"I was kind of a loser as a kid," Lexia says. "Not particularly popular, or talented, or anything really. My mom used to say that the only thing I would've been good at is marrying some rich guy." She laughs, "Jokes on her, I wouldn't even have been good at that. I'm not much of a grower; or much of a looker; or have the type of personality a guy will look for. So what does that leave me with, huh?"

"It leaves you." I answer.

"That's...correct, yeah. It just leaves useless old me. So I researched adventurers, so I could get away from it all--sounds like a swell job, doesn't it? No boss or expectations, just adventure and freedom all day long. But that's not true either, nearly all adventurers need a party, because no class is really built to fight alone, and I feel like I'd be useless in a party; that they would constantly complain about me not doing things right and-" She grits her teeth, barely spitting the next words out, "I wanted to be alone, I guess."

I tilt my head quizzically. "Why did you want a party, then?"

"I'm getting to that. I said that nearly all adventurers needed a party; there are notable exceptions. The most accessible option for me were Hex Masters, that class is not only available to everyone, but all of them are known to be incredibly powerful and fight alone, something that's basically unheard of in any other classes. I...didn't really question why they were fighting alone in the first place, I just assumed it was because they were very powerful, but... Hey, promise you won't be mad?" Her eyes shift to the door behind me, I don't know if she secretly wants this conversation to be interrupted or if she's scared someone else will overhear us.

"I'd be glad to be angry at something for once," I reply. "Because it would mean I care, which is a good thing."

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Hex Masters can't really function without someone else to...use--for the first hundred levels, that is. At level one hundred, I get to make my spell target anything instead of just allies, so I can put an enemy through a lot of pain and all of their friends will take damage. In other words..."

She stops. She pokes Cayden's cheek a few times, and once she's sure he's asleep, she continues, "...I would've left your party when I reached level one hundred, because I wanted to look like I was that cool lone wolf adventurer that made it here all by herself, the type of person everyone looks up to. And I guess that bridal carry reminded me of how dependent I still was on others, how much of a burden I still am...and I didn't want people to see that."

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"I don't understand why I would be mad about any of that."

"I- I just said I would've discarded you like a useless tool once I was self-sufficient, doesn't that bother you?" She sounds angrier than I am right now, strange.

"I'd rather lose a friend on their own term than losing them to something neither of us can control." At least if someone leaves me because they chose to, I know it was a choice they made for themselves, not some arbitrary number ticking down to the inevitable demise of our relationship.

"This is why I told you to be more selfish, it'll just hurt more if all you- OW, ACK-" She hugs Cayden tightly as she keeps making weird, pained sounds; her fingers would dig into him if he wasn't still wearing his light armor. Despite all the shaking and screaming she's doing, it's still not enough to wake him up.

I also feel some kind of pain, but it doesn't really hurt, it's more like I'm made aware of pains that were always there, ones that my body was always accustomed to.

The door behind me slams open, I feel a hand on my shoulder as I am being asked a simple question.

"James, mind explaining why Lexia has her arms wrapped around Cayden while she's doing all these...moans."

"There was only one bed, so I put her here with Cayden. I think the spell she used to heal me is backfiring now, and that's why she's like this," I explain as calmly as I can while my shoulder is being crushed by Eda's tight grip.

My shoulder is released as Eda's hands find a new victim in Lexia. Eda rips Lexia away from Cayden and slams her on the ground as Lexia whines like a kicked puppy.

"I don't care if you're in pain, that's no excuse to feel him up while he's unconscious, you creep." Eda says, looking down on the crying mess she just threw off the bed.

"It's my fault, I shouldn't have put them in the same bed." I say, trying my best to defuse the situation. I give Lexia a hug to make her feel better--it just feels like the right thing to do, I also wanted someone to hold me when I was in pain.

Eda grabs her head and inhale sharply with her nose. "It's not your fault, I overreacted. Don't tell Cayden, he hates it when I act like this." She crouches down to Lexia, still sobbing in my arms. "Hey, at least you know what you put your friend through, maybe that'll teach you to be a little bit more careful with your spells." She casts a spell on Lexia, the green glow surrounds her, and she stiffens up.

"Don't be nice to me, it just makes me feel worse," Lexia mutters as she melts back into my arms.

"Good, it should feel bad," Eda says. "Besides, I should've reserved multiple rooms from the get go; I shouldn't be surprised this happened when I took one room with one bed for the four of us. Everyone makes mistakes, that doesn't make you a bad person, but not owning up to said mistakes definitely does." Eda blinks a few times as her menu suddenly appear in front of her face. "I actually got favor from this. I should call you out more often, you certainly have a lot of growing up to do." She sits on the bed and ruffles Cayden's hair. "So do I."