A green devilborn woman with a toned, muscular build and a commanding presence stared at her reflection in the mirror in the lavishly decorated restroom of the Silvercrest Ballroom. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as she tried to clear her mid-party jitters. She took a deep breath and muttered to herself, “C’mon Hale, you’ve got this.”

Despite her strong, imposing stature, she just couldn’t shake off the worry creeping up over her. She leaned over the basin, splashing cool water on her face and assessed herself in the mirror. Her long, dark green hair pulled back into a tight bun behind her curled horns, letting her sharp elvish features shine through her green devilish appearance. She flexed her arm, admiring the hard work she’d put in over the years.

“You’re strong, you’re handsome, you’re loveable, everyone’s going to like you! You’ve got this, Hale!”

She had been looking forward to gathering her adventuring party, and after reciting a few more affirmations, quelled her fears enough to try. The door to the bathroom swung closed behind her as she pushed on towards the crowd. Thankfully, it was nowhere nearly as lively as she expected. Some students were dancing together to the music, a soft tone that ached of city music that she didn’t quite care for. She scanned the crowd, looking for someone who seemed friendly. The same guy that woke her up on the lawn was sitting off by the wall of the ballroom, alone and sipping from a glass of water. He didn’t even try to mingle, just waited and watched the crowd. She pushed her way through, making her way past a group that she could only describe as a dance battle, giving them a wide berth as she reached her target.

“Hey! Micah, right?”

“Huh, oh! Hey there, how’s the mixer for you?”

His voice really did carry like her dad’s. It made her miss home.

“It’s… it’s goin’! I saw you alone over here so I felt it a good idea to say hi,” Hale chimed.

“Oh, well, I’m just waiting for the groups to form up, I don’t want to weigh anyone down by jumping in too soon,” said Micah, sheepishly.

“Nonsense! You’re so skinny! You couldn’t weigh anyone down!”

He let out a warm chuckle, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head before stumbling a bit when she nudged him.

“You know what I mean! I’m a little goofy, I’ll find some group that’ll carry me through it.”

“Nah, I could totally lift you easily! You’re only what, sixty kils?”

“I- Yeah, but that’s not what I-”

“I think you’d be a good teammate, you seem like someone who knows things I ain’t too good with!”

He laughed and waved her off.

“No, no, go on out and leave me be, I’ll be fi-”

She plopped down with a rattle of her plate mail next to him, spooking the poor girl dressed in all black and hiding behind her hat a few seats down.

“We’re gonna be party mates, alright? You and me, we’ll take on the world!”

She extended a clawed hand, her sincere smile gleaming in the ballroom's candlelight. He couldn’t help himself, she was adamant and seemed fun, so he took her hand and shook it.

“Sure thing, by the way, I never caught your name, what was it?”

“Haley Broadhammer. You can call me Hale, though!”

They leaned back in their seats, her muscular, armored body dwarfing the skinny frame of her new friend.

“It’s great to meet you properly, Hale. How many people are you thinking of collecting?” he joked, but couldn’t tell if she caught it.

“Well, from all the stories my dad told me as a kid, we’re gonna need uhhh… Someone strong– that’s me, someone kind– that’s you… Any other ideas?”

“Let me think...”

Micah thought for a second. Between her brawn and his nature, she was right. Together, they picked through the crowds, looking to see who all was along, and who might need some help. His eyes landed on a wild-looking elf– no, half elf, seasoning some snacks provided for the mixer on their plate. Their ears were a little longer than usual, and they had the wildest haircut. They spread cheese across a slice of bread with a survival knife and flicked it around to slot it in a holster before taking a bite from the crackers and cheese on their plate. The half-elf locked eyes with Micah, and as soon as someone walked between their stare, they were gone.

“Hey, Hale, I think- What do you think of-”

He looked around for the strange half-elf, drawing a sigil in the air and invoking quiet words of power as his eyes gained a soft golden glow. He whispered softly, hoping the spell would work properly and send his message to the stranger.

“Hey, come over here, we wanna talk to you!”

“About what?”

The half-elf was squatting in the seat to Micah’s left, going down on a block of cheese they had snagged from the table.

“Oh! by the- Hello!”

They spooked Hale and Micah, who hadn’t expecting to see them there. Hale actually reached for her sword instinctively, before remembering she left it with her things out in the lockers.

“What do you want?”

Micah nudged Hale out of her little moment, before speaking up.

“Well, you seemed good with a knife and-”

“Can you cook?”

That made Micah laugh again, wiggling his hand to show he was unsure. Hale nodded, giving him a thumbs up before flexing.

“I can! Gotta feed these somehow, y’know?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Cool. I’m Seek.”

Seek immediately took another bite from their cheese. Hale and Micah waited for more of an introduction that never came. They idly chatted after an awkward minute of silence, not noticing a friendly little silver kobold stepped out on stage. He tapped on the speaking stone, making a booming noise echo through the ballroom grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Is this- Ah, yes! Hello everyone! I just wanted to make a quick announcement, as I’d like to hold true to a promise with a dear friend!”

Seek’s ears perked up and the entire room turned their attention to the kobold on stage. Micah and Hale exchanged a curious look, wondering what in the hells above the announcement could be. The kobold continued, his amplified voice outshining the murmur of the crowd with ease.

“I have a friend here, the child of a true hero!”

The quiet chatter picked up as everyone made wild guesses who it was.

“I assume you all know of Josephi Pravda, Blade of the Union and Hero of the New World?”

A portion of the crowd cheered, showing their adoration for the hero. Seek and Micah seemed unfazed, while Hale felt a ping of familiarity with the name, but couldn’t quite place it.

“Well, his progeny, Thalia Silvercrest, is in the room here this fine afternoon! I assure you, from such a fine pedigree, she’d be an absolute gem to have along through your studies!”

The girl a few seats down from the group pulled the brim of her hat lower on her head as she brought her knees up and tried to hide from prying eyes. Micah raised an eyebrow as the shadows against the wall coiled around her. The kobold shined a light on her with a big, friendly smile plastered across his snout.

“Talk to her! She’s bound to be a great addition to any team!”

The kobold bowed and left backstage, and everyone in the room had their eyes on the poor girl. Whispers in the crowd grew to a murmur, and back to the noise of a proper party.

“Wow, the Hammer of the North had a kid? She’s gotta be something.”

She tugged her hat lower, grasping at the shadows with her mind.

“Gods, of course she’s a hero’s kid, that’s why we didn’t see her at the exams.”

Almost there, she could sense the shadow’s edge near the light stone illuminating her.

“Hah! Imagine trying to live off your name, what a tool.”

Just a few more inches now, and she could fade into the black.

“Man, I wonder what’s for dinner, the food here’s awful.”

The cacophony of noise from the crowd hammered at her ears like an icepick. She had almost worked up the courage to go out and talk to some quiet scholars she noticed earlier, but right now, she just wanted to go home. But this was it, and all eyes were on her before she ever had the chance to do something. She froze, hugging her knees tight to her chest, putting all her effort into not crying.

“Hey, Thalia, right?”

It was Micah, the good-hearted guy from earlier today. He was flanked by a large devilborn girl and… Was that the elf from the train? They looked even more feral up close. She only barely stammered out a weak “Yeah.”

“Looks like you could use some air, wanna step out with us? We were just about to go see if there’s anything good to drink at the tavern on campus.”

“We were?” the devilborn questioned.

Micah elbowed Hale in the side with an audible clank.

“Oh! Yeah! We were, you should definitely come with us, it’s gettin’ all stuffy and you really seem like you could use fresh air.”

She nodded, still hugging her knees. Micah and Hale offered their hands to her with the friendliest smiles she’d seen in months. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and took them, standing up with their help. With a weak smile, she followed the three out from the ballroom to a field outside. Most of the older students at this point were busy getting ready for the year, so the commons had a peaceful quiet to it. A gentle sea breeze carried cooler air through the campus, reminding Thalia to relax a little.

Micah picked out a shady spot atop a hill under a mighty oak tree, sitting with his back against its massive trunk. Hale laid spread eagle in the sun, basking in its warmth while Seek jumped up onto a low-hanging branch, swinging their legs back and forth. Thalia settled in against a root, taking a nervous posture as questions the group might ask swirled in her head. Micah broke the silence after they all got settled in and relaxed.

“So, Hale, where are you from? I’m from the east coast, out in Solaria.”

Thalia's heart sank at the mention of her home country.

“Oh, home’s ain’t too far from here, there’s a logging town a day trip away where my dads raised me, out in Ulsterich.”

“Oh hey! I spent a few days there on my way in! Lovely place, but gods, those trees were huge! How do you even cut down trees? They’re like ten paces wide!”

Hale flexed her arms, laughing, “Runs in our blood.”

“So what brought you out to Silver Path then? Sounds like you had something there, and the tuition is killer on the wallet.”

“Well, there’s always gonna be loggers. Missin’ one ain’t gonna be a big deal, and I’ve always wanted to have… A bigger meanin’, I guess. My dad took some stake out on his loggin’ company to send me here, wantin’ to help me best he could to see me shine.”

Micah nodded along, scratching at his beard. “That’s… Actually really cool. Lucky on the dad part, I had to take out a loan, hah. How about you, Seek? Where are you from?”

“Up north, grew up in the swamps, kept getting in trouble, told me to come here. It’d be good for me to see things.”

They took a bite from a strip of dried meat from a hidden pocket, showing their sharp canines to the others as they tore a chunk from it.

“Oh nice! Yeah, I was hoping to get in with a good crowd myself, and so far so good, right?”

As disarming as Micah’s laugh was, Thalia felt a sense of dread rise as she knew it’d be her turn next. She shifted uncomfortably, planning her response so she didn’t appear a snob. The others in the mixer seemed to think she was some uptight noble with no experience, and she wanted her new group to know it wasn’t the truth.

“Oh! Hey, Thalia, how about you, where’d you come from?”

She took a deep breath, holding her hands together and picking at her nails nervously. She glimpsed Micah doing something with his fingers and felt a bit more at ease. Was that magic? Amelia would do that sometimes. Whatever it was, it quelled her anxiety a bit, helping her to relax.

“Well, I’ve been living with my grandfather and aunt on his homestead out north in Novateria, up in the mountains.”

“Novateria?!”

The others didn’t hide their surprise. It wasn’t common to meet someone from the colonies, and Thalia knew this.

“Yeah, he had a huge swath of land out in the mountains we lived on, it was rough but hey, I’m here now.”

Micah raised an eyebrow, intrigued, before asking, “Rough?”

She tucked back her hair, feeling more naturally at ease. They would not pester her about her grandfather, whose history she admittedly knew little about.

“Yeah, out there we did everything. We gathered food, set traps, and made everything ourselves. Well, I know how to do it, but I was never too good at the manual things in practice. Auntie Amelia taught me magic and made sure I had a healthy respect for the world.”

“What kind of traps? The elk out there are twice the size of the elk back in Vinland.”

The more reserved Seek showed a bit of interest, hoping to relate to Thalia on a level he hadn’t been able to with many others. Thalia smiled with a nod, relieved at the chatter.

“Yeah, we were pretty busy catching our own food, but mostly working on the house for winter. But devils above, the thing I miss was just the freedom and openness of the land. The air was cleaner, the nights were quieter, and the stars, by the gods the stars...”

Thalia lost herself for a moment, remembering a summer night where Amelia took her out to teach her the constellations. She had learned what they meant, and the secrets they held.

“That feeling of freedom and self-reliance is why I’m working to follow their footsteps, I guess.”

Seek shifted on his branch, laying in a dangerously unbalanced way only they could pay off.

“Knowing that the only thing for you is to move forward in life, no home to tie yourself down, nothing but you and the wild frontier. Gods, Novateria was amazing.”

Micah smiled as Thalia opened up, saying, “I’m feeling a lot more sheltered than I thought, growing up on the coastline. I never really had to forage or anything, let alone survive like that. I can’t say I’m not impressed.”

“For real, yeah, we worked hard back home, but it always took a village, can’t imagine doing it all alone,” Hale said, impressed with her story.

Seek and Thalia shared a quiet smirk, not wanting to alienate them, but pleasantly surprised they had a shared experience despite their wildly different backgrounds. It was refreshing for Thalia, finally able to get to know people, and she grew more relaxed thinking about it as she warmed up to her crew. They spent the hours leading up to the tavern’s opening as friends, sharing stories and getting to know each other.