Laverna seemed more in control as we walked back to camp, making me wonder if she had been all that drunk. Aleph carried the bulk of supplies, though I, too,, found myself belted down with several canvas packages from her subordinates. They both continued to share strange gestures, making it apparent that they were silently talking about me.

“Just say it out loud, Aleph…” I sighed.

“I do not wish to upset you. I’m merely briefing her about our current situation.”

“I can handle it…”

“Of course,” Aleph agreed, though the gestures then ceased.

“Rae-Rae,” Laverna addressed me. “What about the time we fought those brigands out in Lios? Remember? You stole the belt off that hairy one in the middle of the melee! It was the nastiest thing I ever saw! Bet he never forgets his underwear now!”

“Laverna…” Aleph shook his head. “You did that. Not Rae.”

“I did? Ha! But you were there too! Remember, Rae-Rae?”

“That’s hilarious, but no. Sorry.” It would have made a fun chapter in the web novel.

“You know, it was right before we went to the Dark Mage Tower to recruit O… Oh! Oh well, anyway. It was good fun!” She slapped me on the back, almost causing me to drop some supplies.

“Sounds like it.” I nodded awkwardly.

We made it back to camp, and to my relief, Nora and Tetora were sitting together. Tetora had propped himself up under a tree, and Nora was taking notes in her journal.

“The shirt needs to be made of the finest silk! Embroidery on the cuffs. Gold buttons down the front! On the back, I want—” Tetora’s demands suddenly cut off as he looked up.

“Vernie!” He tried to stand quickly but shuddered in pain before he could straighten.

“Bowing in my presence, hmmm? As you should, as you should!” Laverna gestured grandly to Aleph and me. “I come bearing gifts!”

“Just get over here!” Tetora shouted. “What were you thinking, disappearing suddenly like that?”

Laverna, ignoring his apparent injuries, head-locked him in a rough greeting. “You know how it is! It was time for me to leave. But now…” She turned to look at me with sparkling jewels for eyes. “Things will be different!”

Oh boy. Not another one! I felt the pressure mounting across my temples. “Before you get your hopes up, I–”

“You’re very tiny!” Lavena had already moved on to Nora, who had also stood up. “Let me have a good look at you!”

“I’m tiny but mighty!” Nora declared hotly. “Don’t underestimate me!”

“Yes. You are perfect!” Laverna agreed with a laugh. “You can probably get in almost anywhere unnoticed, with the right training, that is. What do you think about becoming a thief?”

“Oh..!” And now Nora’s eyes were the ones shining. “Yes! Teach me!”

“Hmm…” Laverna tilted her head. “Aleph said you have one of my knives?”

“Er, yes,” Nora started to pull it from her boot, startling me.

“Keep it, for now. I’ll show you how to use it in a pinch.”

“Nora!” I exclaimed. “You’re considering multi-classing already?”

“I won’t be useless ever again,” she snarled, obviously still reliving our recent encounter.

“Nora…” You weren’t useless. It was just a bad matchup. I still wanted to know how in the world the demoness knew to call her a shameless ankle-biter, though. That was a personal trigger for Nora.

“Alright, now, time to celebrate our reunion!” Laverna blithely ignored the tension and pulled a large bottle of wine from her canvas sack.

“No wine!” I gasped in response.

“But… you promised to have a drink with me!”

“When was that?!”

“Almost eight years ago, and I’ve been saving this for a special occasion.”

“But–”

Vernie waved her hand. “It’s just a toast to celebrate. Join me!”

I wavered, overwhelmed by the sudden feeling that I couldn’t disappoint her‌. “One glass, but just because I’m drinking this does not mean I’m admitting I’m Rae-Rae, Raelynn, or whatever.”

Laverna opted to pour me a glass instead of arguing. “Cheers on defeating the demon king, Rae-Rae!”

I sighed and clinked glasses with her before taking my sweet time to consume it. At my request, Nora stayed sober to monitor its effects.

“Well, remember anything yet?” Laverna asked.

“No… That’s not how brains work!”

“Obviously, you need more.” She filled my glass again. “You’re not even slurring your words yet.”

“Laverna…” There was no way I was going to lose my wits completely- not after the last time! “I said, “One glass!”

“It’s Vernie. You need to call me Vernie. Also, it’s still the same glass I’m using, so refills don’t count.”

“Fine, Vernie. As in, Vernie, I’m not drinking any more wine! The last time I got drunk, it only took one glass, er, fill!”

Vernie scoffed. “You can’t get drunk on one glass of wine.”

“Some people do!”

“No. You have a bigger frame. I’m thinking… three to four should do it.”

“No! If you’re not going to respect my wishes—”

“You’re Rae-Rae- just even more stubborn now.” Vernie picked up the glass she had poured and downed it in one swift swallow. “Thanks for keeping your promise, even if you don’t remember the details. I can die happy now!”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why are you talking about dying?!” I sat up suddenly, my nerves unraveling.

“It’s just a saying.”

“No! I don’t like it! No!” Sweat trickled down from my hair.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to die soon- not before we get our revenge against Oliver. So tell me, what’s the plan?”

“Uh. Go to Chairo and talk with Holy Sage Relias?”

“Then what?”

“Then…” Threaten the council? Search for Paradise? Await further instructions from my other-worldly bosses? None of it was going to make sense. “I don’t know.”

“I thought you might have gotten better at this sort of thing when you came of age, but you aren’t a grand strategist,” Vernie commented. “Lucky I found you when I did!”

Wasn’t it the other way around? “Yes, very lucky.”

“I’m not… looking forward to seeing Rel, though. You’re going to have to help me make nice with him. Just like old times!”

“Make nice? What happened between you two?”

Vernie folded her arms as she laid back, looking up at the evening sky. “Don’t you think, of all of us, that the wise and ageless holy sage should have realized Oliver was a demon?”

That was one of our original criticisms, too. Nora said Relias was incompetent, but I chalked it up to Oliver being, well, Oliver. “He seemed pretty good at hiding his true intentions,” I remarked. “I’m sure he knew how to keep him from getting suspicious.” Nora had immediately identified that he was a demon, but she had the audience’s perspective. Living in the moment and seeing things unfold firsthand would offer a different view, right?

“Of course, you don’t blame Rel either…” Vernie sighed. “Well, I did, and I said some pretty terrible things to him before he was locked away.”

“And you’re sorry you said them?”

“... Maybe,” Vernie mumbled. “A little.” She sat up and gave me a big grin. “So, you’ll apologize on my behalf, right?”

“No way! You have to say it yourself! But…” I squirmed some, not wanting to get more embroiled in party politics. “I’ll be right next to you when you do it.” Crap, what is wrong with me, picking up side quests every time one pops up? I’d never get home at this rate.

Vernie grinned at me then. “Thanks, Rae-Rae.”

Nora, who had been silently observing, finally asked, “So, why do you call her Rae-Rae?”

“Because Rae-Rae-Rae-Rae-Rae-Rae is ridiculous!” I noticed she missed a Rae, but I didn’t want to interrupt. “She’s the seventh Rae, but I simplified it! Rae-Rae.” It was embarrassing to realize that even the story’s characters thought the naming convention was absurd.

Aleph, who had just finished another round of Tetora’s bandaging and acupuncture session, drifted over to join us. Tetora came closer, too, opting to curl up near the campfire.

Vernie turned to me and said, “It’s my turn now. Tell me … what was Euphridia like?”

“Demanding!” I answered immediately. “And pushy! But I’m not sure that–”

Aleph gave me a startled look even as Vernie laughed loudly. “Just as I imagined… always asking more and more of her followers.”

Aleph huffed. “Holy Euphridia’s ways are just not like those of humanity, and we cannot begin to understand—”

Vernie rolled her eyes as she interrupted him. “If she wanted to save the world, she’d just step in and get rid of the demons herself!”

“I don’t think she can do that,” Nora said. “She seemed like the type who would if she could.”

“Then what good is she?” Vernie jeered. “Gods and priests and the church, too…! What good are any of them?” Oh, I could only begin to imagine what she had said to poor Relias.

Aleph’s face was full of unspoken anger, but he took a deep breath before responding in a soft, somewhat forced tone. “She brought her back to us, didn’t she?”

Vernie looked at me for a long moment, then sighed. “But she doesn’t remember us. Why didn’t she fix her head?”

I have to admit that it stung a little. “Hey now… I’m not–”

“If I could just give my Rae-Rae a hug once more…” Vernie looked off in the distance, sighing.

Maybe that would help her realize I wasn’t exactly who she thought I was. Or maybe… Well, in any case, I stood up and motioned for Vernie to do the same. My attempt to hug her was initially pathetic, mostly because I didn’t know how to do it without coming into awkward contact with her ample bosom. Vernie, however, had no such qualms about personal space and forced me into an embrace that I could only classify as a friendly submission hold. Several moments later, she loosened her grip to put a surprisingly gentle hand on my left cheek, peering deeply into my eyes with a mournful expression. “My poor dear Rae-Rae… Look at what he did to you…”

Well, that backfired splendidly. “Vernie… I’m trying to show you that–”

She broke off her stare abruptly and pulled away. “Do you realize how many times I could have taken your life in the last few hours? You’re just too trusting, letting someone you don’t even remember have full access to all your vital points. Or I could have poisoned the wine you just drank! Memory loss, I can accept, but what happened to your common sense? You’re backsliding into your first life as Raela!”

“You… you would never do something like that!” I protested, confused by her sudden change of heart.

“How do you know that for sure?” she asked me pointedly. “Aleph even told you that half of Speranza is convinced I cooperated with Oliver to betray you, yet you never entertained that thought for more than half a moment!”

“Because you’re Vernie! I–”

“First lesson! Trust no one here, Rae-Rae, especially those who want to get close to you! I don’t want to go through losing you again!” She then pulled out her whistle and blew it twice, startling all of us. A few minutes later, her young minion appeared at the edge of camp. She spent a few minutes talking with him in quiet but heated tones.

“She has a point,” Nora murmured.

“But… she’s Vernie!” Deep down, I knew that Vernie was wholly innocent and that she would never intentionally hurt me. “She’s like a big sister you can rely on for anything! Not a double-crosser!” Sure, she drinks too much for her own good, but none of us are perfect!

“Vernie aside, I think we need to stop thinking that the narrator was reliable about things in general,” Nora warned. “Too many issues were glossed over or omitted completely. So listen to what she’s saying, and don’t hug strangers anymore.”

“Alright…” Vernie wasn’t a stranger, though. I knew the difference.

Vernie returned to our campfire. “More supplies will arrive tomorrow. I’ll feel better once you both have some proper protection.”

I sulked for the rest of the night before going to bed on my own, not even wishing anyone a pleasant goodnight.

***

Raelynn Lightbringer, champion of humanity, knelt to question the condemned thief. “Tell me in truth, what was your crime?”

The red-headed savage, her face full of scorn and contempt, spat directly into the Holy Captain’s face before responding. “I followed my purpose and became a thief! Just as I was told!”

“What did you steal?” Raelynn inquired calmly as she used her cape to wipe her face.

“What didn’t I steal? Gold, silver, jewels, supplies, food! Everything I could get my hands on!”

“What did you do with everything after you stole it?”

The thief laughed humorlessly. “That’s what matters to you, eh? Well, you’re never getting it back!”

“You didn’t keep it for yourself. That much is obvious.” Raelynn stood up and gestured to the executioner. “Release her into my custody.”

“Holy Captain… this criminal is—”

“That’s an order.”

Laverna attempted to flee the moment her chains were unlocked, but even she could not escape the Hero of Legend.

“Laverna the Thief!” Raelynn’s voice thundered throughout the square. “Holy Sage Relias accompanies me to officially change your Purpose! You are to join us on our quest to defeat the Accursed One!”

Laverna suddenly tripped and fell to her knees even as Raelynn came up from behind, placing her gauntleted hand on the thief’s shoulder. “Rise, dear companion, and join us in grand celebration!”

“I humbly apologize,” Holy Sage Relias bowed deeply. “For all you must have suffered. Though it may not begin to make up for your tribulations, the priest who originally assigned you such a false purpose has been defrocked so that no others may suffer so needlessly.”

And there, in the square for all to see, did Laverna the Thief weep even as her fate was once again entwined with the Chosen One of the Goddess.