“I need a haircut,” Tanis groaned, running her fingers through the scruffier portion of short white locks on the back of her head.

We’d been traveling for an additional week by this point, still not quite into Senta’s borders. I’d never gone so far South during the winter that you began to see the biome change in realtime. It was like fast-forwarding through the nasty, blizzard-filled part of the season into the early stages of spring, with higher temperatures joined by lighter snow and rain. Time felt like it was moving faster and slower at the same time, as a result, which was especially frustrating with nary a peep of additional experience from the grimoire. Fortunately, there were also no emergencies prompting me to spend what I had remaining. If it weren’t for playing around with my new magic, I’m sure the journey would’ve long since become mind-numbingly boring and tedious. Thankfully I had plenty of minor distractions to fill my time with, especially since Tanis had taken it upon herself to try and teach me how to use Legerdemain to perform some of Johnny Az’s greatest hits. So far I was pretty terrible at it, but she was enthusiastic about every inch of progress.

“Is this a fashion concern, or do you just miss the feel of head-stubble beneath your fingertips?” Many years had passed since my hair was last shorn, but I had fond, tactile memories of idly spending minutes at a time petting myself.

“Yes to both, partly, but I’m also not looking forward to being in a muggy swamp with a built-in heater on my head.”

“Good point. I should invest in some hair ties.”

“There’s a town off the beaten path that we should be able to reach by tonight,” Red offered. “Probably a barber there.”

“I could use a real bath,” I added. “Legerdemain is great for staying clean, but nothing relaxes tired muscles like a long, relaxing soak.”

“That won’t throw us off-schedule?” Tanis inquired, hope hiding just behind her voice.

“We have a schedule?” I looked to Red for confirmation, and he shrugged. “You must be under the impression you’re traveling with some kind of organized itinerants. We’re the haphazard variety.”

“Slapdash nomads,” Red agreed.

“Higgledy-piggledy wanderers!” Tanis added, excitedly.

“Oh, that’s a good one!”

Laughter made the long hours ahead of us shorter, and we pushed through lunch to hit Grenseben with the setting sun. The snowfall was much lighter here, old and hard from a few nights’ freeze. Spotting more than a single flake fluttering down from above was difficult, and certainly not the focus of our attentions. Tanis parted ways first to see if she could track down a place to get a haircut that was still open for business, while Red set about arranging our lodgings. Despite my increase to Charisma, I still let him handle those affairs; he was both more familiar with the world of Barbavia and better at schmoozing than I was, and it just seemed to bring him a sense of accomplishment. That left the linked espers and I, and my stomach was presently doing the driving, having skipped our midday meal. The scent of sweet bread and salty meat led me to an outdoor stall where a tall az was working long sausages over a spit. That was, perhaps, redundant; basically every az I’d met was either noticeably taller than me or sitting down. Before her was an array of breads, some flat and tortilla-like, some more like the expected hot dog buns, and a few waffle-ish options that caught my eye in particular.

“God kveld! Hva kan jeg få deg?”

“Ah… Ruben?” I asked, not ordering the sandwich (which I would never do. Sauerkraut and Russian dressing? Hard pass) but hoping she spoke what I gathered was the standard trade language of Barbavia.

“Ah! Yes! Sorry. I do not speak it very well.” Her voice was rich and rolling, spoken with a heavy accent through thick cheeks. She held up two fingers to me, smiling.

“That’s OK! Your sausages smell wonderful!” To help my point across the language barrier, I gestured to the spinning links of meat and held my head back in bliss.

“Thank you,” she giggled. “Want to try one?”

“Yes, please! I’ve never had them before.”

“Så spennende for deg! Choose bread and sauces, and when these are cooked, we build your polse!” She gestured to the array of breads and to a small placard built into the stall that I hadn’t noticed before. It listed a hand-written array of Aznakke words, followed by awkward yet carefully-scribed translations into a few other languages. After conferring with Wysteria and Grajo, who’d found game on the road, I ordered two sausages in the waffle-bread with chili and cheese. My stomach began rumbling in anticipation at the very thought of it, only intensified as she ladled hearty brown chili and shredded an orange cheddar-like cheese from a block directly onto the whole mess.

After doling out her payment and a few extra gold as a tip, I walked away from her stand stuffing my face with the most delicious conglomeration of food I’d had the good fortune to devour in ages, steam billowing from it as I carried it through the cold air to a small fountain that seemed to serve as a town square. Its deliciousness was a wonderful complement to the people-watching I engaged in, flirty young couples holding hands through the streets, men and women heading home or to the pub after a long day’s work… without being an active participant in the hustle and bustle like I was on Triangle Road, it was nice to just sit back and appreciate the banality of everyday life these folks were experiencing. Most of them paid me no more than a casual glance, so it made it feel even more like I was an outside observer to their lives. The watercolor hues of sunset gave way to an open, black sky full of stars. I finished my sausages with a little help from Grajo and Wysteria (mental note: just one is fine next time) and was about to look around for whatever inn Red had snagged for us when I was approached by a woman with her own posse of espers.

She was human, around my height if not taller, though the knee-high, road-worn leather boots on her feet were probably adding an inch or so. She had a similar style to Tanis, with a slightly greater emphasis in style over functionality to her leather armor. Instead of feathery fur, hers bore more metal studs and small spikes. It also bore a series of straps that were presumably meant to be buckled at the front to secure the armor, but they were currently undone and hanging loose like an open biker jacket. A purple tunic spilled out from underneath, complimenting her long, soft-looking red hair handsomely. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green and set into a thin face with prominent cheekbones. Freckles dusted her pale skin, and a wry smirk spread across her wide lips. Behind her was a stocky, white-furred bear standing around six and a half feet tall, and skittering around her shoulders was a large-eyed, wiry creature with pale red skin, pointed features, and flames sprouting from its skull somewhat like hair.

“Can’t say I expected to see another chainer here,” she mused. Her voice was casual and smooth, with a small amount of fry that felt natural and unforced.

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“Uh… ditto.” So much so that I was on the backfoot with basic human interaction, fumbling for a moment before wiping any stray chili from my hands and offering her a shake. “I’m Glenn. This is Grajo and Wysteria.”

“Argenti. Thaddeus and Nickels.” She pointed to herself, the bear, and the little impish being in turn. “Heading South, I presume?”

“Yeah. I guess you’re going North? Otherwise I would’ve seen you on Triangle Road.”

“Got it in one,” she nodded. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before, myself. Is this your first time making the circuit?”

“Yup. We started in Brum, trying to beat the winter.”

“Well, you’re a lot smarter than me,” she scoffed at herself. “I’m coming up from Senta. Had some family business I needed to attend to, so I got kind of a late start this year.”

“And you’re just gonna facetank the snow?”

“The cold doesn’t stop a lot of other folks. I don’t see why it should stop me,” she shrugged, then thumbed to the espers. “These two keep me warm through the worst of it, anyhow.”

“I’m surprised a veteran chainer like yourself only works with two espers,” I commented, looking both of her charges up and down. Nickels refused to stay still, gnashing his teeth with a chittering noise like an excited cat whenever he paused long enough for me to get a good look at him. He had tufts of dark hair from his head and other spots on his body, and a whipping, arrowhead-tip tail that occasionally curled around parts of his body and Argenti’s as well. Thaddeus was more patient, and though he walked upright otherwise resembled a normal bear. I wondered if these espers had any relationship with the ursataur people I heard about during Indomitable, or how different the two truly were.

“Every year after the tournament I sever the link with anyone who wants to go back home. Thad’s been with me for about five years now, and Nickels stayed from just last year.”

“Is that common?” I asked without thinking, then quickly added, “I only just got into the scene and kind of by accident, so I don’t know as much about it all as you might think.”

“Common enough.” Thankfully, she seemed to accept my explanation. “I find that most people who release at the end of the season are looking for ‘better’ fighters for their team, or cutting chaff. What have you. There are others who do it as a sign of respect for the espers’ personal lives, like me, and some are just one-and-done. If they didn’t win big the first time, they stop trying.”

“I have to imagine it takes an emotional toll on you,” I nodded, remembering the fading feeling of glory that overwhelmed me after the fight with Alexsandr. “Going all the way only to come up short in the end.”

“There’s only one Grand Champion a year,” she shrugged. “It can’t be everybody, and the odds of you getting there on the first try are slim to none. So many chainers quit after their first run I’m almost surprised the tournament bracket is so flush every year.

“I’m surprised that many people give it up, especially after winning at all the coliseums. It’s such a rush, y’know? Like, what else feels that gratifying?”

“Search me,” she shook her head with a chuckle, folding her arms across her chest. This gave Nickels a new place to climb across, which he took to with enthusiasm. “Some people want a less stressful career with less travel, I suppose. Some wanna settle down and start a family.”

“Pass.”

“Tch. I’ll second that. There’s so much more to see in the world, why tie yourself down to one place, wrangling crotch goblins?”

“Especially when you can travel and have someone equally as excitable, right?” I gestured to Nickels, who was presently gnawing on a length of her hair, and she laughed.

“Yeah, he’s a handful, but he’s worth it. I guess that’s how most mothers view their children,” she mused, collecting the hair from his mouth and giving him a gentle pat. The flames on his head didn’t seem to bother her, nor were they doused by her touch. She got a faraway look for a moment, then shook herself clear of it and brought her eyes pointedly to me. “You wanna spar?”

“What, like, right here? Right now?”

“Well, not in the middle of town, no… but… yeah. It’s so rare you run into other chainers if you’re not following the traditional itinerary, I figured maybe we could learn a little from each other. Get the espers some exercise.”

“Sure!”

We made for a small, snow-dusted clearing a good twenty feet from the nearest house and set about some light combat. I expected Argenti to trounce me, but the espers were more evenly matched than anticipated. Thaddeus was clearly her heavy, coming out on top against both Wysteria and Grajo, but they were still close fights. He struggled with Wysteria’s poison in particular, which brought delight to my damage-over-time-loving heart. I expected some kind of ice-elemental attacks, but much like Grajo he focused on what he could accomplish physically, relying on his pure strength and the size of his claws. Nickels, on the other hand, mostly threw tiny fireballs and ran, which was my strategy as a spellcaster in Dark Souls, so it seemed legit. He bested Wysteria, but Grajo managed to pin him down more than once. While we’d participated in official League fights and competitive matches for money, friendly contests with no stakes had somehow eluded us until now. It reminded me of wrestling around with my friends in my youth; we pulled punches and never meant to hurt each other (although sometimes it happened), but it was good for a laugh and certainly kept me more in shape than I was now. A few pounds had melted off as a result of our travels, but with all the delightful cart food on Triangle Road, I hadn’t exactly gone without my typical surplus of calories on our journey. The espers, however, stayed fit enough to challenge someone like Thaddeus who’d run the circuit for several years in a row, directed by a sharp mind like Argenti’s. Of course, I was proud of them, but it made me happier to see them occasionally exchanging chirps, growls, croaks, and a few words in Esperlang. It was nice to make new acquaintances, even if we’d probably never see them again. It felt like the concept of a work friend; someone you talked to in-depth, shared time in the trenches of your profession and bonded with, but never really spoke to outside of work, both knowing if one of you left the job that would be the end of it.

Throughout our low-key sparring session, my hormones tried to make more of my chance meeting with Argenti than was necessary or logical. While Tanis had the bubbly, oddball energy I was drawn to in high school, Argenti’s cool air of casual confidence reminded me more of the kind of characters I tried to romance in video games. They were usually men, for whatever reason, be they bird-like snipers, drug-addled zombies, or bearded liars with tragic pasts, but she would keep fine company alongside them. There was honor to the way she directed her espers; Thaddeus would show claws, but not use them, and when it came time to heal she used her own magic on Wysteria and Grajo before I had a chance to. I repaid the kindness at the next opportunity, of course, but the original gesture spoke so much to me about the quality of her character, and it was absolutely something I was drawn to. Exploring these feelings was ridiculous, of course; they were passing thoughts driven to inflated intensity by the distance between the present and my last relationship. We were two ships passing in the night, and while I wasn’t quite self-conscious enough to assume she was chatting with me and giving my espers a chance to practice out of pity, I also wasn’t self-aggrandizing enough to assume it was anything more than idle curiosity and politeness.

“You’ve got some good fighters on your hands,” Argenti complimented when all was said and done. The record was something like ten to two in her favor, but I wasn’t a sore enough loser to ignore how close some of those bouts were, especially as time went on.

“Thanks. They’re pretty good friends, too.”

“That’s the key,” she grinned. “Trust. Companionship. A lot of people miss that and go for espers previous champions have used, or ones the scholars say are powerful. But you can have the strongest enchanted sword in the Commonwealth and it won’t mean anything if you don’t know how to wield it.”

“I never really put that much thought into it, I guess. They’re doing me a huge favor by traveling alongside me and fighting other espers… the least I can do is get to know them, make sure they’re safe and comfortable…”

“You’ve got a good heart, Glenn.” She patted me on the shoulder, and even through my robes it set my skin alight. It had absolutely been too long. “You’ve also got some chili sauce on your robes, there.”

“Dammit…” I looked down to where she was pointing and, sure enough, a dried brown splotch sat in the center of my chest. I zapped myself with Legerdemain and sighed, which elicited a rich laugh from Argenti.

“This has been fun, but all three of us need to get some sleep. It was nice meeting you.” She nodded to me, smiling, then to Grajo and Wysteria.

“Nice meeting you, too.”

“I’ll see you at the Grand Championships,” she called over her shoulder as she strolled away. Maybe it was just her being polite, but it was a vote of confidence from someone who’d made it there before, and I didn’t doubt for a moment I would see her there.