The room Motrdem led us to was surprisingly cozy for being carved into solid rock.

It featured a Slayer-sized bed in the middle that could fit four people in it and four smaller beds carved into alcoves, each for a single person. A table and a couch were carved into solid rock as well and a fireplace with a bunch of dried, thick roots sat in the corner with an Ignix Kitlix in it.

Three animated paintings dominated the walls, enchanted scenes providing both light and ambiance. The one in the middle was that of a stormy ocean. It filled one wall with crashing waves and distant lightning, creating a soothing background noise. Windswept mountains on another wall showed snow swirling across jagged peaks, while the third depicted a peaceful valley covered in blue flowers that swayed in an eternal spring breeze.

"Depictomancer work," Io explained as I stared at the art with fascination. "Works well when there are no windows. They say that the artists place bits of their soul into these."

"Cool," I nodded as I grabbed a fried wyvern leg brought by the cook. "Alright team, let's talk strategy."

"Strategy for what?" Katherine asked, setting her wheelchair and bag down and collapsing backwards onto the large bed with a loud THUMP. "We still haven't registered at the actual Guild."

"Not interested in that," I said. "The uptown Guild is too restrictive. They'll want us to do boring grass fetch quests."

"So you want to do Quests for the Undertown Guild, is that it?" Cinder deduced. "The Abyss am I supposed to put in my report, Alex? That we're working for criminals and murderers?"

"You'll write that we completed a series of Iron Rank quests and had a lovely time," I grinned. "No need to mention which Guild issued them."

"That's dishonest," Cinder protested weakly. “I… have to be an honest captain.”

"I see that our lovely captain has inexplicably high moral backbone," I said. "Fine. I'll buy a decrepit building in Undertown tomorrow from the local Guild Master and open my own Adventurers Guild and give myself Quests."

"What?" Cinder sputtered. "That's... even more..."

"More what? It's not illegal to make our own Guild," I said. "I asked. Shandria doesn't have copyright laws or that many Guild setup laws. We can name it ‘THE Adventurers Guild’ and register ourselves as its only members."

Cinder threw up her hands. "Fine! Do whatever! I give up. It's clear that I can't out-think your inane bullshit."

She grabbed a bottle of Shadow-wine and began chugging it.

"Woah there," I grabbed the bottle from her. "At least use a glass."

"Give it back!" Cinder growled, her feathers shifting through irritated oranges.

"Nope," I said. "Not until you hear my plan."

"What plan?" she demanded. "The plan to start our own criminal guild?"

"It's not a criminal guild," I said. "It's a perfectly legitimate Guild that will provide us with the perfectly legitimate framework to operate on Arx indefinitely."

“Operate on Arx indefinitely?” Cinder demanded. “How?! You do realise that eventually they’ll assign us a very stern substitute who will actually monitor our every move and make us do things properly... and then our Koshei Instructor will be back and smack all of us for insubordination and potentially ban us from the Arx gate?"

"That's not going to stop me," I said.

"What?!" Cinder demanded. "That would absolutely stop you, the Abyss are you talking about?!"

I put the wine bottle onto the table, dug into my bag and pulled out a cluster of silver-white, sparkling eggs.

Everyone stared at the egg cluster, eyes bulging and mouths open.

“Is that what I think it is?” Vee swallowed.

“Gate Weaver eggs,” I nodded with a giddy expression. “Yes.”

“Where the shit did you get those?!” Cinder barked.

“Raided Zalimar’s office,” I said. "His door succumbed to a credit card."

Vee grabbed the wine bottle from the table, finished it rapidly and chucked it into a corner.

Then, she aimed a talon at the fireplace and sent a loud bolt of lightning into the wood, igniting it. The Kitlix glanced at her, possibly annoyed that she had taken its job.

The Thunderbird settled on the plush white-beast rug facing the fire and wiggling her legs, chainmail twinkling.

"Kay. I’m in,” she laughed. “It's utterly unexpected and ridiculous but... We get to make our own rules and visit Arx as much as we want to. No more boring Zalimar-approved basic-ass fetch or delivery quests."

"Exactly," I nodded. "We can create our own ranking system, set our own objectives, and most importantly, choose which dungeons to explore."

"And how exactly are we going to explain this to the school?" Katherine asked from the large bed, staring at the Weaver’s eggs with wide, cute, emerald eyes.

"That's up to our lovely captain," I waved a hand at Cinder. "Writing reports about our 'activities' is her job."

"Ughhhhh, I'm going to need more wine," Cinder groaned.

"Here ya go, boss," Io dug into his bag and tossed her another bottle.

Cinder caught the bottle.

"Is that safe? What's an 'SCA-approved alcoholic beverage?'" I asked.

"Probably," Io shrugged. "I mean, I'm still alive. Someone somewhere approved it."

"Not very reassuring," Katherine commented dryly. I saw that she had pulled off her armor, now only wearing her hexasuit. She appeared to be making a bed-nest of sorts out of the sheets and blankets for herself on the edge of the bed like an oversized kitten.

Cinder shrugged, snapped the top off the bottle with her claws, chugged the entire drink before I could say anything and then slid onto the stone-carved, pillow covered couch.

"Mmmm," Cinder let out after a few minutes, her feathers shifting through warm pinks and relaxed golds. "This is actually pretty good. Tastes like... rainbows and happiness."

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"You are drunk," I commented. "Slayer! Do you people just come to Arx to booze up?"

"Mostly, ye," Vee commented from the rug next to the fire. “The drinking age in Omnithornia is twenty one years old. We’re eighteen, my dude. Obs’ we gonna alcohol up on Arx.”

"Am not drunk, okkay?" Cinder protested, her wings fluttering. "Just... everything is really sparkly and nice. And you!" She pointed at me accusingly, though her feathers were shifting through affectionate pinks.

"Me?"

"You're all... sparkly too! Like a human-shaped shiny Poket-man! With your stupid cute smile and your stupid isssnane, absurd plans and... and..."

"Ci's a lightweight," Vespera commented, crackling with amusement. "Two bottles of happy juice and she's gone."

"Am not!" Cinder protested. "I'm just... observating stuff! And Alex is very... observable. And Guild-start-able. How do you even think of this stuff?"

She reached out and pulled me to the couch. "Stop hoverin' and commerrrr!"

I landed next to her with an 'oof' as she nuzzled into my side, her feathers shifting through a kaleidoscope of warm colors. “Wass in youuur head?” She demanded slurring her words.

"Brain spiders from beyond the stars," I joked.

Glancing at Kat I noticed that she had finished her bed-fort-nest and was now snoozing softly like a curled up dragon-cat. Io had settled into an alcove nursing another Nonpareil-themed drink while reading his Inside the Moon Adventures novel again.

"Jussst dat? Noooo way," Cinder giggled, poking my cheek. "You've got like... a whole SYSTEM in there. Like a big complicated machine. With star gears and stuff. And feelings. And... secrets."

“Uh-huh,” I rolled my eyes.

"Wanna know a secret?" Cinder whispered loudly, leaning close to me.

"Yes," I said.

Would she finally tell me about what happened to her two years ago? Or would I learn...

Annnd…. She fell asleep on me.

Don't know what I expected.

I sighed as Cinder's breathing evened out, her feathers shifting through peaceful blues and silvers as she used me as a pillow.

"Thar she goes," Vespera commented from her spot by the fire. "Like clockwork. Two drinks and she's out."

"Does this happen often?" I asked.

"Only when she feels safe," Vespera clicked softly. "Usually she's too wound up to relax like this. Em always had her on edge, ya know? Making her prove herself, pushing her to be more wary of everyone, more 'predatory'. This is... nice. Haven't seen her this chill in two years."

I carefully adjusted my position so Cinder would be more comfortable, her wings draped over both of us like a feathered blanket.

The fire crackled as I thought about my first day on Arx and what tomorrow would bring.

Io's book fell from his fuzzy paw as he passed out, the thump made Kat's large ears twitch ever so slightly like radar dishes in the direction of the noise.

Vespera was still awake, feathered tail wagging left and right as she stared at the fire.

“Hey Vee?” I asked.

“Mmmm?” She turned, half facing me. Gray eyes stared at me reflecting the fire.

“Who are you?” I asked her.

Vespera's beak clicked softly as she considered it. Her black and white feathers shifted in the firelight, casting dancing shadows on the wall.

"Who wants to know?" She asked with a bit of a drawl. "N' why?"

"I do," I said. "Yulia nominated you as a potential team member for plan D aka ‘Delving buddy’ but I didn't really dig too deep as to the 'why'. So, I want to know who you really are… from the bird's mouth as it were."

"A very loaded question," she finally said, her voice without the usual Valley girl accent spice. "Who am I? I'm many things. Daughter of Thunder blood. Heir to SimmiTech Industries. Best of 2024 class in artificery. Former D&D troupe member..."

She paused, clicking her beak thoughtfully.

"But I think what you're really asking is - who am I beneath all those labels, yeh?" She turned to face me fully.

“Yes,” I nodded. “You don't make sense in my mind yet. I only see your shallows. You are not protecting my human butt just because it's funny. There has to be more to it.”

Vespera was quiet for a long moment.

“You know,” she began. “I've been playing the ditzy Valley girl for so long…”

She shifted, her magisteel armor clinking softly.

"My father... he's a brilliant man. SimmiTech is one of the leading manufacturers of magitek in Omnithornia. And me? I'm supposed to be his perfect heir. Smart, capable, ready to take over the company someday."

She let out a bitter laugh.

"But that's not who I want to be. I don't want to spend my life in board meetings, discussing profit margins and market shares. I want... To fly. I want to be free.”

“Free?”

“I want to start my own... something, you kno'? Sadly ... I'm bound to my father's name and legacy. Bound to another heir of another Omnicorp."

"Bound to an heir?"

"I’m… Engaged to a Jin Chan imbecile," she let out with a growl.

"Arranged marriage?" I asked, perhaps a bit too loudly. Cinder curled against me tighter, making a soft noise.

"Yep," Vespera clicked her beak bitterly. "To unite SimmiTech with Golden Star Industries. The Jin Chan family specializes in… precognition stuff. They design probability engines. My father thinks it's a perfect match - combining our electrical expertise with their probability tools could revolutionize magitek development."

She paused, sparks dancing between her talons.

"But Zheng Ker, my fiancé... he's exactly what you'd expect from someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Entitled, arrogant, treats everyone beneath him like dirt. Has a bazillion proper-ness expectations."

"Are you acting ditzy to drive him away or something?" I asked.

"Partially," Vespera sighed. "It started as a way to annoy him. He wants a proper, sophisticated Primo-Wife? Fine. I'll be the complete opposite, an extra-dum’ beerch. But then... it became more than that. Being the airhead party girl meant people underestimated me. Didn't expect anything from me. Didn't force me into stuff. It was... freeing, in a way."

She paused, running a hand through her feathers.

"My father..." she sighed. "He's disappointed with my behavior, but he figures I'll 'grow out of it' eventually."

"But you won't," I said. "Because that's not who you are."

"Mmmm," she agreed. "I'm decent at what I do. I understand magitek better than most of our senior engineers. I can see the patterns in electrical flows, even understand how they interact with probability matrices. But if I show that... if I let people see how capable I am… then…”

"They'll expect you to be the perfect heir for the planned corporate merger," I finished.

"Exactly!" she clicked. "So I play dumb. I follow Em around like a lost puppy. I pretend to care about nothing but fashion, memes, hashtags and social media. And everyone believes it because it's easier than looking deeper."

She turned to look at me, her gray eyes intense.

"But you... you saw through it. You and your cheeky AI figured out who I really am. And instead of using that information against me, you offered me a chance to be myself. To be part of something real… something different.”

I nodded.

“Ya know,” She clicked her beak thoughtfully. "When I saw you walk into class, pretending to be Alexander Glock... I recognized that same mask. The careful construction of a persona. But you weren't doing it to escape expectations - you were doing it to change things. To make a difference."

"And that interests you?" I asked.

"It fascinates me," she admitted. "You're like this... this agent of chaotic good, breaking down the walls between humans and Omnids. Making people question everything they thought they knew. And you do it with such style! Such poise!”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

She gestured at the sleeping forms of our teammates.

"You've united a group of misfits, challenged authority, and made us all better for it. Io doesn't talk much about his feelings, but I can see that he's actually happy to be useful. Like, that gate he opened today to scare the Undertown Guild Master. It had value, purpose.”

"And you?" I asked softly.

"Me?" Vespera's gray eyes met mine. "I'm totally fucked, to be completely honest. Part of me wants to run away to Arx ASAP. I can't stand the sight, the texture, or the intelligence level of my fiance. I can't do it. I can't be my dad's Primo-anything and it hurts. I don't want to disappoint him and yet I am. I absolutely am.”

"Have you told him?" I asked.

"Told him what? That I hate everything about my arranged marriage? That I'd rather run away than marry Zheng?" Vespera's feathers crackled with suppressed electricity. "That I understand magitek but I'm terrified of being trapped in an office, don't want to be trapped in a system that divides everyone from everyone, puts people into castes, ties corpo mergers to weddings?”

"Yes," I nodded. "All of that."

“I've alluded to it,” she said. “I've alluded to things I didn't want to do before. He said ‘use your control over the current to rewrite your brain during the day. Optimize yourself at night with your Dreamancy skill. Change who you are until you are perfect.”

"Dang..." I searched for words. "That's pretty messed up."

"Yeah," she agreed. "And the worst part? I could probably do it. I understand enough about bioelectrical patterns and Dreamancy inception to attempt it. These babies were made by dad for it.” She clicked her magisteel talons. “But then... I wouldn't be me anymore, would I? I'd be some perfectly optimized version that fits his vision of the perfect future.”

Her eyes filled with sparks of tears.

“All of this is just me wasting time, you kno’,” she let out. “Killing time until I have no choice but to overwrite myself. What am I accomplishing? Fuck all. Where am I going? Nowhere!”