Suzie was scared. Their calm, collected leader, shaking in her armor so hard it rattled slightly. Hiro was glad he wasted some mana, tripping her with a small force field.

At least it had made Suzie smile for half a second.

The blonde woman hit Hiro with a red-faced glare and Hiro couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in his chest. “Who the fuck are you?” she spat.

Suzie’s smile ran away and she started shaking again. Hiro’s laughter died.

“You don’t remember me?” Suzie asked, in a broken whisper.

“Should I?”

Hiro watched Suzie carefully as her eyes widened and her breath quickened. The blonde woman started to get up and Hiro’s fingers wiggled as he mentally ran through his spells to try and figure out how best to keep her down until Suzie could find her words.

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In the corner of his eye, Hiro could see Kelsi reaching for one of her daggers. Even she was ready to fight. For Suzie. No questions asked.

The woman got to her feet unimpeded by an indecisive Hiro. But she didn’t try to leave, nor did she make an aggressive step towards them, so Hiro held back on tripping her again. She was waiting, impatiently, for an answer to her question. After a long, silent moment, Suzie’s breath calmed enough for her to reply, “no... It’s been a few years and I’ve grown a lot. It's not odd that you don’t recognize me.” Suzie took in a deep, steadying breath and straightened up a bit, putting on a brave face. “But who I was doesn’t matter. Who I am now does. I am the leader of Team Phi of the Three-Winged Guild and I wanna know why Heroes’ Rock Guild is neglecting its duty to this village!” Suzie’s voice climbed in confidence and volume as she spoke. And at the end she widened her stance and gripped the hilt of her hammer. A signal to the team to prepare for a fight.

The woman started laughing. “What did those criminals tell you?”

“Enough.”

She stopped laughing and just smirked, putting her hand on her hip, “is this official guild business? Does your guild even know you’re here?”

Suzie flinched and deflated.

“If you won’t kill the monsters, then we will!” Hiro announced, stepping in front of Suzie and tilting his chin up in a mirror of the woman’s cocky look.

Her smirk grew, “I’ll take that as a no,” she said, before walking away.