"Yes, foolish. Yes, reckless. You don't have to tell me that I was these things."

Nala said nothing, remained crouching beside the bench Tzugakk lay upon. Finding him had been difficult; he was not in a regular room. He was in a cupboard.

"Or if you want, you can. Say something, Nala. Please."

"...how are you?"

Tzugakk looked up at Nala. She was staring at the floor.

"Halfway," he said, raising his hand to show his BrightCircle and the two purple butterflies flitting around above it. "Halfway to life and death in the pits. But hurt? No. Damaged? No no. When the girl attacked me, the pain was not bad. Perhaps she was kind."

Nala spoke to the floor: "I do not think so."

"She saw merits, she earned merits. That's all. Can she be blamed? No, no no no, playing the game, following the rules—so must we. Learn the rules. Play the game."

"I don't like games. I don't want to learn about this place. I just want to survive until we can escape."

"You cannot choose, not this." Tzugakk grinned at Nala, showing his pointy teeth. "Nala is always learning."

"Reading those books? Researching? Nobody else was in the library. Nobody else cares. There are no merits for learning."

"Knowledge can be strength."

"But strength is always strength."

"No, not always! Not always, Nala, you know this—the trial, the test that opened our path to this place, that ogre had strength, yes? So much strength but so useless—"

"We were lucky."

"We were clever! No, no no, you were clever, I was useful—"

"And we both were lucky."

"Luck made winning easier. Tactics made winning possible."

Nala sighed and shook her head.

"You are in a strange mood," she said, standing and helping Tzugakk up. "Confusing and hopeful."

"Hopeful, yes. I have been killed twice in this place, but I can still talk to you. There are more chances here, than down below. Chances to fail, chances to learn, chances to try again."

Nala was already walking out, leaving Tzugakk to follow after her.

"Perhaps the others are looking for us," she said. "Mist and Sly will be waiting at Everglim."

In fact everyone was downstairs, near the entrance. Mist was dabbing at her eyes with a borrowed handkerchief, Amanda and Praetorian were sitting apart and pointedly not looking at each other, and Sly was leaning against a wall, his dark-auraed bow next to him.

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"Hey," he said. "Here's our captain."

"Captain?" Praetorian said, standing to greet Nala and Tzugakk. "I suppose she might be, though it seems somehow inappropriate. Hello, Tzugakk. Been killed twice now, have you?"

"It, it's weird to think of it like that," Mist said, a little hoarsely. She was staring at the butterfly above her BrightCircle. "If I wasn't in this place, I'd be dead."

"Life carries with it a complex price," Praetorian said airily. "Death would be more simple."

"Don't believe it," Amanda muttered. She glanced at Nala. "Mist got beaten up last night. We've got to do something to help her."

Nala was frowning. Mostly at Sly.

"What?" he said.

"How did you know we were here?"

"We're in the same party so we've got this, like, link thing. Some chick in my dorm told me about it, check it out."

Sly pressed one hand over the other, and a second later there was a chime from Nala's hand. She looked down to see words glowing above her BrightCircle:

hey captain whats up

"Hm."

"Yeah, so, I messaged Praets and he gave me the goss. Tough break for Misty and Gakks, huh?"

"Um. Nala, I, I don't want to go back there. To b-battle quarter or those apartments or, or anywhere there are fighters—"

"Did you choose your room?"

"Y-yes—"

"Then you cannot change it." Nala glanced at Tzugakk. "That is a rule."

"But—"

"Every night, we can go with you," Tzugakk said. "Every morning we can come to you."

"B-but—"

"Nobody can enter your room without your permission," Nala said. "That is another rule."

Mist's face became pinched and she burst into tears. Amanda patted her hand absently.

"You certainly seem better informed today," Praetorian said, raising an eyebrow at Nala.

"I have been learning."

"This place," Tzugakk said softly. "It is formed of stone and wood and bricks and iron ... but it is built of rules."

"How poetic."

"So, uh, do you guys have like a plan or something?" Sly asked. "For getting merits and stuff?"

"Um," Mist said, still a bit sniffly but putting on a brave face. "I heard some people talking, they were getting support merits for helping out around here, the infirmary I mean, cleaning and stuff I think ... it's a safe zone so we can't get attacked ... not while we're inside anyway..."

"Support merits are not valuable," Nala said.

"I suppose there's little reward without risk," Praetorian said. "Still, certainly worth investigating."

"I, uh, I heard some stuff around my dorm too," Sly said. "Uh, I mean monster hunting and stuff, I dunno if you guys'd be into that."

Mist raised her head, then winced and looked down again, clutching her spear tightly. No one else reacted with anything approaching interest.

"Yeah, didn't think so, but ... yeah. Uh, if it's okay with everyone I think I'm gonna head back there now, got some, y'know, some stuff going on maybe. So. Yeah."

"As for myself, I shall investigate the workshops in Everglim," Praetorian said. "The zombie must of course accompany me. Perhaps it would be best for our valkyrie to stay here and enquire about those support merits? Which leaves Nala and Tzugakk, will you come with me?"

"No."

"Well. I suppose that's that, then."

Nala and Tzugakk left the infirmary last, after Sly had headed back to Fauxgreen and Praetorian and Amanda had set out for Everglim.

"Um, you guys could stay here too, if you wanted," Mist said. "Maybe we could volunteer here together ... it might be fun..."

She trailed off and looked down at her feet.

"I guess I'll see you later then," she said. "Um. Stay safe, okay? Be careful out there!"

"We will be back to collect you before sunset," Nala said. "Until then don't leave the infirmary."

With that she left, Tzugakk following close behind. He waved back at Mist, and she stood at the infirmary's entrance until they were out of sight.

Then she went inside, to try to earn merits, and to try not to cry.