Ash didn't realize Kerem was talking to her until her ears stopped ringing.

"... good there?"

"What? Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah."

"You sure? Because you like, blanked out."

"Yeah, I'm good thanks. Have any of you seen a guy come by here- he has blonde hair and really light green eyes. His name is Finn, by the way."

Ruby shook her head, Kerem looked deep in thought, but not about what she was saying. He shook his head, drawing himself back to the real world.

"Link problems?"

"Uh . . . yeah - kind of."

"Hm. What's up?"

She waited for him to continue until she realized he was actually asking her. Fighting the urge to say oh, or um, she spoke.

"Well, a lot. First of all, I don't know where I am, second, I don't know what to do now and third," she somehow accidentally told the two of them - and maybe a few eve's droppers - the whole story, from before the hospital, then Hideaway, and then the strange night before. When she was finished, she grabbed a stray glass of water, gulping it down so that she didn't have to answer any questions for the moment.

"So neither of you were tied up or anything before it happened?"

A guy from a near table was wearing an inquisitive expression, turned around in his chair as the others at his table followed his lead.

Ash shook her head.

"And the marks you were talking about?"

She held out her hands, showing everyone around the red bracelets wrapped around her wrists. Then she noticed something.

"That's strange . . ."

"What is it?"

"They look more faded than I remember."

For a second, everyone in the conversation all squinted at Ash's wrists, trying to be the one to have the answers. Kerem spoke, more intelligently than Ash would've assumed.

"Say your Link is tied up-"

"But I'm positive he's not."

"Say he is. The burns would hurt pretty badly until he got untied, very well?"

"Uh, yes."

"So when he did get untied, the redness would fade, very well?"

"Mhm," there was something strangely attractive about the way he'd finish with very well.

"I wot they didn't burn as much as they did."

"Yes, what does-"

"So there's really only one answer," the participants of the conversation all waited impatiently for him to ease their thoughts. "Your Link must've been kidnapped, tied to a chair, by the looks of it, beat up before he got free."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She skipped feeling awed at his incredible insightfulness.

"What do you mean, by the looks of it?"

He still had a whisper of a smirk of his face as he pointed at her eye. Her thoughts immediately snapped back to Finn, who's eye had swollen and grown a sickly shade of purple. Her hand fled to her eye, which she quickly learned was not a good idea to touch right after a tiny, sharp pain warned her not to touch it. She winced, blinking as if it would get the pain to go away.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you-"

"If you're going to say, because you're one of us, that technically doesn't answer my question."

Kerem shared a look with his friends with the familiar smirk still etched in his face.

"What I was going to say- before I was rudely interrupted - was because you need our help."

Ash relaxed her tense shoulders.

"Oh," the others smiled as if they all knew something they didn't. "What?"

"Something you should know about the Links that live here, we are the definition of help."

"And family," someone added. Even though she hadn't known these people long, and she wasn't someone who easily cried, Ash's eyes grew misty, her throat threatened to let loose the emotion it had balled up. She swallowed it, putting on a smile.

"Thank you," she knew the words were simple but the people around her didn't mind, knowing that there was much more to the two words than sound.

"Why don't we find you some new clothes? Unless you want-"

"No, please do."

Ruby's eyebrow shot up, she smiled similarly to the way Kerem always did. A girl sitting at the table nearest to them stood, her eyes brown eyes twinkling.

"I have something!"

Twenty minutes later, Ash was handing her old clothes to Ruby. She was now wearing a brand new t-shirt, with super comfy jeans, with a band of fabric wrapped around her shoulder and waist. Apparently, the reason that the majority of them wore the band of tough cloth wasn't just for looks - although some people did seriously rock the look - but to easily conceal weapons.

Ash was given a belt with a knife attached to it in a leather sheath, which was all hidden under her ivory strap of fabric. She was also given a cape with a hoodie, a darker shade of ivory than her fabric strap, and given the directions to find someplace called State-of-the-art Brooches for Dawners.

Kerem mentioned Dawners was another name for newbies.

The nice girl who'd said I have something turned out to be a teenager who absolutely loved giving people makeovers. When she'd said she had some-thing, as if one thing, she really meant she had a thousand different ideas for Ash, who didn't mind as she cheerfully dressed her up to look as much like them - but still unique - as possible.

"Brooches have a purpose, you know," she tapped her own - a silver heart with two curved lines starting in the middle and reaching the sides. Ash didn't have to ask, because the girl, whose name was Milly, talked and answered for her.

"They basically tell others what rank or position someone is in. Mine, for instance, means I'm a fashionista and have only reached a couple of levels as far as fighting and stuff goes."

Ash wanted to ask about the fighting and stuff, but Milly continued.

"See this little upside-down V shape, the one in the middle of the heart? That means I'm at level two. The heart means I can help people with fashion and stuff."

Milly was one of those people who talked as much as they wanted, then just left - not in a bad way, because she did wish Ash luck on her journey and say her goodbyes - but Ash knew Milly had other things to do.

She sat at the barstool, fixing her cape so that it would sit comfortably. Kerem was there out of nowhere, sitting in the same place as before. The thing was, she'd moved one seat over so now they were both sitting next to each other. He sat quietly but she could feel him smiling, comments pouring into his head.

"Need help with that?"

"No, thanks," she managed to get it right, then looked up to Kerem, who had the same sly look on his face. But there was something different hiding in his features. Pity? Love? There was warmth, definitely. Her eyes fell to his own brooch, with she hadn't noticed before.

It looked like a 'V' that had been made thick, then hollowed out. Inside it was a bunch of smaller 'V's, Ash counted twelve in all, six on both sides.

"What does yours mean?"

He looked down, somehow knowing she meant his brooch.

"This big V, that means my specialty is fighting," he glanced up at her with the same old mischievous smirk, "although I think it should stand for good looks. And those tiny ones on the inside, those are how experienced I am."

He explained it differently than Milly had, but Ash found herself fond of his definition.

"Does that mean you're like, level twelve?"

"It's actually called rank, but no. One 'V' stands for two ranks."

"Woah," she didn't mean to say it out loud but it slipped out before she could stop it, making him laugh.

"Come on, I'll take you to old Albert."