{-Tinath-}

“Tabby. Can I talk with you for a minute?”

Back then, the words came out without a second thought. “I totally wasn’t the one that drew the principal with a mustache on the door to his office.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, what I’ll likely find out isn’t what I’m here for now. There’s someone we wanted to introduce to you. Come with me.” The vice principal, of course, didn’t wait for her. Though there was some explanation of why she needed to come. “One of the freshmen has a rather unique set of circumstances. Her father’s a bit concerned about her being able to make friends, so after some consideration, we decided to elect you as a companion of sorts.”

“Why didn’t you choose someone a little closer to her age?”

“Your friends and whatever troublemaking you do together aside, you’re a good role model for her. You have good grades, college-bound, and we’re sure you know some good people to introduce her to. Her father said she works better with peers—since it’s likely she’s going to miss quite a bit of face-to-face instruction, our hope is that you’ll be able to help with what she doesn’t understand. It even turns out your parents are acquainted with one another, which will make interaction outside of school easier.”

The vice principal pushed the door open and gestured to the girl sitting there. “Cassidy, this is Tabby Rogers. She’s going to be helping you for a few years.”

Before the girl could do anything or the vice principal could say anything, she held out her hand and offered a smile. “Don’t pay attention to what these guys call me. I’m Erin.”

The girl, despite the obvious fear, gave a small smile too. “It’s nice to meet you, Erin.”

And now here Tinath was, still in one of Nankohm’s Kehnore bases and definitely not closer to seeing Cassidy.

“You’re making me do what?”

Rachel shrunk. “I’m just telling you what Mr. Mair told me.”

“Yeah, and after every other freaking person in the world knows, you let me know! That’s great.” Tinath decided not to dwell on the fact this was her mother she was talking to, and how it wouldn’t have been tolerated in any other situation. “You know, what if I had something I was going to do? What made you think I would want you to use me to fix all of your recent dumb decisions?”

“Tabby, please, calm down.” The kind of glance Rachel gave the other Nankohm workers made them leave the two alone; she still did have authority over them, however infrequently she used it. “I wasn’t a part of this decision—I didn’t know any earlier than you. I promise I’ll talk with Mr. Mair and see what we can do. You won’t have to stay any longer than you need to.”

“I don’t suppose you’re any closer to finding Cassidy, if you’re making me do more than run around for you?”

“I’m sure they’ll find her soon.” Rachel’s moment to think spoke much more than she probably realized she did. “It’s a part of something else they want you to do for them.”

“You’ve already failed to get the twins, what else do you plan on doing?” Tinath questioned dryly. “Seriously, they were two kids. Take one out, drag the other along, and they won’t do anything to stop you—not if they think the other will get hurt.”

“It sounds so simple, yet we both faltered when it came down to it, didn’t we..?” Rachel shook her head. “You’re right, for the most part—the twins aren’t the ones that make it difficult. Mr. Mair has requested you help look for Cassidy in Kehnore… and bring her back here, no matter what.”

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“Is that exact wording?”

“Of course not. He used more… extreme ways of getting his point across.”

“You never made it sound like you were going to stop her from doing stuff, as long as it didn’t involve the two of them.”

“We weren’t.”

“So why does it sound like you’re just trying to get rid of her?”

“I don’t question his orders. I learned a long time ago that there wasn’t a point in trying.”

“Remind me why I’m the one person you can send out there?”

“You blend in easier than any of us do—our clothes can’t hide that we’re developers.”

“How do you expect me to ‘blend in’ when you want me to help promote you in a few weeks?”

“Mr. Mair hopes for it to be over by then.”

“If it isn’t?”

Rachel, after a long moment, shook her head. “It will be over by then.”

Realizing there was nothing more that was going to come of this, Tinath went to leave. Still, she had one question: “What do I do if I come across the twins or those players?”

“Come back to tell us where they are, but don’t engage. Someone else should be able to take care of them.”

Tinath stood by the door for a moment before finally saying, “I’ll see you tonight.”

She left before Rachel could say anything else.

…

“I’ve got the whole basement to myself, so make yourself at home. Bathroom’s over there, there’s mostly soda in the mini fridge but I brought some water bottles down too. Oh, and it’s probably fine if you want to wander, but I’ve been told my dad’s kind of intimidating. Also he’ll probably mistake you for one of my other friends since no one else is home.”

“I… don’t want to know what that means, do I?”

“I promise they’re the harmless kind of tricksters. Mostly. Definitely not what he thinks they are.”

A bit of silence. “So… what do you want to do?”

“I was going to let you choose. I’ve got a bunch of games over there—but, uh, don’t touch the ones on the lower shelf. I’ve got tons of shows and movies, too. The ones I have disks for are over there.”

Another stretch of quietness. “You’ve got stuff for streaming?”

“Everyone’s gotta have a hobby—or a couple. I’m actually doing well enough to get paid, so it’s like having a job, but I don’t have to deal with people I don’t like.”

“When they talked about you, I didn’t think you’d be like this…”

“Well, you’re exactly what I expected. Surprise me with something!”

A shrug. “I don’t think there’s a lot to be surprised by…”

…

With the amount of time she spent here over the past two years, she was able to understand a lot of things that Nankohm’s workers still hadn’t figured out. She saw how the NPCs worked together, the little networks they had for all sorts of things; it seemed they knew of the fight in Kehnore even if they were in Ilataesi, the new quest in Anseshara when they frequented only Kyirius. Nafrius was like the hub of it all. When she first brought it up after agreeing to help Mr. Mair, most of them claimed the NPCs shouldn’t have the ability to do that. It wasn’t until a few months ago they actually started to believe her.

There were two things she was sure of about this network: they were already on the lookout for her, and she only needed to find the right one to help her find who she was looking for.

Luckily for her, more people than Nankohm had a reason to look out for a specific set of twins.

“You’re one of those Rune Reactivation Project guys, right?” Tinath called when she saw him.

The man froze and slowly turned around. “I’m not a part of any quests right now.”

“I just have one question.” There was an edge to her tone that showed he really didn’t have a choice in whether he answered or not. “Have you seen any brown-haired twins recently? A boy and a girl, around sixteen, both have the [Thief] Class. They’ve been traveling with a short [Swordsman] and a tall [Mage].”

“No, I—“ A moment’s consideration got him to consider it a little more. “I did, actually—yesterday. I told them what I needed to in order to get them to move on with their quest.”

“Do you know where they went after that?”

“If I had to guess, they’ve already finished the quest. I don’t really know where they’ll be now, or if they’re even on yet.” He paused and dared to ask, “Are you looking for them?”

“I’m trying to stay as far away from them as possible, actually.”

Technically, she never saw them, so she didn’t know exactly where they were. Maybe they could keep living in ignorance for a little while longer…