“Lana, go!” Jannie said to me, and I took off running for the shaman with Ariana and Belle, who hopped on my shoulder as Ariana us.

About two and a half hours had passed since we beat the first elite shaman. The second one had given us no more trouble than the first one; then we got a little overconfident, and inadvertently tripped an alarm that brought nearly e-ve-ry sin-gle goblin down upon our heads. Thankfully we had a solid team with good coordination and two versatile battle-commanders. I stayed on Fyu with Peaches, who worked her magic while the dog-beast kept a steady but quick pace through the caverns, batting aside enemies with his great paws or intimidating them with a growl or a howl as the others fought a run-and-gun battle on either side of us. Maryn took the lead this time, while Jannie stayed back with Derwydd and Lysandra, who had taken to their werebeast forms.

This pleasant experience lasted for a much shorter time than it felt, but it kept going right as we arrived at the third elite shaman, who had another horde with him. Lysandra let loose that bone-chilling howl to freeze some of our enemies in their tracks, while Ariana and Peaches literally froze them with ice. The rest of the gang then began tearing into the goblins with a trebled frenzy, taking out as many as they could before they started moving again.

Out of pure instinct I rolled off of Fyu and started fighting; my stats were still down by seventy-five percent, but the reduction on my skills was down to fifteen-percent. I could inflict some decent damage if I didn't get full of myself and lunge into my usual antics. Of course, Belle had noticed at once, and came over to assist me as the battle raged on.

Lizzy, by the way, was having an absolute blast with her newly acquired halberd. We thought the last one she'd gotten had puffed her up--boy was that moment an understatement compared to this one. Our blonde tornado-of-death was storming through the goblins as if they were low-level mushroom fiends from Ipping Forest. Lysandra let loose another howl for good measure, and the goblins cowered again, giving us the advantage once more. Jannie led a charge towards the shaman's guards, diverting them from their leader, and Derwydd crashed into them in werebear form with a ferocious swat. That was when Jannie had told me to go, and away the three of us went.

Ariana cast a binding spell on him holding him tightly in place. Belle then worked her own magic, placing status ailments and stat reductions on him. From afar, Angelfire cast a few fiery DoTs to help us out; I waited until his health bar was below half, and then pounced with the combo skill. He went down to zero, and the baleful survivors began scampering off into the dark once more. We all sat down in a couple of heaps to recover ourselves, Tyman giving a high five to Tabitha, who had saved his neck a couple times during the fighting.

“Yo! Sick moves, girl!” he grinned.

“Back at you, wild boy!” she smiled back.

“That was more than I feel like I bargained for, but we did it!” Peaches tiredly smiled.

“Oh please; we fought ten times as many a week ago,” Snow Dancer told her with a lopsided grin.

“Hmm? Did we? I'm old and forgetful, you know!” her guild leader winked back.

“Pfft, you're not old,” Snow shook her head, chuckling.

“Now we just have to get to the goblin emperor,” Jannie said after a moment, looking towards the tunnel ahead.

“As long as we don't bump another trap first,” Wildeye quipped, and she softly elbowed him in the side.

“Shush, you.”

“Yes, dear.” he gently laughed. I looked over at the two of them for a moment, and then smiled. I could see Ariana smiling towards them too. She looked over at me, and gave me a subtle thumbs-up, to which I responded with a wink.

“Only been a couple weeks and y'all at that stage, huh?” Tyman commented.

“It's been a couple months in-game, though, which is where we are most of the time.” Jannie smirked back at him.

“Dayum, girl, wish I had your life.”

“No one should have my life.” she replied with a rueful smile. I saw Wildeye gently squeeze her hand.

“Yo, didn't mean it like that, Jannie,” Tyman quickly apologized.

“Don't worry about it, Ty-guy.” she smiled at him.

“Ty-guy...” I repeated with interest, and he glowered at me grumpily.

“'Aight, I'mma let it slide here, Lans, but don't you dare call me that on the other side!”

“Tee-hee!” I grinned, making the most of my child form.

“Hrrn, don't even wanna smack 'er now with that stupidly cute face...” he muttered to himself as Winnie snorted with laughter.

“Don't you smack our little girl!” she quipped.

“She ain' gonna be little much longer, though!” he shrugged.

“Get your licks in while you can, hun.” Belle smirked at me.

“Hmm... I'd rather just keep going, as soon as we're all rested and stuff.” I said in reply.

“True!” she agreed at once.

“Well, are we all ready, then?” Jannie asked. When the others asserted that they were, we set off for the last stretch of the road.

Once more, Peaches and I were seated atop Fyu, who obligingly took the middle position with Ariana and Anhe on one side and Lysandra with Belle on the other while the rest filled out the formation before us or behind us. Jannie led the way cautiously with Myanihia and Healina, keeping a close eye out for traps or alarms. Behind us, Derwydd and Lizzy kept an eye on the rear to make sure none of those that had retreated earlier would try their luck again with reinforcements.

As we moved along through the dark, I started noticing that the walls were lined with pictograms. Most of them were crude goblins scrawlings of course, but I got a sense that some of them hadn't actually been made by the goblins. I wondered what the lore behind them was, nudging Ariana with my hand to point them out to her. She took a look, and tilted her head curiously on seeing them, then opened up a lore-book to see if there was information on the markings. After a few moments she held the book over for me to see as well, pointing to the top right of the right page.

“Hmm... so the in-game lore is that there were others in this part of the Untold Deeps before the goblins showed up...” I softly said.

“Looks like it!” she agreed. “Isn't it neat what they come up with?”

“For sure!”

“It'd be neat if they added some sort of update that would let us see back in time for this world...” Ariana remarked as she put the book away.

“Oh, that would be kind of cool...”

“Hmm? Kind of?” she gave me a funny look.

“I mean, definitely, but it'd be neater to see back in time for real, personally,” I said.

“Ahh, true.” she agreed.

“We have one key left, right?” Jannie suddenly asked.

“Right here,” Peaches said as she held it aloft.

“Good, because there's a door ahead.” our team-leader said.

“Ohh, I bet that's the place.” Angelfire nodded.

“Any traps?”

“No traps.” Myanihia shook her head. “None, until we get inside. Then, we may not have a choice... he will, probably, set them off himself.” she reported.

“Ugh. Rough.” Jannie gruffly sighed.

“Hate it when they do that,” I grumbled.

“We'll need, to look at the room, when we get in,” Myanihia continued, and Jannie nodded back at her.

Peaches got down from Fyu, and went with them to unlock the door so we could gather inside. I saw at once why Myanihia had mentioned taking a good look at the room. It seemed just a bit convoluted; we had entered onto a landing, and on either side there were two downward paths heading to a lower, wider chamber. The goblin emperor was seated on throne on a dais on a high platform at the far end. There were multiple platforms and zigzagging paths that ascended or descended all around the place.

Basically it was like a sloppy Escher-room, and there were several holes in the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling from which reinforcements might spring out. The paths down to the wide chamber and the stair that led up to the emperor's throne were about the only straightforward routes in the whole room. To add on to that, there were also a couple of floating platforms hovering around, rising up or lowering down in no immediately discernible pattern. Jannie let out a long sigh as she took a look around, finally resting her gaze on Wildeye with a wry smile.

“This is about the wildest boss room I've seen yet.” the Mountain Tigers' leader said as he scratched his head in befuddlement.

“Right?” Angelfire agreed.

“This looks even harder than some of the ones we've done,” Maryn shook her head. “And some of those boss rooms in the Marshes of the Wyrd were just awful.”

“What's the plan?” I asked them as I went to pull myself up a bit onto the “rail” that overlooked the chamber.

“It's a real shame we can't get your dragon down here...” Jannie remarked as she patted my head. I briefly wondered how the big guy would fit through half the tunnels we'd been through to even get down here. “Fyu, are you a tank or just pure damage?” she turned to the dog-beast, who blinked at her.

“I can withstand much, friend of my master.” he replied.

“That makes this ghost of a plan a bit better,” she said, sitting back a bit on the ledge as I hopped off to turn around as well. “Maryn, Heali, Ari, and Lana; you four will be on him. I'll guard the right flank with Snow Dancer, Tyman, Peaches, Angelfire, Lysandra, and Lizzy; Fyu, take the left flank with Anhe, Tabitha, Derwydd, Winnie, Wildeye, and Myanihia; Belle, divide your time between the three groups as you see necessary.” Jannie said to us, and we all nodded back at her. “I think that's it; any changes you'd make?” she turned to Wildeye.

“I don't see anything to nitpick.” he replied. “I would say though--Derwydd, don't go werebear unless it's an emergency; we'll likely need your druid skills more than the werebear ones for this fight.”

“I can handle that,” Der nodded.

“Don't want to tank the boss?” Maryn asked Jannie.

“I'm a DPS tank with a shield; you're a proper one.” the other girl shrugged.

“Ahh, okay.” our own shield-user nodded back.

“Just to warn you,” Angelfire then said, “If it gets crazy in here, I'm going to set the whole place on fire.”

“We know you will.” Lizzy patted her shoulder.

“I'd expect no less.” Jannie gave her a wink. “All right, all good now?” she asked, and we all gave her a positive affirmation. “Let's get to it!” she said, drawing out her sword. And with that, we headed down to face the goblin emperor.

“Oh-ho?” the target in question said as he rose up from his throne on our approach; his guards pointed their jagged halberds, pikes, and spears towards us. “Miscreants and vagabonds, is it, come to try and end my reign of the Deeps Goblins? We'll see about that, my pretty morsels! Come, then: guards, soldiers, to arms!” he bellowed out.

“Of course he does that right off the bat!” Angelfire grimaced as the goblins and hobgoblins began swarming out to come after us.

“Less talk, more fire!” Jannie quipped back. Without a word the fire-mage obliged, casting several barrages of flame spells into the oncoming hordes at once. On the other side, Winnie began working her own magics while Myanihia tore into them with her calm frenzy of motion. As the others joined in the fighting, the four of us on the boss dealt with his elite guards first -- not that we had a choice.

I was able to take out one with that deadly skill combo, but I spent the rest of my time evading the attacks of the other three after it. Apparently they had decided I was the main target after that little display, and I could not get a break to get back into stealth. By the time Maryn had their attention I was nearly too afraid to do anything that might attract their attention again, and so vanished into the shadows to watch the fight for a bit while the rest of my sub-team dealt with the elite guards.

Derwydd was trying to seal off the holes and crevices from whence the goblins were still pouring out of on their side, and Peaches was doing the same on her side of the battle. Snow Dancer's light magic and Anhe's auras were keeping those two groups afloat fairly well, along with the occasional recovery burst from Winnie or Peaches.

“Lana!” Ariana called my name; I turned back. One of the guards was almost gone. I quickly used an attack on it to finish it off, and then managed to slip back into stealth to use my combo on the third. The fourth was bashed in the head by Maryn, and it reeled backwards from the force, tottering on the edge before falling off and getting impaled on the spiked barricade below it.

“Really?” I remarked with a nonplussed expression.

“Really.” Maryn shrugged.

“Hrrgh! Got past them, did you?” the goblin emperor seethed, drawing out his weapon, a fiendish khopesh nearly as large as Ariana. He brought it down with a swift motion, and Maryn raised her shield to block it. The result staggered him back a pace, but it also pushed Maryn back a couple steps.

“Yeow!” she winced.

“Holy health bars!” Healina suddenly exclaimed. I looked up to see for myself. This guy was world-boss level with his health.

“One-point-five million...” I sighed wearily.

“Sheesh!” Ariana shook her head.

“Heali, you think we can hold him?” Maryn called back to our healer.

“I can definitely keep you up!” the other girl replied.

“Lana, Ari, help the others get rid of that horde!” Maryn then said.

“Got it!” Ariana nodded back, taking my hand and withdrawing from the boss fight for now.

“That said...” I mused, looking at all the holes still left around the wide chamber.

“There's a lot of them, huh?” she remarked, quickly pondering the best course.

“At this rate, she really will set the room on fire...”

“Maybe that would be such a bad idea,” Ariana said with a thoughtful look on her face.

“Eh?!” I looked back with alarm.

“I'd have to help her a bit, though... and we'd need Snow Dancer to augment us a bit...” she continued musing aloud.

“Hmm...?” I said in a calmer tone, picking up on her thought-train.

If Ariana and Angelfire worked in tandem, they could create a storm of lightning and fire together that would keep going for as long as we needed it--or until they ran out of magic power, whichever came first; Snow Dancer's own magic could propel that dangerous storm and make it worse for our enemies while keeping the rest of us safe. That would leave the rest of us free to attack the boss.

“Yo, Jans, you hear that?” Tyman called as he caught our conversation.

“We're stalemated right now; let's give it a try!” Jannie said. “Back off slowly until they have a spell going!”

“Right!” Wildeye replied.

“Masters, there is a fresh wave of reinforcements coming!” Fyu remarked.

“Ari!” Angelfire said as she came over with Snow Dancer. The three of them hurriedly began summoning up the deadly storm. Lysandra shifted to werewolf form, and used Howl of the Void to halt the goblins' advance while they did.

“Whew!” Lizzy grinned. “Uh-oh, Maryn, you okay?”

“Sh-sh-sh-shut up!” our tank stammered anxiously.

“Sh-she'll pull through...” I softly remarked.

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“Hahh... poor chick.” Lizzy whispered back. At that moment, the hell-storm was released, and the mass of goblins around us began dissolving into ashes with horrendous screams and wails. Snow Dancer waved her weapon in a pattern a few times and activated a spell to reinforce the one cast by Ariana and Angelfire.

“Go!” she called, and the rest of us hurried to the boss fight.

“Master, I shall stay with them and help keep these little trouble-makers at bay,” Fyu said to me.

“Good idea, pal!” I nodded back as I scurried back towards the throne.

“Lana, stealth, now!” Jannie ordered, and I did as I was told. Myanihia was also in stealth, and she beckoned me over.

“It's... not a world boss; but, it is, dangerous. Our trick, can work -- probably.” she told me.

“The physical resistance, huh?” I remarked, and she nodded.

“Seventy-five percent. Even with our damage, as high as it is, and the capacity, to overcome that resistance, it will be hard.” Myanihia frowned, looking over at the creature.

“I wonder... if we aim for a few of its worn items first, maybe that'd lower it?” I pondered softly. Myanihia gazed more intently at the goblin emperor.

“There is nothing... we could break... he's almost...”

“Y-yeah... now you mention it...” I nodded in agreement. The goblin emperor had a fancy loincloth around his waist and a rough crown upon his head, but that was it. My eyes turned away from that and up towards the throne. I espied some glowing gems, one on each armrest and one on the top of it. Their glow was strong, almost fierce. “Myanihia.” I said, nodding towards them.

“Maybe.” she nodded back as she looked over. “It, is worth a try.” she said, drawing out her weapons.

I did the same, and we hastened up towards the throne, pouncing on the gems with the combo-skill. They cracked, but did not shatter. I used Thousand Needle Strike to finish mine off, while Myanihia took out her flintlock and blasted the one she had attacked. Both of them then imploded, knocking us back down the steps.

“He staggered!” Jannie observed.

“And his health has been reduced; it's down to seven-hundred fifty-thousand!” Wildeye noted.

“That's more manageable,” Derwydd grinned. “Are you two all right?” he asked us as we got back up slowly.

“Fine, just fine,” I returned. Myanihia got up like a cat, dusting herself off as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

“I will not, make that mistake, again.” she said as she took up her flintlock again, firing several shots at the remaining crystal. It went kaboom like the other two, and the boss staggered again. “Lana!” Myanihia called, diving into the shadows. I dove in after her. Once more she used the combo-skill, and I used it a split-second after her. The boss' health went down -- to one percent.

“Huh?!” Lizzy cried out angrily.

“Tch!” I glowered.

“Lana!” Jannie called as he started standing up.

“Heart-stinger!” I called out, finishing off the diminished health bar. He tottered around in a dramatic death sequence, and then finally went up in pixels and smoke. Ariana and Angelfire ended their spell, and what was left of the goblins began retreating into their holes.

“Phew!” Healina sighed in relief.

“Good job!” Jannie smiled.

“Bit simpler than we thought, eh?” Wildeye grinned.

“Definitely!” our team leader nodded back.

“How's that cursed ring, girlie?” Winnie asked, and I looked at my stats. They were back to normal, but I was still a child.

“Everything is... mostly back to normal... I guess I just have to take it off,” I remarked, and slipped the ring off my finger. I sighed in relief, and quickly felt myself growing back into normal size.

Wait a sec--!! I suddenly recalled as the child-sized clothes burst off, but before I could freak out, Angelfire was there placing a cloak around me.

“Didn't you bring your regular stuff with you?” she asked me with a funny look.

“Ahh... w-weight limit... stats...” I mumbled in embarrassment.

“Here, doofus,” Lizzy grinned, tossing a simple outfit at me. I mumbled a word of thanks, hastily equipping it.

“That was fun!” Anhe smiled. “We should do it again sometime!”

“Without a cursed ring, next time,” Peaches grinned.

“Speaking of which,” Angelfire said, picking up the item in question and handing it to me. “Seems like it's different now.”

“Hmm?” I wondered, examining the item's name again. The title hadn't changed, but its effect was without penalty so long as it was worn. “Hrrmm...” I looked at it bemusedly.

“Could be handy in some situations,” Ariana smiled as she came over.

“Who knows,” I shrugged, placing it in inventory.

“All right, now that we have that settled... we have a date with a restaurant in Harmonia City.” Tabitha said.

“Yo!” Tyman agreed with a grin.

“Let's get going!” Snow Dancer agreed.

“Definitely!” Jannie nodded, and we began heading out of the Untold Deeps to go and celebrate our victory. I looked back at the room briefly as we exited, and Ariana paused as well.

“Lana?” she asked me.

“Hmm... it felt almost too easy, but then, maybe that was the point... so easy a child could do it.” I pondered.

“We did get really lucky,” she agreed. “Maybe this ring's curse was one of the simplest.”

“That would explain it, I guess,” I nodded.

“Now that its curse is gone, I want to try it later!” Ari smiled.

“You can have it,” I laughed back, and she giggled.

“Come on, losers!” Lizzy's voice called from further ahead, and we hurried to go and catch up with the others.

***

After our celebration we parted ways, and those of us who needed to get up in the morning made the most of our time getting our rest in-game. Well, most of us. Lizzy went on a crafting run with Peaches, Tabitha, and Winnie, while Heali and Derwydd went to spend time together elsewhere. Ariana and I went to the hotspring at Cloverbell, joined later by Maryn and Anhe. Belle, Lysandra, and Myanihia, it seemed, had gone to do a mini-quest of their own for the rest of the night.

“Somehow, it's still as good as the one in Hollydale.” Maryn said with a blissful sigh.

“True,” Ariana agreed, and Anhe nodded.

“I almost liked that one better,” the younger girl remarked.

“Well of course! We were really there, for one thing,” Maryn smiled.

“That is true!” Anhe smiled back. “Hmm... but it is more peaceful tonight without Lizzy picking on someone or another!” she added with a giggle.

“Pfft!” Ariana smirked, gently shaking with quiet laughter.

“Yeah, yeah...” I sighed.

“Oh she picked on Andi that time, since she couldn't get you.” Ariana said with a grin.

“Hahh... poor Heali...”

“Right?”

“It really is more peaceful, though,” Maryn agreed. She then looked at me with a mischievous grin. “You should reverse the experience for April Fool's Day.”

“Gyeck?!?!” I froze with absolutely no idea how to reply. Ari let out a bemused smile.

“M-Maryn...” she remarked uncertainly.

“Ha-ha-ha!” the raven-haired girl giggled back. “I get it; you wouldn't really do that. And she'd probably be paying you back in spades for the rest of your life, but it'd be funny!”

“Hahh...” I sighed.

“It would be a little funny,” Ari admitted with a goofy grin.

“No way am I gonna do that,” I protested, “Not after I know how it feels...” I quipped, sinking into the hotspring a bit more. Maryn cupped her hands over her mouth as she laughed, and Anhe shook her head, smiling.

“Oh, I just remembered,” our youngest member then said, “My mother said that for those who keep up with the language classes all three years, she will arrange for a senior trip over the summer to China and Japan -- but she might be up for taking our club this summer as well!” she told us.

“Oh wow!” Maryn said with surprise.

“Neat!”

“Cool!” Ariana and I exclaimed. “Think that'd count for one of our trips?” she asked me.

“Hrrmm, let's see what Andi--err, Andrea says, and Mrs. Brown, too,” I replied.

“Don't be such a stranger, she'll let you call her that too,” Ariana poked me.

“Ahh... right, but yeah, we should definitely run it past them, since they're our president and advisor.”

“Oh definitely.” Maryn nodded.

“Hmm... I agree, it should count as one of our trips if we do it.” Anhe said. “Of course, that will mean some sort of assignment to go with it...” she softly sighed, but smiled.

“I could live with that, I guess,” I shrugged.

“Ehh? You feeling okay?” Ariana placed a hand on my forehead.

“It's not like I--” I started, but then stopped.

Do I really hate school all that much? I mean, sure, assignments suck, unless of course they're the kind I don't mind... the kind on topics I'm actually kind of interested in... what do I want to do, to be? I started wondering.

“An essay or so on the experience would be ideal, or maybe even a presentation about it,” Maryn said. “Hopefully that sort of thing can count for my university applications!”

“Ohh, right! You wanted to go to that really nice school, too!” Anhe recalled.

“Yep, AILE.” the older girl nodded back. “What about you? Any thoughts yet?” Maryn then asked her.

“Hmm... I am still not sure; but maybe, maybe I will try to be a teacher, like my mother.” she replied.

“Aw!” the other smiled back.

“That'd work!” Ariana beamed at her.

“True,” I agreed.

“Aw, thank you!” she smiled back at us. “What about you two?” she wondered.

“Hmm... I'm somewhat undecided, at least until you-know-who decides,” Ariana said.

“Ahh...” Anhe nodded back, and then looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes.

“I'm not sure yet,” I replied honestly.

“So she says,” Ariana sighed, patting my head.

“Well, it's not like you have to have things figured out by the time you get out of high school, or so dad always says.” Maryn told us with a shrug. “Some of us are just ready for it, and some of us... some of us need some prodding.” she looked at me with a wink.

“I guess,” I sighed.

“This really isn't the same without Lizzy here.” Maryn then remarked, and then grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I guess I'll have to do something drastic!”

“Hahh?!”

***

As I walked into school the next morning as myself, Ty flicked me on the head as usual, still grinning about the adventure we had all gone on.

“What'd y'all do with that thing, anyway?” he asked me.

“Ahh... I think Rachel has it,” I told him. “I wasn't gonna hang on to it after all that.”

“I bet!” he grinned. “Yo, that was fun, though. Can't wait to see what the guild competition has in store!”

“Me neither, pal!” I replied with a smile. He gave me a thumbs-up, and then we parted ways. I reached my locker, where Rachel was waiting with a still-apologetic smile.

“Y-you really okay after last night?” she asked me gently as I got my books out and put my backpack away.

“Ehh...” I pondered a moment. “I guess I'm not safe anywhere... except with Myanihia or Lysandra...”

“Pfft!” she softly giggled.

“As long as -- bleh, I'd better not give anyone ideas...” I sighed.

“W-we could go somewhere in Panarena tonight alone if you want...” she said to me, faintly blushing.

“Ah--ahh... w-well, what about just going to the cafe after school?” I asked her.

“Sean!” she said with a happy surprise. “Let's do it!” she agreed.

“After our theater stuff then,” I smiled back.

“Definitely!” Rachel nodded. I finished with my books, and we headed in for classes.

Morning classes were the same as usual. Lunch brought us its kind reprieve, or mostly kind; Mary was still all giggles from her taking up of Ellie's antics last night, though it seemed like she was definitely keeping it a secret from Ellie herself. When lunch ended, she gave me a hug as a soft apology, and then we were off to afternoon classes. We must have been having a lot of fun with them, because they passed with the snap of a finger, and then Rachel and I made our way to the theater with Thomas.

Today's focus: going over lines and doing some choreography. I recalled from Monday that I had a couple of fight scenes, two of them lighthearted and one of them dramatic. I did not expect that I would also be doing some dancing. Miss Andrews began splitting people off into groups to go over lines, and then called Joanna and myself over to the stage. There were two mock swords on a table nearby.

“All right, Sean! I know you have some experience with the martial arts, so dancing won't be too problematic for you to adjust to. What I'm concerned about is the climactic duel in Act Three, with Gisbourne and Robin fighting to the death over Marion. Have you handled a weapon before?” our teacher asked me.

“Y-yeah, I have,” I replied. Subjectively, at least.

“Good! And I know Joanna was a fencer in middle school, so there's that. Now, what I want to see today are your skills in handling the swords. Don't try and hurt each other, just give me an idea of where you're at and what we need to work on to make this fight work.” Miss Andrews said as she took the swords from the table and handed them to us, backing away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw several heads turn our way.

“Don't worry; like she says, I'm a professional.” Joanna subtly smiled at me.

“Don't be surprised when you don't break through,” I quipped with a smile of my own. Her own smile grew larger, and she held out her sword.

“En garde!” she called out, thrusting at me right off the bat. I parried her, whirling around to try and bring my own mock-blade up to her neck but she quickly batted it away as soon as she realized what was happening.

Sh-she really is a pro, I belatedly understood, hastily blocking a few thrusts and slashes that came my way before I regained my center and went on the attack again. The one thing I'd had drilled into me by each of my martial arts instructors was that I should keep my eyes on my opponent's eyes. Not their hands, not their feet, but their eyes. Then another thought reached me as we locked blades, hers coming down and mine swinging up to block. This was a fight scene, but it was also not really a fight to the death: it was more of a dance, and every move would be carefully made to give the audience a thrill while keeping the both of us completely safe. I thought about the various sparring matches I had been in as a kid, recalling how each of those moves had also been practiced so that no one was actually hurt. And with that, I found my in.

I managed to shove her off gently, and at once I pounced with a series of strikes and thrusts, catching her off guard at first but then she smiled at me. She knew I had caught on to what our teacher wanted. So we both began showing off, driving each other back and forth and around the stage for about ten minutes before we were both winded. Miss Andrews clapped her hands for us to halt, and we set the swords back on the table.

“Okay! Color me impressed. Now we'll have to work out what the actual fight is going to look like, and you'll have to have your lines memorized as well, but I think we have a foundation here.” she told us, and Joanna grinned at me. “Now: Matthew, Herby, get up here! We need to work on quarterstaves now!”

“Hah? Oh...”

“You forgot about that, huh?” Joanna said to me. “I'll give you some advice; you're decent with a sword, but a staff is a different animal.” she remarked, patting my shoulder.

“Very true, Jo.” Miss Andrews nodded. “I think he'll catch on, though. Good job, by the way; now go run your lines with Marcus and Joe.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Joanna replied, and headed off the stage to do so while Matthew and Herby arrived to join me.

“Okay, so! Which of you two gentlemen is feeling up to this first?” our teacher grinned as her aide Holly came out with two quarterstaves. Matthew turned to the shorter boy with a grin.

“Herb! What number am I thinking of?”

“Uhh... five?” Herby answered uncertainly.

“Nope! You go first.” Matthew quipped.

“Shucks. Well, Sean, here we go!” the other boy gave me a lopsided grin, taking one of the staves while I took the other.

“H-here's to not getting whacked for real,” I replied.

“We'll try, buddy, we'll try!” he nodded.

Fifteen minutes with both of them showed us and our teacher that we definitely needed some practice with the quarterstaff. I got whopped by poor Herby a couple times, as well as inadvertently whopping him once, while Matthew got me good at least five times -- though I swear the fifth was somewhat on purpose. Or at least he had a cheeky grin on his face when it happened. Though I did somehow manage to trip him as I went down. He laughed it off, and that's when Miss Andrews, with a semi-amused grin on her face, clapped her hands for us to stop. She then made her pronouncement, and sent the three of us off to run our lines for the rest of the afternoon.

“But who the heck knows how to handle a staff like that in this school?” Herby remarked as we sat down.

“Right?” Matthew agreed. “Swords are one thing; fencing and even kendo clubs are a dime a dozen. But I don't think quarterstaves are even a thing in high schools... Renn Faire companies, maybe...”

“Fighting with a staff, huh...” I quietly mused, thinking about Anhe.

“Don't tell us you know someone?” Matthew asked me.

“Ehh... I'd have to check...”

“Come to think of it, you've been getting super popular this year, huh?” Herby remarked. “And we all thought you were just a reclusive gamer!”

“Th-that's not... completely untrue...” I replied bemusedly.

“Nice.” Matthew remarked. “Well! Time to run our lines, boys! Ha-hem! Let's see... Little John shows up in Act One, Scene Five...”

“This is an Allan line, isn't it?” Herby noticed.

“Yup! They kind of merged him with Will Scarlet in this one, didn't they?”

“Oh, that's interesting,” I said.

“Yup yup,” Matthew nodded. “Henry! Get over here!” he called, and as soon as the other boy arrived we began going over our dialogue for the rest of our time there.

***

“Think you did okay?” Rachel asked me as we sat at a cafe later that afternoon.

“Hrrmm, I'm still tripping a bit over some of the words, but I'll get there.” I shrugged. “How about you?”

“Same.” she nodded. “And we don't actually get a scene with each other until after the middle of the first act.” she smiled sadly.

“We can still run our lines together,” I smiled back at her.

“Of course!” Rachel beamed back. “That sword-play though.” she then said.

“That Joanna is a pro.” I replied. “I don't think I'd actually beat her in a fight, but in a play, I think there's enough to make it work.”

“I thought you held up pretty well.” she told me. “And I'm not the only one. Allie and Marcus seemed pretty impressed as well--especially Marcus, since he was on the fencing team with Joanna when they were in middle school.”

“W-wow, I don't know what to say,” I remarked with a bashful grin.

“And then next week you guys have to work on archery, huh?”

“Was that on the schedule?”

“Yep!”

“Oh boy.”

“Those staff fights do need some work though.” she smirked.

“Y-yeah, I got that,” I returned with a wry expression.

“Your head okay?” she asked in a more serious tone.

“Hrrmm, it hurt less than what you did in the tournament...” I said with a goofy grin. She gave me one in return, and we both quietly shook with laughter, taking each other's hands.

“I was so horrified when I hit you then!” she soundlessly giggled.

“Hit me? You clobbered me!” I softly quipped back, my smile growing wider. She buried her head on my shoulder, still shaking with laughter. I put an arm around her, and when we had calmed down a bit we gazed out of a nearby window together. “S-say, Rey, do you just want to skip out on gaming tonight and just... be together?” I asked her after a moment. She didn't reply immediately, but she did press closer to me.

“Definitely.” she agreed. “Definitely.”