James groaned as he woke. His body was stiff and sore from three days of fighting. The plant monsters had beaten him down more than once and he simply needed a break. He had noticed the night before that Luna wasn't fairing any better, and even Amber had gone straight to bed.

Rubbing his eyes, he climbed out of bed. Once again, everyone was asleep apart from Amber, who was already sitting in the living room. When he joined her, he found her looking out the window at the broken moon.

"What do you think happened to it?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "What I do know is that we need a day off."

Ears perking up, Amber turned to him. "Thank god."

He wanted to laugh, but his body didn't let him. Instead, he fell onto the couch and kicked up his feet on the coffee table. "We should tell the others once they wake."

"Which means, I'm telling them," she joked.

"Yup."

Sighing, Amber held a cup toward him. Filling it with water, he earned a thankful nod before she brought the cup to her lips. The Soul Water infused her soul with energy, waking her more than what coffee would do.

"I think I'll visit Everest today," Amber said after a minute.

"She's a good dragon." Rolling his neck, he started to stretch a little as his muscles woke up. "Maybe I should visit her as well."

"You need to enchant. I can handle the dragons." Still sipping her water, she added, "have we been growing enough? Are we getting stronger?"

James checked her soul and found it to be nearly at level five. What had taken him weeks, she was reaching in days. "You're growing faster than I did."

Her smile didn't reach her eyes as she turned to him. "That's good at least. Once we recruit more people, we'll be able to help train them easier."

"Do you spend all day thinking about our growing group?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Not all day," she said with a weak smile. "Just enough that I can help you when the time comes."

Frowning, he turned to her fully. "Everything okay?"

"Just tired today." Yawning to prove her point, she held out her cup again. "I'm not used to fighting for days on end. At least not this number of enemies."

Refilling her cup, he pulled a second one from his storage and filled it. A moment later, Luna stepped into the living room, yawning and reaching for the cup.

"Gimme…"

Smiling, he handed it over as she sat down in his lap, making him grunt. A tail was soon batting his chest and face as Amber giggled.

"I heard we are staying in today," Luna voiced.

Pushing the tail away from himself, he said, "I think it's a good idea. I need to check in on everyone, and we all need to relax for at least a day or two."

"I vote for two days," Amber said. "James will have figured out our hot water situation by then."

Rolling his eyes, James didn't respond. A few minutes passed in silence before Amber's ears twitched and she got up. "I'll start gathering everyone."

Nodding, he watched her leave. Luna slid off his lap, and claimed the spot by his side. Yawning again, she sipped her water. "She seemed different today."

"She's tired," he stated. "We all are."

Slumping in her seat, she nodded. "I'm not used to fighting such hard monsters all the time. Their numbers are staggering, but I at least feel like I'm getting closer to you."

Pulling up his Soul Strength, he frowned.

Soul Strength: 8.0598

"Just wait until you reach level eight," he said. "I need around ten thousand kills to level up again."

Eyes wide, Luna stared at him for several long seconds. "T-ten thousand?"

"Yeah. There's nothing in this city that can increase me any quicker. I don't know if we'll find very many things that will help me grow quicker."

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Setting down her cup, she leaned into his side. "I'm worried what your soul will feel like when you level up again."

"So am I," he admitted.

Humming, she settled in to share his warmth. It wasn't longer than a few minutes later that Jamie showed up.

"Day off?" she asked.

James glanced at her. "I was thinking we could look at the plumbing in the building and help with creating water and heating it."

Perking up, Jamie nodded right away. "It's been a while since its just been you and me, dear brother."

"You know it's been less than two weeks since we left the city right?"

Shrugging, Jamie claimed one of the chairs. "It feels like longer. I didn't think we would be stuck in a city, fighting just to claim a small slice of safety."

"I didn't either," he admitted.

Luna yawned yet again. "I think I'm going to nap today."

Frowning, he poked her side. "You aren't going to sleep the day away."

Before she could retort, Mender walked in, yawning in the early morning. "I heard we are taking a break for a few days."

"We are," James stated. "We can talk more about it once everyone gets here."

They didn't have to wait long before everyone else filtered in. Amber was the last to join them and moved to lean against the window nearby, still looking distant. He didn't have time to ponder her however as he greeted people.

The only person that didn't show up was Elder Bo and with a quick glance at Amber, he was about to question it when she shook her head. James couldn't remember if he had seen the elder at all the day before, or even the day before that.

Closing down that line of thought for the time being, he panned his gaze around the room. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we need a day or two off," James stated. "I for one want to work on enchanting. I miss it, and I'm honestly just tired."

A collective breath of relief washed out of everyone. Linda even returned her crossbow to her ring and held out her hand to him.

"Yes?" he questioned.

"I need leather. I need to practice my skills If I want to sell something in the next city," she stated.

"You mean I'll sell," Luna teased.

A few chuckles spread around the group. Pulling out a roll of leather, James handed it over. "I don't know what you all want to do, but do something that isn't fighting. Sleep, dance, play music, I don't care. Just relax. Only Luna isn't allowed to sleep all day."

"Hey!" Luna protested.

Everyone laughed at that before the mood in the room lifted. Bronson elbowed his brothers. "Let's go see what makes this building tick. We'll need the knowledge for when we settle down." Turning, the three oni brothers left.

Linda waved once before mumbling something about sitting on the roof to craft. Mender turned to Luna. "Want to play a few games of chess?"

Luna nodded right away. "You'll have to teach me."

Jamie sighed. "Don't beat her too badly."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Chuckling, James watched them leave to find their own place to relax. Turning to Amber, he watched her yawn one more time before waving.

"I'm heading to Everest," she announced. As she left, her tail barely swayed as if the world was holding her down.

Even Jamie noticed. Once the cat was gone, she asked, "did something happen with her?"

"We're all just tired," James answered. "She's allowed to have a down day."

Nodding, Jamie sat down next to him. "We should start with inspecting the basement of this building. We might be able to enchant the old water lines with the ability to create water and maybe even find the old water heater."

Rubbing his chin, he nodded. "If we can figure this out, then we can retrofit buildings we claim and make them more livable."

"That's what I believe as well." Smiling, she pulled out her notebook. "I have some theories on how we can do this, but it's going to be a lot of trial and error. We'll need to practice with different mediums before trying on the actual items."

James settled in to hear her out.

***

Amber reached the dragons swiftly and without pause. Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute as she struggled with the dream she had during the night.

Why the hell did I dream that I was holding a dying Luna? Everyone around were corpses and our home was destroyed. Only James was left with me. What the hell?

Shivering, she shook off the thoughts as best she could. She didn't want to imagine an event like that coming true. She couldn't picture anything that could kill Luna at the level she was currently at. Plus, James would stop anything like that from happening.

Sighing, she stepped inside the grocery store and was promptly tackled by Everest. The icy blue dragon pressed her face into Amber's, sniffing her.

"Everest!" Amber laughed.

"Play! Play!"

"Yes, I've come to play." Pushing the dragon off her, Amber rubbed Everest's head while getting up. "What should we play?"

"Chase kitty!"

Frowning, she crossed her arms. "Who told you that you could call me kitty?"

Shrinking back, Everest whimpered.

Eyes wide, Amber rushed forward and hugged the dragon. "I'm sorry. I was teasing you."

A tongue licked her cheek a moment later. "Still play?"

"Yes," Amber said with another laugh. "But first I want to talk with your mother. I'm not going to be fighting for a few days."

"Yay, play!"

Rubbing the dragon's head, Amber left to walk further into the store. It only took a moment to reach Mother. "We are taking the next couple of days off."

Humming, Mother lowered her head to the ground. "That is wise. The body can only push for so long with how hard the Forsaken are in this area."

Nodding, Amber sat and crossed her legs. "Why am I having dreams of my friends' deaths?"

"You are worried over what might come. Does it make you want to distance yourself from them?"

"It does," Amber admitted.

"Yet you need to grow closer to James. Prove to him that he can rely on you with anything and everything. Are you more scared of that commitment than you realize?"

Sighing, Amber shook her head. "I don't know. He's a good man, but I don't want to lie to him. I want to tell him that something bad is going to happen."

"You must not tell him. Don't tell any of them. I shouldn't have even told you, but I knew that if I didn't, you wouldn't be there for him like you should."

Closing her eyes, Amber rested her face in her hands. "Very well. I promised Everest that I would play for a bit, but I should also check in on everyone."

"Don't spoil her too much."

"That will be hard," Amber admitted.

They shared a laugh before Amber got up and wandered back to the child. Everest's tail was wagging happily as she bounced from foot to foot. She was ready to give chase as Amber thought about the future.

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