{-Llewel-}

“So, I’m not sure if you’re finished or not, but I heard the whole thing. And I’ve got an idea.” When Kaerio received no immediate opposition, he continued. “I know you want to get everything done in Kehnore before leaving, so I’ve been resisting the urge to give this to you. But I think it may be able to help you sort out all your thoughts about the whole thing.”

[Quest: Report Collecting

Kaerio has eyes and ears all over Masylm in order to try to get the Rune Reactivation Project under control. He’s run into a bit of a problem, though: he doesn’t have enough time to collect all their reports on his own. Do you think you could lend him a hand?

Rewards: 300 EXP, 500 coins]

“Yeah, I don’t see how this will help anything,” Zetai remarked.

“You’re not going to be able to tell if you can trust each other unless you try,” he explained. “You’re going to be led to two spots in Kehnore, one in Kyirius, and one in Nafrius. That should be enough traveling to figure out if you’re all on the same side. You’ll also be near my people most of the time, so if there’s any trouble, they’ll be able to step in and help you out.”

Tinath got up and wandered towards the door. “So, do you trust me enough to go anywhere with me? Or do you think this is just going to be a waste of time for everyone?”

Zetai was about to say something before Reynneak put a hand on her shoulder. “We should all think about this. I know you don’t want to believe anything she says after what she did. But we can’t just disregard everything else.”

“Here’s an idea,” Kaerio said, if not just because he noticed their expressions, “why don’t you let the twins decide? They’re the ones that matter the most in this decision. They’re the ones that might get hurt or benefit from it.”

“I think we should give her a chance,” Myr decided quickly. “She’s only ever done what she needed in order to see Casrane. I can’t blame her for that. Besides, she’s got to be risking something in order to help us, right?”

Tinath shrugged. “I know this won’t help, but not really. The only person there who might care and see me regularly is Mom, but she’s not going to say anything about it.”

“Yeah, let’s stay with the person whose mom works for the bad guys,” Zetai grumbled. “Like that isn’t going to end up horribly or anything.”

“She’s not going to do anything and she’s definitely not going to try to get in our way.” Tinath considered it for a minute before adding, “I’m pretty sure she’s more on our side than theirs.”

Reynneak glanced at Llewel. “What do you think? Everyone gets a say in this.”

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I want to know that Casrane would be alright, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll be an option no matter what we decide. Either way, they’ll eventually send someone who knows what they’re doing. Then we’ll all be in trouble…”

Tinath’s previous words still stuck with him. Another situation Cassidy has to risk her own safety to get you out of.

He didn’t want to see anyone get hurt—and especially not because of them.

“It would probably be easier if Cassidy realized it wasn’t up to her to play the hero,” Tinath said. “Keeping to herself may have helped in the beginning and postponed the probably-inevitable future of Nankohm seriously looking for you two. But it means nothing now, definitely not since they’re looking for her, too.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She must’ve noticed that did little to assure him, because she continued, “Hey, we’re all here together. Finding her won’t be so hard with the three of us, and we should be able to come up with something to convince her. Plus, she’s strong—she’ll be able to hold her own until we can find her.”

Llewel nodded. It was probably obvious nothing could really ease his mind at this point.

“I’m not a fan of this ‘we’ stuff,” Zetai grumbled, “but since the twins are fine with it, I guess we can give this a try. Just know that I’ve got my eye on you, and if you even think of doing anything—”

Tinath was already wandering out the door, giving a dismissive wave. “You’ll make sure I’ll regret it, I get it. I’ve seen a lot scarier things than you.”

“Kaerio, if something happens, I’m blaming you,” Zetai decided.

“Does that mean you’re accepting the quest? The first person you need to talk to is Gouzla. You should be able to find him in his office.” Kaerio waved to them as they all left the room. “And don’t say it like that! I actually feel like this is going to go well.”

No one said anything on the walk through the city. The closest thing was Myr assuring some passing NPCs that, yes, Tinath was supposed to be there. There were a few players who looked over, too, though they never engaged; they simply muttered something between themselves and walked away again.

“Will you normally draw this much attention?” Zetai questioned, glancing back at Tinath.

“Now you’re worried about that part?” was her first, quick answer. “Well, that doesn’t matter right now. I’m almost certain the answer’s no. The NPCs are staring because of what I did; tell them there’s nothing to worry about and they’ll go back to whatever they were doing before. Some of the players might recognize me, or think they do, and I don’t know if that’ll change later.”

“You’re going to be a part of the event that’s coming up soon, right?” Reynneak recalled.

“Not by choice, but yeah,” she said in something closer to a grumble.

“What’s that going to do for your ability to blend in? It doesn’t sound like that’ll help the avoiding-attention thing,” Zetai pointed out.

Tinath shrugged. “Or maybe it’ll just make things better. Nankohm already knows where the twins are, they don’t need players to tell them. But, even though they changed their mind about Cassidy, there’s still one thing they’re sure of: that they’re not going to involve players. The more players we have around us, the less they’re going to want to risk a confrontation.”

“How long will it take them to decide this whole thing is worth getting players involved in, though..?” Reynneak mumbled with a kind of hesitance. To acknowledge it might one day become an issue already felt like too much.

“I guess we’ll just all have to figure out what to do when the day comes,” Llewel remarked, though quiet.

Then they went back to silence, considering the things that none of them wanted to. Luckily, it didn’t take long for them to reach the right building and not much longer before Gouzla came out to greet them.

“Ah, the four of you are back! And you brought a… guest.” Gouzla’s fake smile quickly turned into a frown. He made no attempt to hide his remark, “That’s the same woman that everyone’s been talking about—the one from the Kyirius incident…”

“She’s helping us,” Myr explained. “She’s not going to hurt anyone.”

That seemed to be enough for him. He shrugged and prompted, “What brings the five of you here?”

“We’re gathering reports for Kaerio,” Zetai said. “Do you have some?”

“Ah, yes, of course! Abigail, could you go get those for me?” He glanced at one of the attendants, and she nodded and darted off. “You’ve all been fine, haven’t you?”

“Good enough,” Llewel mumbled. His willingness to commit to small talk seemed to be dwindling the longer he stood there.

Luckily, Gouzla seemed to realize this, and didn’t ask any more questions. In a moment, the attendant came back with some papers, and he handed them back to the players. “Here you are! Everything my people have gathered since the last time Kaerio asked for them. I believe you’ll find the next person near the docks on the other side of the city. That part is full of the unruly types, I’d advise simply waiting for him. If he notices you and realizes why you’re there, he’ll come up to you.”