Saturday morning started off with some good weather, so I hurried and did some chores after breakfast and then spent another hour or so polishing off homework just to be safe before heading out to meet Rachel. Dad just kind of automatically replied as I headed out the door with a goodbye, and mom was out doing something for her job or whatever, so I was able to get out without the Spanish Inquisition torturing me first.

It had been a while since I had actually walked around town, come to think of it. Wait. Maybe never. Eh, no, there were those times when I was younger, and we would go out for a walk in the park or so, or maybe to go look at the holiday sights downtown.

Come to think of it I haven't really talked about town -- this city, I should say. It's one of those big cities. You know about the mall, I guess; and there's the school as well; basically it's a scattered megalopolis. There's skyscrapers and office buildings and such in the new city, which basically forms a sort of ring around the old city; the old city is generally residential (it's where we live), and the new city is more or less commercial.

Our school and the mall kind of straddle the edge of the two, along with several other places such as the K.T. Theatre, a few churches (including ours), several bars, and a couple libraries and bookstores. The park is situated nearly in the center of the old city, and it takes up around a hundred acres or so. Downtown is located nearby; it kind of provides a thoroughfare towards the park itself.

Thinking ahead a bit, I went to a local cornerstore and bought a few drinks for us to enjoy for the day. I made my way along downtown's Main Street, idly gazing at the shops and other sights. The current overall design was geared for autumn, including Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I could definitely see some of the stores were preparing for the winter holidays as well.

Good grief, I thought to myself with a wry expression.

Passing by a fountain, I barely noticed the hateful glance of a certain over-sized orangutan who was lingering around. Reflecting on it later, I guess he really had nothing else to do; no other school would take him or his dad's money. He began stomping towards me, and I finally noticed him just as he got within punching distance. Just as he did so I jumped out of the way, and he continued trying to hit or kick me until a police officer suddenly intervened.

“Hey! What's going on here?” he demanded

“Nothing, officer.” Shrivers said angrily.

“Then why the heck are you trying to assault me in broad daylight?” I countered with a tired expression.

“Shut your mouth!” he said, attempting to punch me in the gut. But the officer's hand caught his fist with a strong grip.

“I remember you... didn't I pull you out of that school for this stupid behavior?”

“Let go! My dad can have you fired!” Shrivers shouted as he tried to break free.

“I don't think so, wise guy. Let's call this attempted assault, threatening an officer, and resisting arrest.” the man said, and Justin's face froze.

“P-please don't do that...!”

“I think I will. Come on. And you, kid,” he turned to me. “I'll deal with this. Take care of yourself, all right?” he added, and then he led the struggling neanderthal jerk away to a cruiser.

“See ya, dork.” I said, quietly sticking out my tongue at the lost cause of an ex-high school quarterback.

After that I continued on my merry way unmolested, reaching the park entrance we had agreed upon a few minutes early. Quietly sighing in relief that I hadn't made her wait, I leaned back against the stone wall that bordered the entryway, looking up at the sky and getting lost in thought. Suddenly that nagging feeling came to me again.

It's more coherent now; why is Garth doing this anyway? Sure, he has an ego; but overall it seems pretty pointless and frustrating, unless that itself is somehow the goal. But that can't be the whole picture. There's a bigger reason, I think. Something huge, even. What could it be?

“Sean?” Rachel's voice came to my ear, snapping me out of it; her hand was on my arm.

“Hey!” I said as she registered and a smile came to my face. She smiled back, and then I noticed more; she was wearing a sky-blue sundress with a darker blue shirt underneath, along with the brown shoes she liked to wear outside of school. There was a bow of the same blue color tying her hair to one side, as usual.

“Let's go!” she said cheerfully, linking her arm in mine, and we made our way inside the park. I suddenly noticed she had a picnic basket in her other hand as we entered, and smiled to myself. Today will be a good day, I decided.

For the first part of our date in the park we made our way to the arboretum on the west side; the whole place is basically a wildlife sanctuary, and there's no real difference between the arboretum on this side and the preserve on the southeast side except that the arboretum has several special exhibits where non-local birds can be found some days. And of course sometimes they highlight one of our local birds; today for example they had a barn owl near the one entrance.

We made our way along the path slowly, listening to all of the various calls and chirps that were being tossed back and forth around the place. I could recognize a few of them; there were some crows, several sparrows and robins, and one or two doves that I could pick out.

“Oh look, a cardinal!” Rachel said, her eyes fixed on a spot to our left.

“Heh, neat -- oh, there's two of them,” I noticed, and she noticed then too.

“Oh wow! A little family!” she said, gently squeezing my arm.

“Yep,” I smiled back.

Further ahead we crossed a little wooden bridge that sat across a stream which ran through the park to a little lake in the midst of the whole place; we caught a glimpse of a couple frogs, along with a heron that sat poised upon an old log jutting out into the water. There were a lot of turtles as well, and something else that scurried out of sight upon seeing us.

“Probably a rabbit.” I shrugged.

“Aw, I hope we see one later,” Rachel returned.

“I'm sure we will; especially out in the open fields near the lake. They like that area,” I told her, and she smiled.

“I'm glad we're out here together.” she said, holding on to me a little tighter.

“Me too.” I replied.

As we continued along we noticed a bench off to a side in a clearing; we decided to take a rest here for a few minutes, and as we sat down and set our basket and bag on the ground, Rachel brought a camera out of her purse. She put an arm around me with one hand, and then leaned in with me.

“Smile!” she said; who could resist that? I smiled, and she took a couple of shots before she was satisfied.

“Just don't give Ellie any more fuel,” I gently pleaded, and Rachel giggled.

“I'll try not to,” she agreed.

With our commemorative photo taken care of, she then turned the camera around to get some shots of the flora and fauna around us. Man, you're good, I thought to myself as she checked the shots one by one.

“Why thank you!” she said to me.

“Ahh--I said that aloud...” I realized, and she reached over to kiss me.

“You did.” she smiled, and then took a few more before we decided to move on.

I decided that I should carry the basket and the bag as well, to which Rachel looked surprised about but then decided to let me do so with one of those angelic smiles. As we continued through the arboretum she took several more pictures, and when we came to another entrance-slash-exit she had amassed quite a collection. We turned right to head along another path, this one heading for the aforementioned lake.

Now, it was, technically, a lake, but it was called The Pond, or Pond Lake. Yes, I know. English, man, English. Well anyway.

We made our way towards this, and by the time we got there it was a little after noon. Choosing an out-of-the-way picnic table near a willow tree, the two of us sat down together and opened lunch. Rachel had made us a couple different kinds of sandwiches and some fruit cups, along with -- I don't deserve you. There beside the fruit cups were two little bags with homemade cookies.

“Hmm? Oh wow, you remembered!” Rachel said as she picked out the lemon-tea I had gotten from the cornerstore.

“Wh--of course I remembered,” I told her. “And there's water, too.”

“Good thinking.” she nodded back.

We ate at a relaxed pace for a change, enjoying each other's company and the scenery around us. It was nice to have a leisurely meal alone together; not that I hated being with the others, but, you know.

Over to our left we could see a massive old tree on the north side of the park; that was the Grandfather Oak. We decided that we would go and look at it after finishing up our lunch. Before us sat Pond Lake; there were a few people relaxing near the water's edge on this side, and I could see more around the lake as a whole. Several people were out boating in rowboats or sailboats; there were piers on the west side of the lake, and near the piers was a little row of eateries.

“Hmm, next time let's give those a try,” Rachel remarked as she caught sight of them.

“Sure!” I agreed. “It's been a long time; I'm not even sure if they're the same ones I can remember.”

“That long ago?” she wondered.

“It was the last time we were able to go anywhere with the grands.” I said with a sad smile, and Rachel affected one of her own.

“Yeah.” she returned softly.

“You too, huh?”

“A couple years ago for me.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“They're okay,” she added, “Just...” she trailed off, and I put a hand on her.

“I know. Mine too.” I told her, and she nodded, laying her head on my shoulder. We shared a moment of silence together, and then she brightened up again.

“Bunnies!” she suddenly remarked, and quickly fished out her camera.

“Heh? Oh! Three of them--nice!” I exclaimed.

“Right?” Rachel agreed as she turned on the camera to get a few shots of them. After a few minutes of pic-taking, someone's dog wandered by and spooked the furry little things, and we exchanged a wry smile with each other as the rabbits darted off out of sight.

“Oh well.” I shrugged.

“Mm, I did get a lot, though... silly dog.” she replied. “Let's finish lunch and hurry on over to the tree!” she then added cheerily. We did so, and when we had sorted out the basket again the two of us continued on our self-guided day-tour of the park, heading over to the Grandfather Oak.

I don't remember how this tree got its name, but it certainly lived up to the part, visually speaking. It was a huge, hoary oak that stood strong and proud, towering over the other trees nearby despite the fact that it was shorter than several of them. Something about it seemed very magical, almost as if you could touch it and step back in time or into a fantasy world of some kind. Its leaves were just beginning to turn, hints of yellow and brown seeping into the leaves that yet crowned it. A fox was sleeping peacefully at its base; Rachel quietly got her camera to get a picture of him, and then another of the big tree itself.

“I swear it looks like something in Panarena,” she remarked.

“It really does.” I agreed.

“Any good memories of it?” she asked with a smile. I paused for a moment, remembering all the times we used to come here when I was little.

“I used to pretend it was a portal to another world, or another time.” I then said with a faint smile, and she beamed at me.

“Yes! It does look like that, huh?” Rachel said as she turned back to the tree. “We had a tree like that at my grandparent's old house; it wasn't as big, but something about it just... it was like...”

“Otherworldly, ancient... almost...” I began, and then--

“Sacred,” we both said at once, and turned to each other with a grin.

“And now we really can go to another world.” she mused softly.

“Sometimes I wish it was permanent.” I remarked.

“As Lana?” she turned to me with a sly grin.

“Well,” I shrugged. “If it was permanent I'd try to be myself.”

“Fair.” Rachel smiled. “Is that an outdoor theater over there?” she suddenly said, looking further off to our right.

“Eh? Oh, yeah, it is actually. Sometimes they do plays or skits, but it's usually musicians these days, sometimes a magician, or even a wildlife expert or something like that.” I said as I turned to look.

“Oh, cool! That'd be fun to go to,” she said.

“It would be.” I agreed.

“I wonder if there's anything on for today?”

“We can go look; there should be a schedule or something.”

“Okay!” Rachel returned brightly, and we were off to see the theater.

The venerable outdoor theater stage was just as grand as I remembered it, and the scheduled performances were listed on a bulletin board off to the side. No one was really here at the moment, but there was a play scheduled for three forty-five in the afternoon.

“Oh hey, wait a minute, didn't our theater teacher say she'd give us some extra credit for attending one of these?” I suddenly recalled.

“Oh yeah! Brilliant! Let's come back around three-thirty or so, then.” Rachel said, checking the time. It was just coming up on one-thirty.

“We'll do that,” I nodded back.

“What's in the preserve?” she then asked me.

“Hmm? What was it now... I think they have some sort of special flowers or trees growing in certain areas there,” I said as I thought about it.

“That sounds pretty magical,” she said with a happy laugh.

“Let's go, then!” I said, and she smiled back.

As we made our way over, I could feel Rachel's hold on my arm tighten again, as if she didn't want me to disappear. I looked over at her; there was a touch of sadness in her eyes. But then she looked over at me and brightened back up.

“Things okay?” I asked her softly. The smile remained, but it was tinged with hurt.

“Mom has definitely been talking to some strange person about a job offer. She said that we would be here a while, and she's kind of brushing this person off, but I can tell she really wants the job.”

“That's...” I broke off, uncertain of what to say. How can I help her? Can I do anything? Is it just about being with her?

“But enough about her for now,” she said in a stronger voice. “We'll find a way to deal with it when it comes!” she added, and I gently nodded.

“I'll be here for you.” I replied softly.

“I know.” she smiled.

When we got to the preserve we found a little guide pamphlet, and Rachel picked one up to see what was around. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around to look at the special or rare flowers and trees that hung out in odd corners of the little forest, catching several glimpses of more animals and birds as well. In one part there was another stream, this one with a beaver dam on one side of it. By sheer luck Rachel managed to get a perfect shot of its occupants before they slunk back inside, and we high-fived each other.

There was also a family of deer deeper inside; these stared at us intently, not daring to move or to do anything else until we were on our merry way to another part of the preserve. A blue-jay flew across the path once, and in the distance we could hear a woodpecker. We were so caught up exploring the place that we almost missed Rachel's phone-alarm telling us to hurry back to the theater. As soon as we remembered what the alarm was about we dashed off together hand in hand, hurrying to catch the performance that was about to begin.

We arrived at the theater to find that seats were filling up pretty fast; the two of us took a spot on the end of a middle row to the left of the stage and sat down to watch. Rachel pulled out the pamphlet again and we looked it over to see what was being performed: “Selections from Shakespeare, starring the Merry Men Company of Bards and Thespians”, it read.

“Selections, huh?” I remarked softly.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I guess they'll do some of the more famous scenes?” Rachel suggested.

“That's probably it,” I agreed.

The curtains then opened, and an announcer, appropriately garbed in the ubiquitously stereotypical costume most associated with the Elizabethan Era, popped out to introduce the show in a flamboyant monologue that both our brains recognized as being heavily influenced by the works of the Bard himself.

That's kind of impressive, although some people might be tempted to call it sad, I thought to myself as I listened to his recitation. With a grand flourish of elegant and enticing words, he introduced the key performers for the afternoon, including himself, and then the curtains closed again while the stage was set for the first selection.

“Wait, how do we prove we were here for class?” Rachel suddenly whispered to me.

“I think they give out some sort of souvenir at the end.” I whispered back. She let out a quiet sigh of relief, and then the curtains opened again to start the first of the mini-shows for the day.

***

For an hour and a half or so, the company of Shakespearean performers took us on a wild and very entertaining romp through the many works which have been forever immortalized in our English-speaking culture. It started off with “Hamlet” and then switched gears to “The Merchant of Venice”, followed by “King Lear” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. Then it was “Julius Caesar”, with “Macbeth” on its heels and scenes from “Much Ado About Nothing” interwoven with scenes from “All's Well That Ends Well”. Of course, they did so much more, but it'd really be a pain to list everything that they did, but it was truly magnificent. They closed out with a lively performance of the last few scenes from “The Comedy of Errors”, after which came their curtain call and a well-deserved applause from the audience.

As for Rachel and myself, the two of us were recognized as students by one of the staff and given something to show our theater teacher as proof that we had been here. We thanked the lady for doing so, and then began heading out of the park. It was now five-twenty. I held on to the basket unconsciously, until we got to the entrance of the park and Rachel nudged me.

“Hm?” I wondered.

“I might need the basket back.” she said with a faint grin.

“Ah, oh! Well, how about I just walk you home?” I said, and she thought about it for a brief moment before nodding.

“We can do that.” she agreed. We took one last look at the park, and then headed on back into the city.

It was nearly sunset, but there was more than enough light for the two of us to make it home before dark. Well, for me to get Rachel to her house, at least. The sights and sounds of the city passed us by; there was a construction crew building something at a lot that had been cleared a few blocks from the park, and further ahead we could see an art gallery being taken inside for the night. A tour-bus drove by on our left; I wondered what they were going to see, or if they had already seen it.

We passed by a row of office buildings on one street; it was mostly lawyers and psychiatrists, judging from the signs, but there was also a bar mingled in. Of course, Rachel and I found this amusing to no end. On the next street we saw an old family bookstore, and a video-arcade next door to it.

“We should go there some day,” she told me as we passed them by.

“We will, I promise.” I said in answer. There were a few more odds and ends shops that we passed by, and then we got into what people tended to call the Food District.

I cannot stress enough how appropriate the name is, nor can I tell you how underestimated the label is by people who don't live here. So let me spell it out: every. Single. Building. Here. Is. A. Restaurant.

Okay, so there's like one gift-store, but it's attached to a restaurant and it sells memorabilia exclusively for that restaurant, so it counts as part of the restaurant.

It was a little after five-forty now, and the two of us were looking at some of these places pretty hungrily. And there was way too much to choose from, should we decide to try and stop in on our way home. As a final measure of torture, when we had pretty much made up our minds to just go home and have dinner there, the last restaurant we came across was an East Asian place called “Three Kingdoms Soul: Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Specialties”.

“… That's too much...” I said weakly.

“… I know... but it's probably also too much...” Rachel said with a wavering willpower.

“… Right?” I agreed; it was definitely going to be expensive. We looked at each other, and then looked back at the restaurant. A second look passed between us, and then our gazes returned to the building before us.

“Ugh... I want to try it...!” Rachel groaned.

“Right?” I sighed, a wry grin on my face.

“Hey, kiddos!” a familiar voice called out to us. It was Joshua Danes, Rachel's brother.

“Josh! Oh, you're on a date, too?” Rachel said, noticing the woman with him.

“Yep! This is Jane; Jane, this is my little sister Rachel and her boyfriend, Sean!” he said with a big grin.

“Nice to meet you!” Jane told us.

“Same,” I replied as we shook hands.

“Anyway, we were going to Caesar's Palace on the other side of the street... oh-ho, I know; you two want to try this one, I bet!” he told us with a wink.

“Ah...”

“Eh-heh...” the two of us grinned sheepishly. Jane and Joshua looked at each other with amusement.

“We can try this one; we go to Caesar's a lot anyway, I think one new thing a week is fair enough!” Jane told him, and he nodded.

“I was gonna hand them a bill and let them go, but that works too!” he said cheerfully. “Come on, let's go in!” he added, and we only too happily followed him in.

“At least it's Josh,” Rachel whispered softly.

“And not one of our parents?” I whispered back with a grin.

“He's more fun.” she winked, and I shook with silent laughter.

Our incidental double-date at the restaurant went very well; Josh and Jane were apparently co-workers, and had been seeing each other for a while now. Jane herself seemed quite impressed that the two of us were able to order some things in Chinese, at which point Josh grinned and complimented us for it. After a very satisfying meal, he offered to drive us home, and we accepted. Once we got off at Rachel's house (mine wasn't too far away, maybe ten blocks or so), he headed off to let us spend a little more time together before we--well, before I had to get home. I handed her the basket back then, and she smiled.

“Well, I guess I'll see you in Panarena later.” Rachel said to me.

It was then that the thought that had been bugging me the past few days suddenly made itself known with the rapport of a thundercloud, and I was suddenly able to put a voice to it.

“Panarena... the Aldholt...” I said.

“Hmm?” Rachel wondered, seeing the expression of realization on my face.

“There really is no point to the conflict... not a single point... it's just a distraction. What is he really after?” I wondered aloud, and Rachel hopped on my train of thought as well.

“Aren't there rumors that his gear and stuff wasn't gotten in the proper way? Like he somehow cheated to get them or something like that?” she asked.

“Yeah... yeah, that sort of thing... I wonder... I wonder if he's doing this to try and cover up another ploy to get himself something he really doesn't deserve...” I mused, and Rachel checked the time.

“It's fifteen 'til eight; that's our usual log-in time, anyway. We can tell the others and go from there,” she told me, and I nodded. “Hey. It was really fun today. We should do this more often.” she then said, and I smiled back.

“Of course; I promise we'll try to do this sort of thing more from now on,” I said to her, and she beamed at me happily.

“Kiss on it?” she asked. As before, I needed no second bidding. Our lips met for several moments, and then parted reluctantly. “Hurry home!” she said, gently flicking my nose and dashing inside her house.

“Right,” I nodded back, and prepared to make a run myself. Just then a car horn beeped right next to me. It was my mother.

“Hey! Come on, I'll give you a lift home!” she called after I calmed down from being freaked out. With a sigh emanating from some weird mixture of emotion, I hopped in, and the car started off again. “You didn't hear me pull alongside you?” mom asked with a grin.

“No,” I returned. “I forgot how loud that thing was and how quiet this car is.”

“Quiet? Oh, true, we usually drive with your dad's car -- which is louder.”

“Yep.”

“Ah, me,” she remarked with a giggle. “Did you have fun today?” she asked me.

“Yep, a lot.” I replied softly. She slackened off with the questions then and patted my shoulder. I hate pats as much as I hate questions, you know, I thought inwardly.

“Good. I like her, kiddo. She's good for you.”

You have no idea.

“Hah, I guess you'll be off to that little game of yours when we get home. You had dinner at least, right?”

“We did. Joshua found us and we had dinner at this place in the Food District.” I said, and then realized that was the most I'd said to her about anything for a long time. She realized it too.

“Wow. Extravagant tonight, are we?” she remarked with a double-meaning that did not escape me.

“… Yep.” I replied after a moment. She shook her head, a grin on her face.

“Well good. How's he doing, by the way?”

“He seems good.”

“Wonderful. Very enthusiastic kid, that one.”

“Kid?” I wondered.

“He may be in his twenties, but that's still kid enough for me.” she shrugged.

“Heh.” I returned softly.

“Quiet, brat.” she quipped back, tugging my ear a little. I couldn't resist a little grin.

We got home just as it turned eight o'clock, and with that I all but darted back up to my room with a wave at dad as I hastened to rejoin the battle that was still going on in Panarena.

“Must've been a good time to keep him outside for nine hours,” I heard dad say.

“Nine hours?” mom returned.

“Now, Shirley--”

“Don't Shirley me, Albert! He was out of the house for that long?”

“What are you fussing about! Being outside and socializing is good for him--it builds character!”

“Oh, you read too much Bill Watterson!” the reply came as I shut the door behind me.

What the heck *are* you fussing about? You're gonna be bonkers this spring when the Theater Class does its play and I'm out of the house that long on a regular basis, I thought to myself with a goofy grin. I then dressed down for the night, turning on the tower for the Dream Machine and setting the device itself on my head moments later to head back into that amazing world I was starting to think of as home.

***

I found Ari and the others waiting for me at Cloverbell; Lizzy seemed as if she had been waiting around for a while, but Healina and Ari were as calm as ever. Our Nordian smith stood up, and gave me a funny look.

“Wildeye's been sending messages all day; there were a few small skirmishes that happened while you two were out, but now they seem to be gearing up for something big. We good?” she asked me.

“We're good!” I returned, holding my hands up defensively. “It'll all be fine, and I think he'll forgive me once he hears me out.”

“Ari told me some stuff,” Lizzy nodded. “Let's get going then!” she said, and the four of us hurried off to Mount Fang, where we found the rest of the Silver Tiger Pact waiting for us patiently. Wildeye smiled as we arrived.

“Lana! You're finally on,” he said. “We were just discussing how to deploy you.”

“About that,” I broke in, “I think Garth is up to something more nefarious than we think; I want to leave Elizasmith and Healina with one of the groups here while Ariana and I slip in to their guild hall to see what's going on.”

There were murmurs and exclamations at what I said, and I could almost feel Lizzy and Heali exchanging a glance with each other at my pronouncement. Wildeye and Magisteria looked at me in surprise and then turned to each other, subtly nodding.

“This... is not totally detrimental to our plans today, I suppose, but it would be more reassuring to have you with us.” he remarked.

“You'll barely notice us being gone with the other two here to help. Besides, pulling off this bit of espionage will reward us no matter how you slice it. Ariana and I have the highest sneak rating in the area at the moment. I want to know what he's really after instead of going on with this pointless lock-down we're trying to pull off on each other.” I said to him, and even he had to give us that one.

“Hahh... Lady Lana, you are very correct about what you say. Very well! We will move ahead of schedule and launch our assaults now to divert their attention. Their guild-hall -- well, ⸸SOVEREIGN⸸'s guild-hall, is located at Diamond City in the Crystal Coasts. Someone said that they are having a crucial meeting today; I hope you are in time to attend it.” he said to us, and Ariana and I gave him a nod as we turned to go.

As the two of us made our way to the wayport, Lizzy and Heali gave us nods of support, the latter with a smile on her face. To my surprise, Tyman was at the door; he held up his hand, and then began opening a panel.

“Yo, might want these.” he said as he transferred some items to us.

“Hmm?” I wondered, and then looked; they were ⸸SOVEREIGN⸸ guild-uniforms. “Oh, I gotcha; thanks!--wait a sec, how'd you--”

“Someone picked 'em up last night by damn luck. They've got hoods on 'em, too. Get going; this dumb fight gone on too long.” he said as he opened the door, and we hastened on out.

“He's tired of fighting?” I muttered to myself as we reached the wayport, and Ariana giggled. We selected our destination, then quickly changed outfits before being whisked away to Diamond City.

It was probably the most spectacular and magical looking city in the Aldholt regions, and it was certainly the most expensive to live in. I think The Tea Cupboard also had a guild-hall here by the way. Now, I had expected to be literally sneaking in, but I had no problem with disguises. This is yet another one of the ways VR games are superior to older ones: sure, you can bring up someone's name if you want to get an idea of who they are; but with guild uniforms people took that sort of thing for granted and just gave you a pass. And the system wouldn't alarm you either. This is because guild-halls for guilds with uniforms only recognize the uniform and pay no mind to player-identification; these settings could be altered, but for a big guild like ⸸SOVEREIGN⸸ it made more sense to just track people by uniform.

Now, if anyone were to check the guild registry, we would not turn up as players of the guild. Our hasty spy-act was gambling on the hope that they were in too much of a hurry to bother with that. That said, why are these things so gaudy? I wondered to myself with a cringed look on my face.

And yes, I know that this system I've just described to you seems full of holes, but I guess the developers either hadn't thought about this particular scenario or they had thought about it and believed it would be an interesting quirk to make the game more fun for those who enjoyed this sort of thing.

Anyway. We made our way through the extravagant streets of Diamond City at a brisk but cautious pace. Few people paid us any mind; a couple of them darted out of our way when they saw our get-up. Ari and I looked at each other with a knowing look. Even people in the Garth-Fire Alliance's strongholds were agitated by what was going on.

The guild-hall wasn't hard to find in the end; as expected of ⸸SOVEREIGN⸸, they had the most gaudy-looking building of all, situated on a small hill near the lord's manor. It was practically a lord's manor itself, a palatial estate decked out with the most self-serving décor any person could think to find. As we hoped, no one paid us any mind, and we entered without trouble. Quickly I noted our surroundings, and gently took Ariana's arm as we hastened to a stairwell I espied; there was probably a large hall behind the massive door at the end of this foyer, and the stairs probably led to an indoor overlook where we could keep hidden while we listened in.

My instincts paid off; it was almost too perfect of a spot, and it was situated above a main hall where the leaders of the Garth-Fire Alliance were discussing their schemes. I hid us both with Shadow Sharing, and we then focused all our senses on gathering what information we could.

“I hope you're more prepared to deal with them tonight than you were last night or even today,” Angelfire said angrily.

“Don't take it out on us; you should have been more wary of Lana and the Silvernight Queens.” Angela retorted. “If you had focused on their healer instead of Lana herself you might have gotten them!”

“You try beating the best shadow-warrior in the Aldholt with your snotty little fae-magic and see how far you get!” the reply came without missing a beat.

“Now, now, just hold on!” Garth said in a calm voice. “Let's forget about last night and focus on today. The Silver Tigers are probably going to be locking up the dungeons again; we need to counter or otherwise ambush them.”

“The outlaws aren't going to help this time.” a strange voice remarked.

“No, I didn't think they would, Aleister.” Garth returned.

Aleister; Crowley's Revenge. That's one of the newer guilds, isn't it?

“But what exactly are you trying to do, Garth?” a deep voice said. “My guild and I joined to balance out Hallow's Eve being with the Tigers, yet I am curious as to what you're really up to.”

Sn-nap, that's Skeletor! I realized, and Ariana's eyes widened as well.

“We should probably tell them.” Angela remarked.

“Yes, you're right; very well!” Garth said. “My purpose for this war is two-fold: one, to distract people from a quest that I've been trying to achieve with Angela, and two, to drive out someone I perceive as my main rival in the matter--our, rivals, I should say.”

“A quest?” Skeletor remarked in a flat tone. “What sort of quest?” he demanded.

“A quest for an item, a very powerful item that can only be used by two players with a strong bond.”

Heh? That sounds interesting... oh wait, I get where this is going.

“Ve-ry interesting!” Aleister said with a fascinated tone. “Do tell!”

“I don't know exactly what it is, all I know is where, and even for that there's a prerequisite quest I haven't found yet.” Garth replied.

“That we haven't found, darling.” Angela interjected.

“Yes, I meant we.” the other said in a barely apologetic voice. “It's located in the Hallowed Vale, and even that's barely a clue. I think I need the prerequisite item first, but no one has been able to determine where it is.”

“I see.” Skeletor mused. “This is both less and more than I expected; but you can recapture my interest by confirming one thing -- your rivals. You wouldn't be referring to the Silvernight Twins, would you?” he said in a soft but insistent tone.

I knew it.

“They are the ones I refer to, yes.” Garth acknowledged. Skeletor laughed. He laughed heartily, so much so that the hall seemed to shake with the echoes of his laughter before he finally composed himself again.

“Very well! My interest is reborn! I want to test myself against that woman and her second; if your ploy is to weaken them and drive them out, that is all the more to my liking!”

By this time the two of us had heard enough; we nodded to each other and slipped out as the meeting continued, hastening out of the hall and nearly flying to the wayport. We headed back to Mount Fang at once, and then slipped back into our normal gear as we entered the Mountain Tigers' hall. There weren't many people left; Tyman was one of the few still lingering. He looked up as we came in, and nodded.

“Yo.” he said as we took the disguises out of our inventories and set them on the table.

“They worked.” I said.

“Damn right they worked, girl.” he said with a tone that suggested he never thought they would have failed. “What's the scoop?”

“There's a lot, but basically Garth is after something in a place called the Hallowed Vale,” I said to him. “That, and they're gonna try to foil our locking up dungeons tonight when the reset comes along.”

“I'll let Wildeye know,” Tyman said, and then gave us a thoughtful look. “Yo, I was out wandering a few nights ago, real nights that is, and I saw some place that might've been the Hallowed Vale or whatever. Lotta trees and a lotta special looking animals down that way; it was kinda in-between Vark' and the Mountains of Night, west of Aldholt City.” he said to us, and I pondered this for a moment.

Have I been down that way? I can't remember... but this lead is better than nothing. Come to think of it, I then mused, pulling up the item we had gotten from the dungeon last night.

“Oh! The charm!” Ariana said as she saw my finger hover over the item in question. “That's what they were looking for--this is the key to that special dungeon they're trying to get to!” she added, and I nodded in agreement.

“And to think all I wanted to do was distract myself from this little spat of Garth's; we found it by one heck of a lucky accident,” I remarked.

“Dayum.” Tyman said with an impressed look on his face. “Best hurry on over there, then; I'll round up people for back-up in case that damn Garth grows a brain -- oh, that Hallowed Vale place is marked by a giant-@$$ gold-cedar tree.” he told us.

“Thanks, Ty.” I said, and then suddenly froze.

Now, let me back up a bit and explain. I was literally the only person who ever called him “Ty”--his full name was really Tyler. And as soon as the word left my mouth, I knew I had made a goof; but he didn't comment on it all at once. He gave me a funny look, and then nodded.

“Sure thing... Lans.” he said in a sort of testing manner. I managed to wave innocently enough, and then Ariana and I headed out again.

“What a tense moment,” I said to myself exasperatedly when we were outside again.

“I think he picked up on you.” Ariana remarked, poking me gently.

“I think so too, but no time to worry about that. Let's find this place he mentioned.” I replied, and we made our way over to the wayport again.

“Let's see...” Ariana pondered aloud as she looked at the map. “Maybe it'd be simpler to try Noondale and head west from there?”

“Hmm... west by northwest, maybe, since he mentioned it kind of straddled Varkstania and the Mountains of Night.”

“True! Noondale it is, then!” she said, and with that we were whisked away once more--hopefully, to bring a final conclusion to the strife that had engulfed the Aldholt Regions.