“Out with it,” Kel said sternly as they walked away from The Whirlpool Races. “What did you do while I left you alone?”

“Nothing!” Niva insisted. “I had to go to the bathroom…”

“You suddenly got the urge to take a piss in the five seconds it took me to turn around and look at Darlav?” Kel interjected.

Niva kept right on talking, ignoring the question entirely. “...and I couldn’t find you when I got back. So then I asked around by myself until you were done.”

“And you didn’t do anything stupid while I was gone?” Kel asked.

Niva threw up her hands. “Gods, Kel, I’m not a kid! You can leave me alone for five minutes without worrying that I’m going to cause a disaster!”

“I’m not sure about either of those statements…” Kel grumbled.

“Ssh,” Niva whispered, holding a finger over her mouth to signal silence. “We’re getting close to the canal. You know what to do.”

Kel rolled her eyes but nodded as their path took them right beside the water of a nearby canal. “Oh man,” Niva said just a tad too loudly to be natural. “Can you believe what we heard about the Tide Masters back there?”

“No,” Kel said grumpily.

“It’s so crazy! To think, we finally have solid evidence against them.”

“I hate to say it,” Kel said utterly without passion or inflection. “But you were right. I have got to admit that it now seems the Tide Masters were the real thieves all along.”

“And now we know exactly where they’re hiding it!” Niva continued. “We’ve got to get right back to the Twilight Eye to organize a raid.”

“Niva, this is ridiculous,” Kel whispered under her breath. “We’ve done this every time we’ve been next to a canal and nothing has ever…”

Before she could finish, Kel caught sight of a clawed green gauntlet rising out of the water and stopped in her tracks. A Tide Master quickly hefted himself out of the water and blocked their path.

“You were warned not to make those kinds of accusations!” the Tide Master said with a familiar voice.

“Spying on us, Torvonel, you tiny dicked thug?” Niva said. “My! What a harmless and non-suspicious thing to do. You’re making your guild look more and more innocent every second!”

“Don’t you dare try to twist this to make us look guilty, you lying bitch!” He yelled. “That’s always the way it is with you, isn’t it? You tell a stupid lie, get caught, and then stack another one on top of it until you can’t keep it going anymore, and the whole thing comes tumbling down. This is exactly why I dumped you and threw your sorry ass out on the street, but the Tide Masters guild isn’t going to let you off that easy!”

“Wait,” Kel asked. “You two used to date?”

“Duh, why do you think I keep saying he has a small cock?” Niva said. “I wouldn’t lie about something like that. Gods, I know I’m not exactly a saint but give me a little credit. I’ve got a few morals, at least.”

“You’re just begging for me to shut your mouth for you, huh?” he growled.

“You know what I’m not hearing?” Niva asked with a smirk. “A denial.”

Kel stepped in between the two of them, holding her hands out to keep them apart. “Okay, that’s enough! Niva, stop provoking him. Torvonel, I’m sorry about what we said back there. None of it was true, it was just a method Niva came up with to check if any Tide Masters were shadowing us.” Her eyes narrowed as she continued. “Which, apparently, you were.”

“You’re the ones stirring up trouble,” he countered. “If I were you, I’d shut my mouth and focus on finding that damn cauldron for our guild master.”

“We are not selling it to your guild,” Kel said. “And you’re the one drawing attention to the Tide Masters right now.” She waved her hand at the passersby, who hadn’t formed a crowd around them yet but were certainly starring and paying attention to the argument. “Just stop being so distrustful and leave us in peace.”

“You’re the one who could stand to be less trusting,” Torvonel said as he turned his back and walked towards the canal. “You keep defending that lying little kelp smoker, and one day you’ll end up with a dagger in your back.” With that, he dove into the water.

“Yeah, you’d better run!” Niva shouted after him, before slinging an arm around Kel’s shoulder. “We sure showed him, huh?”

Kel stared her friend straight in the eyes. “Niva, are you absolutely sure that you don’t have anything you need to tell me?”

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“Pretty sure…” Niva said, nervously glancing up into the air and away from Kel’s eyes.

“You don’t have anything to say about your relationship with Torvonel?”

“Nope,” Niva said nonchalantly. “We dated for a bit. It was a mistake. So what? That’s got nothing to do with anything.”

“So this weird obsession with the Tide Masters isn’t some harebrained attempt to get back at an ex?”

“No!” Niva said. “Well, okay, maybe a little.” Kel was now glaring at her with the rage of a wounded bull. “Only a little! Like, a really, really tiny amount. This much!” Niva held out two of her fingers very close together as a demonstration. “It’s maybe one percent about the thought of pissing off that uptight, pompous asshole, and the rest is… uhh… not that.”

Kel let out a deep sigh. “And that stuff about being addicted to kelp? He’s mentioned it both times you were there. Anything to say about that?”

“Look,” Niva said, her voice tinged with nervousness. “Maybe I tried dream kelp once or twice back while I was with him. Half the Divers in the city do it, at least occasionally. And maybe I used a little of his money for it without paying him back on time or telling him. He always made way too big of a deal about it. Frankly, you and he would get along. You could form your own little busybodies club.”

“Niva, I need to know I can trust you. I’m being serious here.”

“I’m completely trustworthy!” Niva said.

Kel stared straight at Niva, and Niva stared back.

“Mostly trustworthy,” Niva admitted. “You’re my friend, Kel. I might be a real bitch sometimes, but I’m being totally upfront with you.”

“Trusting you is how I got into this mess,” Kel said but without the sternness she had used just a moment prior. “No more getting distracted fighting with that guy, alright?”

“Fine, I promise,” Niva said.

“And no more dream kelp.”

“Yep. Sure.”

“You agreed to that way too fast,” Kel said.

“Oh that is bullshit,” Niva said. “I barely ever use it anyway.”

“No wonder the goddess guided me here,” Kel said. “After I make sure Jazathya and Lila are squared away, getting your life back on track is my next project.”

“I don’t need…” Niva began, only to be interrupted by a man loudly clearing his throat. Kel and Niva turned their heads to the sound and saw two people standing next to them on the street. The first was an orc man, and the other a young dwarf woman. Both were wearing light breastplates and helmets which left their faces exposed but for a plate that ran down their noses.

“Pardon us…” the orc said.

“You’re the ones asking about Kashin, right?” the dwarf woman said, interrupting the orc.

“Yes, we…” Kel began.

“Great. Where is the bastard?” the dwarf continued, having barely waited for Kel to get a word out.

“We don’t know. That’s why…” Kel said.

The dwarf stamped her foot on the ground repeatedly and groaned loudly, interrupting Kel once again. “Argh, damn it! We’ve been trying to track him down for so long, we finally get a lead, and now they won’t talk! Let’s beat the truth out of them, Karzghul!”

“No!” the orc barked. “That doesn’t make any sense. You are not going to drag me into another brawl just because you’re feeling frustrated with getting assigned grunt work.”

“We’ve also been trying to find Kashin,” Kel said. “I’m willing to share what…”

“GGRRRRAAAAGHH!” the dwarf screamed. “Get ‘em!” With that, she launched herself at Niva, who responded by quickly pulling a dagger out and tossing it at the dwarf. The blade sank into her leg, throwing her off balance and sending her tumbling to the ground.

Kel had summoned her sword and shield during that initial exchange and tried to step up to where the dwarf lay on the ground, only to be intercepted by the orc, now holding a spear. The orc’s demeanor was perfectly calm as he assumed a combat stance and carefully watched Kel’s movements.

Kel assumed a defensive posture in turn, neither of them making a move. “Let’s all calm down. We don’t need to fight each other, so let’s just put our weapons away and talk about this sensibly.”

“I would prefer if we could,” the orc said. “But that is sadly no longer an option.”

Behind her, Kel heard Niva scream. Kel instinctively turned to look at her and saw that a small swarm of what looked to be roughly cat-sized piranhas with legs had emerged from the canal and was jumping onto Niva’s body, biting and clawing her. That moment of distraction was all the orc needed in order to step to the side and rush Kel from an angle, bodily smashing into her and pushing both of them away from Niva and the dwarf woman.

Kel staggered back, putting a bit of distance between them, as she raised her shield. “I am a knight of the goddess Alvaelle, and I will accept your surrender!” she exclaimed, as the orc began his assault. Now that he was on the offensive, the orc’s blows were rapid and merciless, raining down on the shield and giving her no chance to counterattack. Looking over his shoulder, she could see that Niva was starting to work her way through the swarm, planting a dagger in one of the creatures after another, only to have a new one jump on her to replace their slain brethren. Thankfully, the dwarf woman was doing nothing to aid her pets, merely cackling while she watched the fight and occasionally yelling out “Eat! Eat!”

There was a sudden lull in the thrusts of the orc’s spear, and Kel decided to risk an attack of her own. She swung her sword at him, only to have it deflected by his spear, which he deftly spun around in a circle, bringing it back around to sweep at her legs. She leaped over it, only for him to aim the spear butt at her head. This connected and sent her sprawling to the ground.

The orc pointed the tip of his spear at Kel’s prone body. Scenarios for how to respond quickly flashed through Kel’s mind, as she tried to determine whether she should dismiss her sword and shield to re-summon them and take him by surprise or try to kick upward and heal the damage from the spear thrust once she was back on her feet.

Fortunately, Niva’s voice rang out. “Hey, asshole!” she yelled, causing both Kel and the orc to turn to her. She was half kneeling, one arm around the dwarf woman’s chest and a dagger to her throat. Around them, there were over a dozen corpses of the piranha monsters, while the rest of the swarm circled her, hissing but keeping their distance. “How about a trade?”

“Karzghul! Karzghul!” the dwarf screamed. “Help me! Make her let me go!”

“This is your own fault, Drolya,” the orc said. “I really ought to let her slit your throat and never have to look after you again.”

As the orc and Niva stared at one another, a man completely wrapped in strips of black cloth pushed his way through the throng of onlookers, stepping close to the four combatants. “Karzghul, you know I won’t tolerate that kind of talk,” he said. Then, he had suddenly crossed the several yards of distance between himself and Niva faster than Kel could blink, appearing behind Niva, grabbing the hand she held her dagger in, and pulling it away from the dwarf’s neck.