"What?!" Seth'tith shouted.

"What has happened?" Ir'alith said, immediately shifting to her fighting form as fury began to grow inside her. "Who dares attack on this day?"

"It is a human pounding on the barrier with such force as I have never felt," Ira'unne said. "I… I have seen… It is a human woman. She calls for you by name, Alith. What—No, Jungrathol has gone to speak with her! She has used magic to conjure a wooden barrel? And now she… Now Jungrathol is beating his fist against the barrier? Shouting for her to share?"

Ir'alith had begun to laugh towards the end of her mother's recounting. My friend, you have come to visit me! "This is Vol, Mama! Allow her to enter. You will have this meeting you sought."

Ira'unne remained silent for a short while. "Seth'tith, I would hear your counsel," she said at last.

Ir'alith turned an expectant gaze towards her father.

"I do not know this human as Alith does," Seth'tith said.

"Papa!"

"I apologize, Alith, but if she possesses the strength you claim she does, then—"

"Papa, she is my friend," Ir'alith said, one hand clenching into an annoyed fist.

"I am of the same mind," her mother said.

"Mama!"

"I will meet with her," Ira'unne said. She rose from her chair, and her hair swirled and shortened until it extended to just past her shoulders. A tendril snaked out and snatched the hairclip from her daughter's hands, bringing it to the left side of her head and slotting her hair through it in a way that swept the dark mass up over her ear. "Come. Bring your father with us."

A gate appeared before her, its rim imperceptible from the flawless and exact use of magic.

She thinks as though I am still a child. Ir'alith shifted back to her more comfortable resting form and grabbed her axe off the wall, brushing past her mother and into the outskirts of the forest.

"I cannot open the barrier!" Jungrathol shouted. "I have told you this already!"

"I just wanna say hi!" Vol shouted back. "And I got this fucking great ale from Valgud. Says it's his calculating brew."

"I want to calculate!" Jungrathol called.

"Then you shall have the chance," Ir'alith said as she walked over from the side. She came to a stop and planted her axe in the ground, smiling widely at her friend.

"Ah, protector, you have returned!" Jungrathol said with a smile of his own. "The fast human has come to greet us, and she has brought gifts."

"Greetings, Jungrathol," Ira'unne called. "It has been many years."

Jungrathol's eyes bulged, and he instantly dropped to one knee atop the leaf-strewn ground, all four hands pressed down in front of himself. "Protector! You have returned to us?"

"You gonna let me in or not?" Vol shouted. "Came all this fucking way…"

"I have. There is no need for this, Jungrathol. I have known you since the day of your birth."

Ir'alith turned to her friend again, and her smile became a frown of annoyance. "My mother wishes to speak with you before you are allowed entry. I apologize for this rudeness, Vol."

"I was much smaller then. I am big now."

"What?" Vol rose up on the tips of her feet and tried to look past her, annoyance creeping across her features as well, then leaned to one side. "Huh. She's greener than I remember. Or is she?" Her brows lowered in an expression of deep thought.

"My daughter tells me you have become friends," Ira'unne said.

"Yeah, we're definitely friends," Vol confirmed.

Ir'alith grinned once more at the proclamation, and her tail tapped happily against the ground. She had friends now, but Vol was the one she knew best.

"Yet you have attacked our barrier."

"What? Nah, I was just knocking." Vol rapped her fist against the shimmering green wall of light. "But then nobody was around, so I knocked harder. You guys—Nah, still don't like it—You demons should get a bell or something. Hard to even know if anyone's in here."

"We are not accustomed to visitors," Ira'unne said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Sort of feels like you don't want visitors," Vol said, standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a frown fully covering her face. "And how's this fucking barrier shit work anyway? I can talk through it but not walk through it?"

Ira'unne's hair twitched in clear irritation.

I too grow irritated. I will tolerate this no more. Ir'alith placed a hand on her mother's shoulder. "Mama, she is my friend. Watch." She created a gate nearby which connected to the ground beneath her friend's feet and the keg she had brought.

Vol fell through the portal, turning and landing smoothly on her feet. "Huh. That's new."

"What have you done?!" Ira'unne hissed as she spun around.

"She is my friend!" Ir'alith shouted. "I have protected this land for many years while you were gone. I say that she may enter." Realizing that she was looming over her mother, who had drawn back a small amount, she forced herself to relax. "She is my friend," she said more quietly, willing her to understand.

"Cheers."

"Valgud said he's still got… Fuck, can't remember the name… Some guy there's got some special brew just for you if you go visit. Wouldn't give it to me to bring. Ceremony or something."

"I have calculated that I would like to drink that brew."

Ir'alith turned at last to her friend and Jungrathol, finding that one was holding a small drinking vessel while the other raised a barrel to his mouth.

"Urgh, too much drinking today." Vol tossed her emptied drink aside, and it vanished into her Inventory magic. "Fuck. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm bored of drinking." She looked over her shoulder. "You g—demons done? Okay, brought you this too…" She produced a metal helmet that had a strap underneath and a spiraling bit of metal that hung down off the side from the top, where a small, round dish was affixed. "It's called an alemet. Valgud didn't want me to take it, but some of the other guys there were saying it was the greatest work in dwarven history and somehow you made it or something? Eh, there was sort of a story, but we were drinking a lot, and uh… Anyway, here." She held it out.

"An alemet," Ir'alith said as she accepted the gift from her friend. "I recall Valgud mentioning this while we were studying the machine." She turned it over in her hands, studying its construction. "How does it function?"

"Oh, right." Vol brought ten small barrels out of her Inventory magic. "You're gonna need these guys…" She frowned, and her hand slowly came up to tap her chin. "Yeah," she said after a moment. "Guys. You're gonna need these guys," she said again, pointing to the small kegs. "You attach them to the alemet—there's a thing on the bottom of the keg where you put another thing from the alemet, and then you rotate it to attach—you rotate the… Maybe it doesn't matter which one? You rotate it, and it attaches, and then you put it on, and then you can drink from the metal thing without needing to use your hands."

Ir'alith watched her friend's face intently as she gestured to various parts of the alemet while she spoke. How strange. It is used to hold a keg? Why would I not use magic for such a thing? Perhaps I will gift it to Jungrathol. He enjoyed his time visiting the dwarves, and he will enjoy this as well. She grinned. "I thank you for bringing this gift, Vol."

"Don't worry about it," her friend said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Anyway, uh, not that I don't wanna hang out, but Carl and I were gonna hang out, and I sort of got distracted drinking after doing some computer shit for him, so…" She shrugged. "Wanna hang out, uh, maybe in a couple days? Maybe I'll stay a while, and we can fight or something? Oh, I know, you can try my coffee!" she finished with an expression of excitement.

Carl… Ir'alith felt a complex emotion at the name and the thought of her other friend, having been so deeply distracted herself upon returning without time to fully consider all the matters which needed considering.

"That's right!" Vol exclaimed. "Almost forgot. Annie said to give you a message. And the message…" She frowned, and then her frown became a squint which was somehow amusing to the eye. "The message was…probably important…which is why I fucking wrote it down, obviously," she said, her expression turning relieved. She reached out to her side and produced a paper from her Inventory magic. "Tell Ir'alith if Carl is interested, then we will talk," she recited. "No idea what it means, but that's what she said." She tossed the paper away, and it disappeared.

If Carl is interested… Ir'alith was unsure how to react after receiving the message. "I thank you for delivering this message, Vol." Her thoughts turned towards a certain dragon. It has been so long since last I saw him, so many years since he freed me from that prison. I am no longer alone, and… Her tail thumped pensively against the ground. There is affection for my savior, and it is strong, but is it—

"It was easy. Sooo… We'll hang out in a day or two?" Vol looked up into her eyes with a hopeful expression.

Ir'alith smiled again as she sensed a hint of her friend's emotions.

"Vol," Ira'unne interrupted, stepping forward to stand beside her daughter. "I apologize," she said, inclining her head. "I am known as Ira'unne, and I have denied you the rights of a guest. It would please me if you would return to visit soon and then again whenever you desire to spend your time among us."

Ir'alith turned to beam at her mother. She must have sensed Vol's sincerity.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Vol said. "Thanks. Do I… Is there some guest thing I'm supposed to do when I visit? Never visited demons before, and you got…" She looked around, gesturing to the trees, then to Jungrathol. "Got trees. Horns. Normal, uh, demon things?"

"Having the earnest friend of my daughter visit is a gift in itself," Ira'unne said.

"Oh." Vol grinned. "Yeah, I'm really fucking earnest, aren't I." She turned to look behind herself. "Okay, Jungrathol, good drinking with you. Remember to go see Valgud sometime."

"I have calculated that I will do this," Jungrathol said in a solemn tone.

She faced forward once more. "Nice meeting you," she said to Ira'unne.

"Until next we meet," Ira'unne replied with a nod.

"I wish to see the fighting prowess that my daughter has spoken of," Seth'tith said.

Vol looked back and forth rapidly, then focused on the axe for a moment before returning her now-amazed gaze to Ir'alith. "Your axe can fucking talk?"

"I am her father," Seth'tith said.

Vol blinked. "Huh." She looked back to the axe. "Huh." She moved her attention back to Ir'alith, her eyes dipping downwards as they so often did. "Well, I'm gonna—"

"Do you know where Carl is now?" Ir'alith asked, having lapsed into thought again moments earlier.

"Obviously. A main character needs to know where her side character's at," Vol said.

"What?" Main character?

"Eh. Stupid joke. Yeah, I know where he is. Why?"

"I will go with you," Ir'alith said on a sudden decision. I must decide matters for myself.