Blue Haven was a small restaurant on a long street, the narrow entrance sandwiched between two much larger eateries, the one on the left a colourful Nimbian noodle house, the one on the right some kind of barbecue place, the frontage dark and smoky.

"I, um, I noticed this place a couple of times," Mist said, as she and the others stood outside. "It reminds me of us. Our party, I mean. There's all these big flashy restaurants with lots of people going to them, then this one ... alone, little, boxed in ... could we go here? Please? All of us?"

"No menu, uninviting frontage, I'm not even sure what manner of repast they serve," Praetorian said. He gazed up at the handpainted sign—unlike the majority of restaurants it didn't use luminescent paint or shaped glow crystals. Instead, the name 'Blue Haven' was written in a tidy but unassuming black script. On either side of the closed curtain entrance hung two paper lanterns, red with gold swirls.

"I think it looks okay," Amanda said. "I don't really need to eat anyway."

"You should, though," Praetorian murmured. "It helps maintain your binding. Without sustenance you'll just wither away. Do you know, upon considered inspection and thoughtful contemplation, I believe I rather like this place. Miss Reginleif, will you lead the charge?"

Mist couldn't hide her smile as she led the others in, Blue Haven's interior neither surprising nor disappointing; it was a narrow little place, the lighting dim but not unfriendly, three booths against the left wall, much of the right taken up by a long counter with half a dozen stools, a simple handpainted menu hanging above—steamed meat buns three merits each, pork omelette eight merits, dumplings six merits a set and so on. Behind the counter stood a human wearing a blue and white patterned bandanna and black chef's gear, his eyebrows bushy, his expression serious, though the nod he directed towards Mist and the others was welcoming enough.

"We're the only customers!" Mist whispered, as they all found places at a booth table.

"Perhaps for the best," Praetorian said, flashing a smile at the chef which earned him another solemn nod. "We'll remain unmolested, at the least—are restaurants 'safe zones', does anyone know? No one? Oh well. The prices seem not unreasonable, I feared the worst but this seems well within even our meagre budget. Shall we tell the others we're here? It seems polite to let them know, at the least. Mist, perhaps you could do that. I intend to study this menu and maximise my merit-to-hedonism ratio."

"Uh, hey," Amanda said to Tzugakk, as Praetorian squinted up at the menu. "Are you okay? You've been really quiet since we left the infirmary. Um, quieter than usual."

Tzugakk smiled weakly and gave a small shrug, then looked back down at his hands.

"Oh!" Mist winced, then lowered her voice to continue: "Nala and Sly are actually together, Nala just sent me a message back. And, they're both coming! That's fun, right? I mean ... that's good?"

"Why would they be in the same place?" Amanda asked. "Does that make sense to anyone?"

"I'm sure we'll have the reason soon enough," Praetorian said, still looking up at the menu. "Shall we simply order a selection to share? I have my eye upon the fried beef skewers, and I'm sure I'd enjoy sampling the splendid array of dumplings and steamed buns on offer—should I order for all of us? I'll order for all of us. Sir, I should very much like to consume your dumplings!"

By the time Nala and Sly arrived at the restaurant the others were almost through their first round of food and happily arguing about what to order next.

"Nala!" Praetorian cried, upon her arrival. "The leader of our pathetic little troupe! And Sly, you didn't bring several friends? Could you invite some now?"

Nala offered Praetorian a small nod of acknowledgement before looking around the restaurant with something like approval. Sly gave him a somewhat bashful gap-toothed grin.

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been around—heard about what happened earlier, sucks, huh? Not that I could've, y'know, done anything even if I was there ... still, I feel kind of bad about it."

"It's okay!" Mist said. "Come and sit down and have some dumplings, they're good and there's lots and we're going to get more! Right?"

"Indeed! Mist was just telling us about the food of her hometown—well, homeisland I suppose. Did you know," Praetorian said, deadly serious, as Nala sat next to Tzugakk and Sly settled in next to Amanda, "that in the islands they eat rather a lot of seafood? Astonishing, I know."

"Hehe, um, but this is all really good—oh, we already paid for this stuff but don't worry, just enjoy it please!"

"I'll pay next time, then," Nala said, as Tzugakk shyly offered her a beef skewer and Sly started in on the dumplings.

"Um, okay," Mist said. "Okay, yes! Because then we get to come back here, I really love this place already, I know it's only the first time coming here, but ... well, um, anyway, please eat! Amanda, are you eating? Did you try these shrimp buns, they're really good!"

Amanda frowned at the bun Mist was pointing to.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I think I tried that one," she said. "It's hard to tell."

"Dulled senses?" Praetorian asked, through a mouthful of fried riceball. "Common. Your vision is normal, yes? And your hearing seems adequate, touch is always a tricky area, do you feel this?"

Praetorian ran his fingers down Amanda's cheek—she went to swat his hand away but by the time she got her arm to cooperate he'd already withdrawn.

"Well?" he said, before taking another bite of riceball.

"Yes I felt it and YES it was INSANELY creepy."

"Oh do grow up, it's a simple sensory test, you can believe me when I say I meant absolutely nothing by it. The face is often lacking in tactile sensation, hence the blankness of many zombies. Your face is surprisingly expressive, so hurray for you! Taste and smell, however ... hmm ... I may be able to help with that, remind me later when I'm fixing you up."

"Nala," Tzugakk said, as Amanda looked away from Praetorian, her mouth tight. "What did you mean by 'new places'?"

"Oh, you didn't spill yet?" Sly said to Nala, before popping half a steamed bun in his mouth and mumbling through it: "It's decent, you should tell 'em."

"Tell us what?" Mist asked, her full attention instantly fixed upon Nala. "Do you have a plan or something? Like an idea of what to do?"

Nala shifted in her seat and put down her beef skewer before speaking:

"Monster hunt."

This was met with silence, which Praetorian broke.

"Aha," he said. "An example of dwarven humour, perhaps?"

"Wouldn't we have the same problems with monsters as we do with bullies?" Amanda said. "If we can't attack—"

"We don't need to attack," Nala said, her tone level. "We will avoid the monsters."

"Of course!" Praetorian said. "A monster hunt where we avoid the monsters, that certainly does seem ... odd and pointless."

"Oh." The others looked at Tzugakk, who was gazing down at the table. "Yes. I understand." He raised his head, not quite looking at Praetorian. "Around this academy, there are gather points. Safe ones give little, no, valuable ones are surrounded by danger, yes. Hidden can be useful, but difficult to find."

"Ah. Ah, yes, I think I see the basic plan now—if we travel to a monster hunting location then there may be gather points that offer more valuable components."

"Oh!" said Mist. "So we can avoid the monsters and just get herbs and things—Nala, that's clever! Um, what if we do get attacked, though?"

"Nah, nah, it's not serious," Sly said. "Same rules as tournament fights, we'd just get kicked back here. No demerits for getting offed by a monster, that's only for student versus student. You gotta pay for your own healing, though."

"Oh! So ... so that's okay, then."

"Is gathered stuff worth anything?" Amanda asked. "I mean is this actually worth doing?"

"The value of gathered components varies," Nala said, "but many can be used in crafting. Tzugakk is skilled at this."

Tzugakk shifted uncomfortably at the praise. "Perhaps an example," he murmured. "I intended to share, now the time is good..."

From his bag Tzugakk produced three small grey pots and placed them on the table, one in front of Praetorian, one in front of Mist, and one in front of Sly.

"MistVeil jars," he explained. "Not dangerous, no, not weapons, but useful to distract if you are in danger."

"Oh, wow! Thank you, Gakk!" Mist carefully picked up her jar in both hands. "I just throw this on the ground?"

"So it breaks," Tzugakk said. "And then perhaps run."

"Well. I'm quite touched, I must say," Praetorian said. "I can certainly see where such an item could be useful."

"Yeah, uh ... cool," Sly said. "I mean it, that's really ... cool of you, just to give us these."

"Merit reward is not high," Tzugakk said. "Practical use is more valuable. If we find better components, I can make better items."

"It all begins to come together," Praetorian said. "I too may be able to use certain components, and with the merits earned I could purchase equipment, perhaps even buy off demerits ... yes, I think I like this plan. When is our first expedition?"

"I have a list of monster hunting locations—"

"I helped with that," Sly interrupted. Nala looked at him, then continued:

"Tzugakk and I will research the monsters and components likely to be found in each area. We'll wait until a good location comes up in one of the daily missions. I can't predict how long it will be until that happens."

"But maybe soon, right?" Mist said. "Nala, you're really smart! I'm so excited about this—are you guys excited about this?"

"Moderately so," Praetorian said. "In any case I'm glad of the direction, and I'm sure it will be pleasant to escape the academy for a short time. Despite its sprawling nature this place is beginning to feel rather suffocating."

Mist glanced over at Sly. "Um, will you come too, Sly?"

"Uh, sure," Sly said, after hastily swallowing a dumpling. "You're my party, right? So, y'know, it'd be good to get out with you guys. These dumplings are pretty good—hey, another order of dumplings over here?"

The new food was greeted with cheers from the group, aside from Nala (and Amanda's dry 'yay' was very possibly sarcastic).

"This is a good plan, Nala." Tzugakk glanced at the dwarf; she was sitting with her hood shadowing her face, quietly observing the others as they ate and talked and laughed. "I'm proud and impressed."

Nala said nothing, not for the rest of the evening, not while they divided the cost of the meal—Mist insisted on using all of her merits and the others split the remainder, glowing red deductions appearing over their BrightCircles—and not while they escorted Mist to her apartment, in a shabby three-storey grey stone building on the edge of battle quarter, and not while they returned to the sprawl—

"Nala, wait."

Nala and Tzugakk were in the outskirts, following a shortcut, roads and buildings collapsed into the tunnels below, a series of rickety bridges and walkways over the dark drop offering a safe route through to the central sprawl—for a given definition of 'safe'. They stood on an island of sorts, an uncollapsed section that held a tall tower, walkways leading away in all directions. Nala turned to look at Tzugakk, the last of the setting sun catching her face.

"I have this. For you. As a promise."

Nala stared at the object Tzugakk held up—a simple chain necklace with a single empty slot.

"Gems are expensive," he explained, tracing a knobbly finger around the empty slot. "It will take time to earn them. Perhaps, yes, perhaps another 'to'."

Nala took the necklace, held it in her hand, stared down at it.

"You don't like it?"

Still silent, Nala reached into her pocket and retrieved her safehold shard, which she slotted into the necklace before slipping it over her head. She held up the newly-slotted shard, its soft blue-green glow near overwhelmed by the setting sun, then let it fall against her breast.

"We should hurry," she said. "Soon it will be dark."