{-Myr-}

She was, perhaps, a bit more excited than she should’ve been to see Tinath come up to them. Maybe they’d be able to put their differences aside, or at the very least, stop acting hostile towards each other. But in this fantasy of hers, she’d excluded Zetai’s reaction.

And Myr hadn’t felt this much animosity in a single room since Fininri and Ruzlue had to work together for an event.

Kaerio showed them to a room—mumbling something about using it for meetings—then declared “I’ll wait outside.” and left.

“We’re in the inn in the city,” Tinath remarked. “I don’t think I’m even capable of doing anything to you.”

Zetai and found a seat on the other side of the room, crossing her arms. “Yeah, and for some ‘strange’ reason, I don’t believe you.”

“I’d like to remind you both that we’re all adults,” Reynneak sighed, “and not in middle school.”

“Too late,” Llewel mumbled as he went to another seat. “This probably isn’t going to end well.” He glanced at his sister. “Myr, the sooner we listen to what she has to say, the sooner we can go our separate ways again.”

For a moment, she considered what might happen if she tried to stay with Kaerio. But she knew, ultimately, that that wasn’t going to work… and that she should be there for something that ultimately involved her. So she nodded and sat beside Llewel.

Reynneak went to the last spot along that wall and Tinath didn’t sit down at all. She just stood there, with her air of confidence mixing with a bit of hesitance. Somehow Myr knew that she didn’t know how this was going to go, but it hoped it went well. Myr hoped for that, too.

The hawk’s head kept moving, glancing at all of them, at the door, then back at them again. It took a moment for Tinath to actually say something. “I’ve worked with Nankohm for almost as long as I’ve been here—which is pretty much since the game’s release. I’ll admit they never let me know exactly what they were planning. They’d probably figured one day I’d just blab it off to someone. But I do think I know more than you do. I know it’s not a lot and what you ultimately end up doing with all this information is completely up to you. I’m telling you with the hopes that you might think a little more before throwing yourselves out there.”

Finally, she sat down, though that didn’t mean that she made any sign of being calmer. “You really don’t know anything, do you? I guess you’ve probably figured out who you are and I know you know what happened to Cassidy. But does anything leading up to that make any sense to you? Are you even aware of the other things they’d done before this game..?”

At the twins’ silence, she sighed. “There’s a reason those handful of college students that ended up founding Nankohm were so successful: no matter the game, no matter the character, anyone the player encountered felt alive. And I’m not just talking about the ones that ended up getting super popular. All of them were like that. It was the one thing they were known for, and the one thing that made any other flaw practically disappear. When they decided they wanted to be a part of the big names, and they made up the basis of this game, they were going to do the same thing they’d always done. When they first started out, they did whatever they do in order to make their characters feel real. It wasn’t until closer to the release that they decided to get rid of it.

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“Mom never told me what their reasoning was and I never cared enough to ask. Cassidy tried asking Mr. Mair but he always just dodged the question or gave some unhelpful answer. Either way, they made it clear that they weren’t going to change it back. Then Cassidy did what she did and you know what happened from there.”

No one said anything for a moment. Then, surprisingly, Llewel remarked, “Phanes mentioned something like that when I talked with him.”

“That’s what you were talking about?” Myr asked without really thinking it out first.

“Well, it had more to do with Duuzlo…”

“Why were you talking to him about Duuzlo..?”

He shrugged. Of course he wouldn’t tell her that part.

“So, just curious, what did you think you were going to get out of telling us that?” Zetai questioned. “Telling us only part of a story really doesn’t help anyone.”

Tinath sighed. “I can’t help the fact that they never told me anything more specific. I don’t know anything more about it, but I’m done being kept in the dark about what they’re doing. They told me, when I first started, that they weren’t going to get Cassidy involved in this. Now they want me to find her and bring her back but aren’t saying a word about what they plan on doing after that. I figured you’d be the only ones to care enough about her to possibly see my side of things.”

“What about Mr. Mair?” Reynneak asked.

“He was the one to give the order. No one ever gets to see him, it’s usually a bad sign if he’s out of his office. I only have a slight chance of being able to talk to him to start with, but a practically nonexistent one that he’d answer any questions.”

“You just want to make sure she’s safe,” Llewel mumbled, “and we’re the next best option. But… we can’t be, not really. If you’re with us, then won’t they just get someone else to look for us and Casrane?”

She seemed surprised for a moment, like she didn’t expect it to be considered, but nodded. “I did think about that part, and I… actually don’t really have an answer. Most of them are used to sitting at desks, not running around trying to capture kids. But if Mr. Mair’s really serious about all this, there’s several who might actually be able to do it. I know what most of them look like and I could probably convince them to pretend like they didn’t see anything in one way or another. Besides… it wouldn’t matter whether I stayed there or helped you somehow. After a while with still no results, Mr. Mair probably would’ve made someone else take my place anyway.”

“That’s all you’ve got? It doesn’t really feel worth it for any of us,” Zetai said. “Having you with us isn’t any better than just leaving you to deal with your own problems.”

“Well, you’re the ones drawing attention to yourself wherever you go! Are you even trying to be subtle?” Tinath must’ve remembered it really didn’t help her to act out, taking a deep breath. “What you might’ve been able to get away with in the beginning isn’t close to what you’re able to get away with now. They know you’re out here in Kehnore somewhere, and that’s already too much. If you don’t start acting like you actually care, then you’re just going to get yourself into a bad situation. Another situation Cassidy has to risk her own safety to get you out of.”

When no one else said anything, Reynneak remarked, “I, at least, think you bring up a couple of good points. But Zetai’s never going to trust you and, really, word alone isn’t enough when the twins’ safety is involved. We still need something else.”

The door opened slowly, revealing a sheepish Kaerio. “So, I’m not sure if you’re finished or not, but I heard the whole thing. And I’ve got an idea.”