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Chapter 153 - Frustration
🕑 Added 2024-10-10 20:10:16 +0000 UTCChris
I trusted Jonathan fully to take care of the other end while I shifted my focus to what I needed to do next. The herd was through the gate and now it was time to close it.
A giant [Icy Bastion] sprung into existence to block off the gap while the builders ran in from the sides to fashion the gate closed. My wall of ice was plenty strong to keep the horses in while the builders worked to secure the gate.
The only thing left was to have Sarah start working her skills and see how long this would take.
"Sarah!" I called out to her loudly. I wasn't sure where in the camp she was but my voice was loud enough to be heard, "You're up!"
~~
Sarah
"You're up!" Christopher's voice resounded over the neighs and the sounds of hooves as she stared over the rambunctious herd.
She had just watched Jon tank the charge of the entire herd and stop them dead in their tracks. It took a moment for her to react after what she saw.
They trained together whenever the chance arose but she had never seen him do something like that. It was like he was an insurmountable wall that you could only shake your head and back away from.
When his skills flared, there was something else there that gave off the feeling that no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to get past him.
Sarah had to shake her head to get it straight and dismiss the useless thoughts, she had a job to do and she wasn't going to mess up the first time she was needed.
When she originally accepted Christopher's offer, she didn't know exactly what it entailed, but she did know that she wasn't going to be a Ranger anymore.
Changing it to anything else took her attention away from what she was changing it to and she only realized what her new class was after the fact. She wasn't upset with her decision or had any regrets, but she hadn't known the direction she was going when she first said yes.
Gaining her affinity helped and it eased her into her new class tremendously. Nature had a wild breath of possibilities and it didn't always mean plants. It also touched on animals as well, and that made her job a lot easier.
[Soothing Voice] had worked on the wild animals they had captured before but this was her first time using it something so much stronger than her. Getting [Sooth] to upgrade made it so much easier to calm animals down and they took to her voice way better than before. If that hadn't happened, she didn't think she would be able to do anything to the horses.
With all the hunting and training she had done, she had a few more skills to help her but she was still in for a challenge. While she had ridden horses before, she had never had to tame one and she was nervous about doing it.
She didn't want to let Christopher down after everything he had done for her. Without him, she and her brother would still be starving in her crumbling house.
She set her face and gained some determination after thinking like that. If she could survive then, she could tame a few horses.
"Alright, nice horsey," She cooed at the nearest one, starting to work her skills.
~~
Abigail
"It doesn't seem to be going very well." She sharply pointed out.
Christopher sighed from beside her, "It will. Give her time."
Abigail looked back at the whining horse that Sarah was trying, and failing, to calm down and frowned. She had been at it for almost an hour and had no luck so far.
The gnawing feeling in her stomach that she couldn't get rid of was rearing its head and she couldn't help but vent her frustrations.
"The horses are nearly double her level. You've given her an impossible task and even if it is possible, it will take a while to get through all of the horses! There are over fifty of them and she hasn't even tamed one of them." Abigail rebutted, frustration clear in her tone.
Christopher turned to look at her questioningly, "What would you have me do? I am no Tamer and I've done all I can to help, there is nothing more I can do but wait."
"I believe in Sarah as much as anyone, but you have set her up for failure!" Abigail shot back.
He then fell silent for a moment before fixing his gaze back on where Sarah was working.
"What is this actually about? I know you are not mad about the horses." He asked. Calmer than the rising voices from before.
It was Abigail's turn to sigh now. She had been trying to keep her rising frustration down, but it leaked out anyway. The past few weeks hadn't been the best for her but she was trying to overcome it.
He was right in that she wasn't mad about the horses but she couldn't help but get angry standing next to him.
"What isn't there to be mad about?" She said, "We travel all day and sleep on the ground at night. People come and go constantly, making it impossible to keep track of everything. Your solution to any lasting problem is 'We'll make due' and no one has been advancing since we returned.
"Vinny barely gets any essence from crafting, Jon doesn't get any from being a Merchant if you do all the negotiating, and I haven't gotten any since the tutorial ended!
"The only person who has gained any levels of real value is Austin!" She listed off.
She hadn't meant to have this conversation now but it was as good a time as any. It was a discussion they needed to have and she couldn't keep putting it off.
"There's nothing I can do about any of that! I want to level as much as the next guy but we can't make anything more permanent until we reach our destination and that won't be for a while." Chris pointed out.
Abigail knew that it wasn't his fault. She knew she was just taking out her frustrations on him but that didn't make her any less angry. Angry about things that had been building up for a while that she was just now letting out.
"And what of Anna and Josh? They need stability now more than anything yet we can't give them that! I can't give them that because we haven't placed the pylon!
"They need a roof over their heads and meals to eat, not to be sleeping on the ground inside a tent and eat only what we can forage. They need to be in school, they need structure and security and I can't give them that!" She vented loudly.
That was the crux of the matter and what had caused most of her rising frustrations. Her children needed something that she couldn't give them and it killed her inside for that to be so.
The whiplash of being pulled inside a mystical tutorial was hard enough to process and get through, but now they were back. They had returned to a planet in ruin and she was freaking out about it.
Her mind was still stuck on the fact Anna had a schedule she had to keep. Swim lessons were starting soon and Josh had tee-ball to start. They had a summer vacation planned and all of it was out the window.
It was hard enough to keep it together in an unknown land facing a rising threat, but now they were back. They had returned to their house, they had seen what remained of what they had once known and held familiar.
The dichotomy of what they should be doing, the plans they had made for the summer, and what they were actually doing couldn't stop showing up in her head.
There were no outside forces making her keep everything contained. No more waves to force her into action and distract her from all the little things that had built up. She had to dismiss anything that wasn't readily important for their survival before, but that wasn't the case now.
That counterweight was now gone. There was nothing for her to keep her mind occupied with while her worries bounced around in her mind. It was almost a struggle to lay her head down at night when she knew all she would be able to think about was how she was failing.
Failing as a mother.
Christopher just stared at her blankly after her outburst. She had increased in volume as her rant extended and by the end, she was nearly shouting at him. Immediately after doing it, she felt bad.
It wasn't his fault she was feeling this way and Jon had said as much when they spoke about it, but she couldn't help but point the blame at him. It was easier that way than blaming herself.
"I didn't know you felt that way." He said flabbergasted, still shocked at her sudden outburst.
"I'm sorry Chris, I shouldn't have yelled at you." She apologized. The heat had left her now and regret replaced it. She knew he didn't deserve that but she couldn't help how she felt.
"You've seen the map and you know our plans. You know everything I know regarding our path for the future, how do you want to change it?" He asked. "If you think I am doing something wrong, tell me so I can change it."
Any of the wind that was left in her sails thoroughly left her now. He didn't come back combative at her outburst but asked for advice. For her input on what they could be doing better.
"I don't know, Chris. I can't help but feel stifled, bottled up, on the road. I want to put down roots and build something, anything to feel at home again. Most of the solutions to our problems would be solved by placing the pylon and it's hard to think of other ones." She sighed.
Chris approached and gave her a giant bear hug as she sighed. Even though it would do anything to fix their problems, it was his way of trying to comfort her.
It put a small smile on her face seeing him do things like he used to.
"We can speed up our travels and stop at fewer places. The horses should help in that regard but we can also cut out some of the spots we had planned." He said holding her shoulders after they broke apart.
He started smirking, "Unless you still think the horses a waste of time?"
She let out a laugh at that. He was right, it wasn't the horses she was mad about and they would speed up their travels tremendously. She didn't know by how much until they were tamed but they looked like they could pull the carts at a great speed.
Way better than the walking speed they were going now.
"They'll shave down the time by a lot. Maybe we'll get there before the year ends." She said before she thought of something else.
The thought made her smile widen as she taunted Chris, "You know, we might need to make a timeline for nine months."
He looked at her curiously and tilted his head to the side.
"You've heard the activities some partake in at night. What are you going to do if someone gets pregnant? Are you going to have them give birth on the road in carts?" She joked.
Heightened perception was good for a great many things, traveling in large groups with couples was not one of those things. Any with the stat as their primary one had it the worst but even higher leveled people had trouble not listening when they didn't want to.
His face nearly turned white after hearing that and he stood stock still. His mind hiccupped, no doubt trying to get the image out of his head. It took everything in her not to burst out laughing.
"They wouldn't... but they... they would use... but there are none..." He struggled with that before looking back at her, "Yes, we will get there before then. Even if I have to tie you all together and charge ahead, we will get there in nine months."
"Slow down there cowboy, I was just giving you a hard time, mostly, we don't have to worry about that yet, that I know of, but I was just pointing out that it's a possibility." She said before pointing Chris in a different direction, "Why don't you go and help Sarah, she seems to be getting frustrated and that won't help with what she's trying to accomplish."
"Yes, that, I can do. I'll leave worrying about... the other thing to you." He said before walking away.
She snorted as he departed. It wasn't like it was leprosy, he didn't need to treat it like it was a disease.
At least they would be raising their pace and that was all she could ask for. It wasn't a permanent fix to their problems but it would help speed things along.
She couldn't help but yearn for a schedule. A pattern of her day she could plan out and stick to and get rid of the unknowns plaguing her.
Comments
Alexander C Hyde
He started smirking, "Unless you still think the horses (are) a waste of time?"
Alexander C Hyde
Chris approached and gave her a giant bear hug as she sighed. Even though it (wouldnβt)would do anything to fix their problems, it was his way of trying to comfort her.
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter π
