{-Llewel-}

Before, he hadn’t been able to place his uncomfortable feelings. Now he could remember exactly why he felt that way, at least in pieces, and couldn’t decide if it made it better or worse.

It didn’t really help that Zetai and Reynneak were aware of it and, after what happened in Kyirius, had all intentions to keep it from happening again.

“The game will probably try to make us unknowingly help them,” Zetai mumbled. “We’ve got to make sure we know exactly what we’re dealing with. I don’t think I can doubt what Casrane told you—getting them to remember you would be the perfect way to solve their problem without bringing too much attention to it.”

Reynneak glanced back at them. “You’ve got to let us know if any of them look familiar, alright?”

The twins gave dutiful nods.

“We could try to find Kaerio,” Llewel suggested after a moment. “He’s the companion for Kehnore. Before we left… I think he mentioned trying to work to make things safer if we ever wanted to return. Since co-op happens after the end of the game, he should still be doing that.”

“At least he might be able to show us what places we should definitely avoid,” Myr agreed. “Everyone else remembers us, I’m sure he’ll be willing to help out.”

“We can ask Kelfin and see if he knows where Kaerio is,” Zetai decided. She glanced at Reynneak. “Do we have any plans for when we actually get there? We just hit the last campsite until we get to the city, right?”

Reynneak pulled up the map and looked over it. “There’s not a lot I can gather from the descriptions alone, it’ll be better to get there first and decide after that.”

Their conversation finally came to something more casual as they got closer to the city, yet something else took over when they got there. A lot of players were around here—an event, from the looks of it, around that time of the year when players were most active—and he couldn’t help but feel like they were all keeping an eye out for one in particular. It wouldn’t have been hard for anyone to hide in this kind of crowd.

Then, for better or worse, Myr voiced their concerns. “Do you really think we’re going to see Tinath here?”

“We better not,” Zetai grumbled. “If she’s smart she’ll stay as far away from you two as she possibly can.”

Reynneak sighed. “There’s not really a way to know for sure, though. We may not have come across any Nankohm workers, but she’d be the perfect person to send out if they needed someone. From the sounds of it, the people who knew her thought pretty well of her. Aside from the four of us, I don’t think anyone would think twice about it.”

“At least we know her tactics now,” Llewel said, “and Relenri said she’d tell the other innkeepers, at least, what happened. With any luck we might know if they’re planning anything before we run into them ourselves.”

“I’m not worried,” Myr pointed out. “All she wanted to do was to see her old friend again…”

“Not this again,” Zetai moaned. “Come on, seriously? She sided with the guys who want you gone for reasons I don’t even think they know. They all know that you’re practically just like us. There’s no excuse good enough for might-as-well-be murder.”

A nudge from Llewel wasn’t enough to keep Myr from asking, “How did you feel when your childhood friend left without saying goodbye?”

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“At first I wanted to drag him back so I could punch him. Then I got over it, like a normal person.”

“We’re not going to get anywhere with this,” Reynneak pointed out. “You both have your different opinions and neither of you are going to change them. Can we get through Kehnore without arguing over this every time it’s brought up?”

Myr mumbled what sounded like an agreement and Zetai didn’t really do anything at all. Llewel’s distrust towards this place only grew to know that this was how they were starting off their journey there.

Reynneak opened the door to the inn, the first welcomed by Kelfin.

“Welcome to the Kehnore City Inn, a safe haven for all travelers,” he said with a smile. Each of the four made some kind of greeting as he motioned them closer. There notably wasn’t nearly as many people in the inn as there were players on the streets. “I’ve been waiting for you to come for a while now. I was worried I was going to need to tell someone you hadn’t shown up yet.”

“We did some quests as we came over,” Zetai explained with a shrug.

“Relenri told me you were trying to do as many quests as you can.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I can be of much help. I don’t leave the inn too often and I don’t pry to know if what those residing here say is meant with ill intent.”

“Do you know where Kaerio might be, then?” Llewel prompted.

Kelfin seemed a bit surprised at first, then shook his head. “I haven’t heard from the boy in a little while. He comes by often, though—if you don’t get the chance of meeting with him yourself, I’ll be sure to let him know that you wanted to talk with him.” He glanced around, possibly to assure himself that no one else in the room was bothering to listen to them. “Honestly, if you remember why it’s a good thing to look for him, you’ve remembered a lot more than Relenri made it sound. I suppose it should be considered a good thing…”

“I know some of you are worried about it, but you don’t have to be,” Myr said with a reassuring smile. She’d told Llewel earlier about how Tamlio reacted when he realized who she was; a reaction that they assumed many more would share. “We’ll be careful.”

Kelfin’s laughter was nothing less than nervous. “I hope so—there’s no way to claim ignorance at this point.”

“Did anything else happen or are you just talking about Kyirius..?” Llewel prompted. He hoped, at least, that his message would be clear even if he didn’t mention it directly.

Kelfin shrugged. “You’ve just gone to several places by now and people talk a lot more than you might think they do. It’s nothing you need to concern yourselves with, at least at the moment.” He paused. “I’m assuming you’re being mindful of what you take on, if you wanted to talk with Kaerio. I might not know everyone worth keeping an eye on like he does, but I know the kind of areas you should avoid.”

Reynneak glanced around. “It looks like there might be too many people to do much, though. Cahacu made it sound like you guys weren’t supposed to help us.”

“Give me a few minutes and I’ll write down who I know,” Kelfin said quietly. “Just promise you’d got it from a friend or wrote it yourself. I don’t think anyone here is too interested in the details.”

They all gave a collective nod of thanks, then wandered to one of the open tables.

“Let’s see what we can find around the area,” Zetai suggested. “There should be a couple of obvious ones we can knock out while we wait, right?”

Reynneak opened up the map and let them all see it. “There’s not as much to go off of as you seem to think there is.”

Llewel gave a thoughtful look at each of the names, paying attention to if anything felt wrong about hearing any of them. Finally, he pointed to one. “He was friends with Kaerio, or at least familiar with him—we helped him.”

“I guess you do come across that guy in the story,” Zetai mumbled. “Kinda remember him being a jerk, though.”

“It’s something, at least, until we’re more confident in who to avoid,” Reynneak offered. He glanced at Myr, being the only one yet to say anything.

“We can see if we can find him,” she said with a shrug. “It wouldn’t hurt to try, right?”

With that decided, they made sure they’d have everything they needed and informed Kelfin that they’ll be back in a little while. Despite the crowd, it didn’t take them long to find who they were looking for.

In fact, he more or less came up to them.

“Ah, you there!” He nervously looked around him, quiet as if his clothes didn’t boast his status. “I could use some assistance, if you’re willing to give it.”