“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“What do you mean? Of course it’s a good idea. She was rushing all day today and kept acting suspicious. Something is going on with her, I know it. And if it’s anything dangerous then we can stop her.”

“Seriously Wren? We are not her protectors. She is older than us, stronger than us, and more experienced than us. She can very much take care of herself. What’s the real reason behind this? You always have a secret motive for these types of things.”

Perceptive bastard. Wren stopped and turned around to Javi. They had been sneaking through the town for the past hour following Bella and he had numerous times managed to avoid Javi’s questions. And yet the questions kept getting asked.

“Look. It is not important why we are following her. We just need to make sure that she is okay. She is our precious party member and you know as well as I do that she has not been the same since we were blocked from going on the Highway. Is it so unbelievable for me to be genuinely concerned?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Javi gave him a blank look that seemed to say, ‘I don’t got time for your bullshit.’ Fair enough. He was kinda right. Javi continued on. “C'mon man. Just be honest. Be real with me.”

Wren put his head into his hand and sighed. Finally, he raised an eye up to look at Javi, “Fine. She reminds me of Danielle.”

“I-” Javi gave a deep sigh, “You’re telling me, that this is all because of baggage? We’re in another goddamn world, and you’re still being haunted by your ex!?”

“Haaah, pretty much.” Wren slumped against a wall and awkwardly avoided eye contact, “I’m not trying to get with her. I promise. It’s just, it is so easy to worry about her and stuff. Like, she always needed to be protected, and I can’t help but project that onto Bella.”

“Whatever man. I’m not going to stop you. I know that you don’t mean any harm. Just be careful with this stuff. I’m going back home. Don’t push your luck too far.” And with that, Javi gave a salute and sauntered away. He was probably going to train, he hadn’t done it yet today. Wren looked at his hand and made a fist. I want to train, but I can’t start with what I really need to train until I get the right class for it.

He then looked around and spotted Bella ducking into a bar. Silent as a panther, he crept over to the window of the bar and peered in. From what he could see, she was throwing back shots and roaring with laughter alongside some local workers. After a couple rounds she headed back to the door. Like many stops so far, this one was not a long one. Have a couple drinks, chat with some people, head out. This had been her pattern all night so far.

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Wren stumbled back into an alleyway as she shoulder bumped the door open. Taking no notice of him, she kept on her merry way, whistling an unfamiliar tune and walking with a sway to her step. Not a sashay sway mind you, more of a little dance sway.

This pattern repeated a few more times. Go into a bar, tavern, or inn. Take a few shots or pound back a beer. Chat with some people of all different sorts. Head out with even more of a pep in her step than she had before. Is this really all she meant by a pick me up? Surely she plans to do more than just this.

Eventually, however, she made a longer stop. It was a slightly nicer establishment, The Perching Snakebiter. This one had no windows to peek through. Guess I’ll have to go in.

Wren walked up the couple of steps to the door. It felt a little suspicious to him. Come to think of it, he didn’t recognize his surroundings. He had walked around the whole town but had never seen this in his walks.

Pushing the door open, he slipped inside. The inside was full of smoke and smelled like it too. It made visibility hard and he couldn’t find where Bella had headed off to. Wandering the room, he could see people standing at tables, holding pipes and cigars and pretty much any smoking item you can think of. It was mostly women in here, with the occasional man. It felt like whenever he made eye contact, one of the men would give him a wink. Finally, he spotted Bella by the bar.

She had tied her hair back now, and held an odd looking pipe. Whenever she took a draw from it, the chamber would glow. And when blowing out, the smoke would take all sorts of interesting shapes. He tried to move a little closer, but was blocked off.

A skinny form stood in front of Wren. The figure put their fingers under his chin and brought his eyes up to meet theirs. “Hi there boy. I haven't seen you here before. Are you new to town? Or are you just new to this?” A masculine voice came from the figure but it held a feminine inflection. He could see now that this stranger had short hair and despite seeming effeminate, was definitely a man. “I, I guess I’m just new. Overall, I mean.” Play it cool. I may not know what this is, but I can figure it out.

The man pulled him up by the chin once more and brought him to look into his eyes again. “I love meeting newbies. I can show them the ropes. Do you like ropes boy?”

“Uh, I guess. I, uhm, never learned many ways to tie knots though.” Am I doing this right? What is this?

“Oh, don’t you worry, you won’t need to tie any knots. You can leave that to me.” Once again, he pulled up Wren’s gaze to meet him in the eyes. He must consider his eyes to be his best feature or something. Well, they are very nice. They kinda draw me in. I feel like I could just keep looking and looking and loo-

Without realizing it, Wren fell forward into the man. This pushed him back a bit and into Bella. She turned around to see what bumped into her, “Vlad, stop stumbling around. Nobody will believe the innocent act, I keep telling yo- Wren?” Uh oh, it seems I’ve been spotted.