her ball had apparently gotten stuck. It didn't take her long at all to see the cause.

"That's actual mud, isn't it?" she asked dejectedly.

"I don't know," the driver said with a grin. "Why don't you go inspect it closer?"

Sophie looked down at the pit and considered just how difficult it might be for her to hit her ball out without first stepping in.

Tristan seemed to be looking at the situation with a different eye entirely. "Wait, would they really use magic to imitate common mud?"

"It's been done before," was Billy's reply. "Let's see if she'll risk her shoes to find out!"

Sophie didn't want to do that at all. She also had such an insurmountable lead that even a few bad strokes wouldn't affect the game's overall outcome. She'd stay clean and clear and do her best to reach down into the pit with her club.

"Going to be even trickier to get out of if you're staying above it," the driver said while making a show of moving around and considering several different angles. "I'm not sure how you'll be able to get a decent swing from that angle..."

Tristan spoke up again, being much more helpful. "Actually, I bet if she managed to balance on the wooden walls just beside the mud pit--"

"Tristan!" the driver interrupted, "Stop trying to help her! She's already well in the lead. There's no other chance for any of us to beat her."

Tristan simply shrugged. "I don't really care about that. I don't need to win to have fun. The challenge was what I enjoyed. And I'd rather she enjoy herself too."

Sophie smiled and nodded in thanks, and then turned the look a bit too saccharine as she redirected it toward Billy. "See that, Billy? Some of us are just trying to have a good time! Take some notes!"

She also did exactly as Tristan had recommended and found it to be a decent way of reaching her ball. It might even have been the best way that didn't involve her shoes getting muddy. With a firm, upward stroke, she plopped her ball out of the mud and far enough away that it cleared the obstacle entirely.

As she swung her putter and the ball slid straight into the final hole, the driver sighed. "I knew it was too good to be true. After those first two holes, I just should have known that I wasn't going to stand much of a chance against you. At least you're dropped a couple shots here. Your score isn't quite so immaculate."

She merely smirked and raised her club. "I am still victorious!"

"Yeah, yeah," Billy said, waving her off.

"But seriously, thanks for bringing us, Billy," she continued. "It was a lot of fun." She turned to the swordsmith. "What about you, Tristan? What did you think?"

It took a moment for the broad-shouldered boy to respond. He seemed to be gazing at something with a look of shock on his face, and it took Sophie a moment to realize that it must have been a notification he'd just received.

Sophie: Everything good? Tristan: Yeah... Sophie: So, care to explain... or answer my question? What did you think?

Tristan blinked and snapped out of it. "Sorry. Yeah, it was fun. I think I really enjoyed it."

"Good," Billy said, clearly a bit confused but still gesturing them both toward the exit where they deposited their clubs. "That was the intent, you know. Based on what I was seeing, I figured this was exactly what you two needed. I think it's fair to say that you've both been going too hard for too long. You needed a break and a bit of good, clean fun."

"Maybe so," Sophie admitted. "So what's next?"

Tristan shrugged. "I, uh..."

"Tristan, what is it?" Sophie prodded.

"I got another notification," he admitted, "but it doesn't matter."

Billy's eyes had gone as wide as saucers. "Another notification? Was it the 'something awesome just happened' kind, or the achievement kind? Hopefully it's not another of the 'let's go run off toward danger' kind."

"It was--the last one," Tristan quickly clarified, "but it seriously doesn't matter."

Sophie couldn't believe her ears though. "It's another target? Already?"

Tristan nodded as he turned to face her. "Someone called Redblade. And I've already made the decision."

Her stomach was suddenly roiling with concerns.

"It's probably what you'd want anyway," he said.

She hoped that was true, but the problem was that she wasn't entirely sure she knew what she wanted. "Tristan, we're in a Permanent Party now, so whatever you decide is going to affect me, too. We should probably make this decision toget--"

"Not on this, Sophie. I wouldn't let you talk me out of this one. My quest is important. It's a Path Quest." He paused. "But our lives are more important. I'm in no condition to even consider going after someone else right now. I'll just find Redblade again later."

Sophie felt herself breathe again, and most of the tension released from her shoulders.

Beside her, Billy was rubbing his head as if emerging from a moment of crisis. "Wow, it's a Path Quest you guys are after! No wonder you two have been doing such crazy-dangerous things! And at your level? Honestly, thank the gods you're not just going charging right after the next big bad evil guy. You, especially, need a break!" he said, pointing directly at Tristan. "Which is why we're here, as you might recall. So, yes! Ready for the next game then?"

As it turned out, they were. With the driver leading the way, they played through several more games that night. From a version of ring toss where any rings that didn't land would boomerang back to the thrower's hand, to a levitating bicycle track that literally took them all upside down for one section following several loop-de-loops, to a memory game that Sophie simply dominated, even when she ended up needing to match thirty-two practically identical cards.

The final activity was a "Test Your Might" booth, where Tristan had swung an oversized hammer so hard that the striker went well up into the section belonging to Tier 3s.

"I guess that makes sense, since you're level 20 now," Billy joked. "Feeling all big and powerful?"

Tristan merely laughed it off. "Yeah, I guess so. My Class has been giving me 4 points of Strength this whole tier, so I suppose I'm at a fair place."

Billy practically choked. "You're getting 4 Strength per level? Dude, I'm only getting 2! Must be nice! Not to mention how you've now gone and surpassed me by two whole levels! I remember when you were only level 12!"

Tristan sighed. "Yeah, I've had a productive couple years."

Sophie, now with Poof snuggled up and napping in her arms, couldn't help but agree. "Me too, thanks to you. It's been kind of a dream in that respect."

Tristan nodded to her and smiled his lopsided smile. "You're welcome, Sophie."

His old, warm kindness seemed to have returned. Paired with the surprisingly reasonable decision he'd made about the Redblade notification, Sophie hoped that her friend was recovering from whatever malaise had taken him.

They arrived back at Billy's coach, and the driver opened the door for them himself. "Where to next?" he asked, and Sophie still couldn't help but notice his eyes carried more than a little concern as they looked to Tristan for an answer.

She looked to Tristan, too, but the big, broad swordsmith just looked right back at her. "I think it should be your call this time."

Feeling a bit put on the spot, she considered their options and came to one she thought might serve them all. "I think I'd like to visit my sister."

Tristan's eyes widened. "Oh? OK. Sure."

Billy chimed in, "And where will she be?"

Sophie considered and settled into her usual seat. "Honestly, it's probably simplest for us to just head back to Jamal's. I know you want to visit him again anyway, Tristan."

Tristan cut in quickly. "Wait, but what about your sister?"

Sophie smiled. So he really isn't against the idea. "Well, based on our most recent correspondences, I can pretty confidently say that my sister is already on the way there, too."

"What? She is?"

"To Jamal's?" Billy asked, now looking very worried. "I don't think that's a good idea. If she isn't invited by Jamal, those hedge dragons will roast her!"

"No no no," Sophie tried to explain. "She's headed to Rockmoor, since I told her we could probably meet her there. But who knows, maybe we could potentially invite her over to Jamal's?"

Since both of the men seemed amenable to that, it then became their official plan.

"Great," she said as they all finished loading into the carriage. It had definitely been an exciting night. "Back to Jamal's we go." And maybe she was just imagining things, but she did think she saw the spark of excitement reigniting in his eyes. She really hoped she wasn't imagining it. She couldn't wait much longer to see what Tier 3 would offer him.

But it's not just for him, she realized with a smile. Tier 3 was closer than ever for her as well, and much sooner than she'd ever dared to hope it could be. It was time for her to plot her Path both into Tier 3 and beyond.

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