{-Llewel-}

Rhodes had disappeared into a small cave, though they could still hear some of his mumbling and the sounds of him messing with something in there. Llewel never bothered to see what; he was more worried about keeping an eye out for whatever they might’ve needed to fight.

But nothing ever showed up.

A few minutes after he’d disappeared, Rhodes reappeared again, declaring, “That’s everything I had to do—I can walk back to Ilataesi City on my own, if you’ve got something else to get to.” He walked over to Zetai and handed her the rewards. “This should be everything! You know, I mean what I say about not leaving helpers empty-handed. You were even quieter than most of them were—it was easier to concentrate without all of that extra noise.”

“Nothing showed up,” Tinath pointed out. “We literally just wandered around the area for however long that took you.”

Rhodes frowned. “Not one thing?”

Reynneak shook his head. “The more I think about it, the more I feel like we haven’t actually seen any monsters since coming to this area.”

“I’ll have to talk to someone about that, then. It is the job of a priest to record these kinds of events.” Rhodes mumbled a few other things before pausing, seeming to remember that there was one other thing they might want to know. “I won’t mention the five of you, of course. All they have to know is that there’s a ‘bug’ of some sort surrounding this quest. No need to tell them who it was, specifically—I end up on quests like these frequently, I certainly don’t always remember the names and faces of all those players.”

“Are we going back to Ilataesi City, too?” Myr asked, looking at the others. “Or is there some other quest we can do around here?”

Reynneak checked the map. “It looks like we got through most of them. There’s one a little way’s out from here, but…”

“We can see what else the city has to offer,” Zetai decided.

Tinath looked ready to question it before Myr smiled and started asking Rhodes questions—questions about whenever the twins had seen him, of Duuzlo. Then none of the others was willing to suggest anything else but walk him back to the city. Llewel couldn’t bring himself to join their conversation, though. He stayed in the middle—with Myr and Rhodes in the front, the three players trailing behind—a casual conversation in one direction and a solemn one in the other.

Being him, of course, he paid more attention to the whispers coming from behind him.

“You know we can’t bet on the fact that it’s going to stay this easy forever,” Tinath mumbled. “Just because they can’t keep doing this doesn’t mean they can’t try anything else.”

“I… don’t see the part where there’s really anything we could do, either,” Reynneak remarked quietly.

Zetai sighed. “For once, I have to admit that you’re right. I can’t brute force this situation without making things worse.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“If only you realized that in middle school. It would’ve made a few things a lot easier.”

“Things are different. Believe it or not, I don’t think I’m the only one that it impacts anymore. There are two kids I want to protect.”

“I think we all do.” Which brought Tinath to her apparent reason for bringing it up, what she mumbled about earlier: “Look, we don’t know what’s going to happen. We need to make sure that we’re ready for all of it. And that means preparing for the worst. I know the two of you stay in contact with each other, but I have no way to get to either of you outside of here.”

“Then I guess it’s time we’ve had our proper introduction,” Reynneak said. “I’m Ramon. Just Ray is fine, though.”

Zetai hesitated for just a minute. “Zinnia.”

“Erin. At least one of you has a good memory, right? My number’s…” Tinath mumbled a chain of numbers. Reynneak and Zetai followed, too.

“What’s our plan if something happens?” Reynneak asked a few moments later.

“First, we’ve got to hope one of us is here,” Zetai muttered. “I think Tinath should be called first. You’ll be the least likely to be busy, right?”

“I mean, I can’t guarantee I won’t be busy, but I’m not like the two of you,” Tinath replied. “I don’t have fancy colleges to go to. Anything I’m working on I can probably quickly get myself back out of. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll be next,” Zetai decided. “I don’t mind skipping a couple of classes. If we really need it and we’re not all already there, then we can get Reynneak.”

Reynneak sighed. “I… feel bad, being the last one. It feels like I should be able to do more for them…”

Zetai’s tone lightened a bit. “Don’t worry about it. We all know that you have the most of a life out of all of us—you can’t be everywhere at once. They’d probably prefer that you put your family first.”

Llewel considered giving his input—that he really wouldn’t mind, he knew the twins weren’t everything—but decided against it. He knew that they hadn’t said it all with the intention of him overhearing him; they probably didn’t realize that he’d been listening at all. Not like he understood more than half of it.

The three players fell into silence after those important whispers were done, leaving all that was left to be Myr and Rhodes’ conversation. It was brighter, asking for clarification or stories from a past time—it seemed that Rhodes knew a bit about the twins before the game and their mother. From the sounds of it, he’d visited Duuzlo rather often in the game’s backstory. Llewel knew that he was familiar, though he still couldn’t remember most of the memories Rhodes ended up recounting. Myr eventually dragged Llewel into the conversation, too, though most of the time he still did nothing more than listen.

Rhodes stopped almost as soon as they entered the city. “Well, I believe this is where we should part ways.”

Myr looked a bit disappointed but she put on a smile anyway. “Thank you for answering those questions and telling those stories. It was nice!” Llewel nodded too. It had been a good distraction for her while it lasted.

“If you ever want to talk again, I’ll probably be right where you found me the first time,” Rhodes said with a smile. “In a little bit—in case the developers hear of it—I’ll make sure to tell Duuzlo that you were both doing fine. Perhaps someone else can relay another message to you later down the line.”

Myr brightened up again. “You’d really do that?”

“Of course. It’s really not any trouble at all—it’s something I’d be doing no matter what. I don’t mind as long as the two of you also promise to take care of yourselves. I certainly don’t want to lie to him.”

She nodded. “We’ll look out for each other!” She first glanced at Llewel, then at the players. “We’ve always had each other’s backs.”