{-Llewel-}

It would’ve been one thing if any part of the conversation had to do with what they were actually doing. But, it seemed, they all had their minds elsewhere—and practically in opposing directions.

Myr distracted herself from the fact by mumbling about what they could do in Eslasera and the idea of a reunion with Bezyu. Llewel, on the other hand, was still more interested in trying to understand the players.

“So it was the photo event?” Zetai mumbled. “We didn’t submit anything to them, though. They couldn’t have been able to actually get the pictures, could they?”

Tinath shrugged. “They’d need to store something, in order to make sure the NPC knew that we gave it to him. It wouldn’t have needed to be the entire picture, but they definitely could’ve done it. They probably realized it could help them figure out who the twins were with.”

“Even if it sounds like one giant breach of privacy…” Reynneak remarked.

“Well, I thought we’ve already decided that there was no point in worrying about it now?” Llewel glanced over his shoulder to look at the three of them. It seemed like they hadn’t really expected him to become a part of it. “It’s happened now, and there’s nothing we can do to change it. We’re just going to have to see where it takes us from here.”

Tinath nodded. “He’s right. They—and a fair bit of other players—know that we’re together. As long as we don’t do anything stupid I don’t think things will get much worse.”

“I’d like to point out that it definitely doesn’t seem like only a ‘fair bit,’” Zetai pointed out. “I feel like the whole thing just barely gets past the co-op privacy rules. I would almost ask why you don’t seem to think that’s a problem, but then I realize two years ago you probably had a following ready to do whatever you wanted.”

“Oh, I still have a following that’s ready to do whatever I want,” Tinath responded rather casually, clearly acknowledging that really wasn’t the point. “This just makes me think that you don’t want anyone else to figure out where all of your spare time is going.”

“To be fair, I’m sure we can all admit we spend far more time here than we’re willing to admit to other people,” Reynneak said. He glanced at Llewel, since Myr still wasn’t paying attention. “Not that we regret or are embarrassed by it—”

“I understand,” Llewel interrupted. “It’s about looking like you have ‘no life’ if you’re in the game all the time.” He understood half of it, anyway, and the rest he felt would never be important enough to learn.

With that mutual agreement reached, they all seemed to have said everything they were going to. Then Myr—still the most attentive of all of them about where they were actually supposed to be going—called, “Oh, there he is!”

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She was the first person to reach the quest-giver, though Llewel sped up to stay close to here even if the players didn’t. Neither of them could do anything until Zetai got there.

The man, acknowledging why they were there, smiled. “Ah, have the five of you taken care of everything?”

“Yep. All monsters cleared and the road should be pretty safe going forward,” Zetai responded with a small nod.

“Then I believe this is rightfully yours.” He gave her a bag of coins and a small trinket. “I’ll hold on to that, if I were you. There’s rumors of all kinds of things in these deserts—I found that trinket myself, back when I was an adventurer. I’m sure it has a use somewhere.” Then he walked away before any of them could even think to ask questions.

“Must be part of a quest somewhere around here,” Zetai decided. She looked at it for a moment before handing it to Reynneak. “Says it’s a quest item, anyway. Do you guys want to try figuring out who’s supposed to help us use it?”

“I have to meet with some friends in two hours,” Tinath said. “The quest’s probably going to take a couple of hours and it’ll be better to do it all in one sitting.”

“Plus I’ve got an exam tomorrow morning and I’d very much like to not fail it,” Reynneak added.

Myr nodded. “Last time we had to do one of these it took forever. I don’t think I’m ready to do it again just yet.”

Llewel simply shrugged. “You know I don’t care.”

“Alright, I guess we’ll shelf that for a later date.” Zetai pulled up the map to see what their other options might be. “It looks like there’s a lot of stuff around the center of town. At least one of them over there should be quick and easy.”

They all gave a collective nod and followed her lead. The players didn’t have time to continue their conversation from earlier, though, because Myr decided to make her earlier ramblings known.

“Do any of the quests mention Bezyu?” she asked. “I assume she’s probably pretty involved in things here, but we haven’t seen her in the city yet…”

Reynneak immediately opened up the quest menu and started looking through them. “There’s probably something from her somewhere. It might be outside of the city, though, so we’ll have to get to it later.”

“Either way, we’re probably going to run into her,” Zetai remarked. “We’ve run into all the others sooner or later. Depending on how many people are where all these quests are, then she might be somewhere in there, too.”

“So you really think we’ll be able to see her soon?” Myr prompted with a smile.

Tinath nodded. “I’d say this is one of those times where ‘not a matter of if, but when’ is actually a good thing.”

“Who knows,” Llewel said, “she might even come to us. I don’t doubt that she’ll hear that we’re here—more than just because someone else is talking about it. She’ll make sure to find us whenever she’s not busy.”

They just all had to hope that she found them because of some good news and not for any other reason. He knew he wasn’t the only one to think it; they all must have, if they were honest about it. That much was clear in their mumbles and the way they almost fell into silence after.

“Do you guys have anything specific in mind?” Zetai asked as they got closer to where the quests were. “There’s a lot of stuff over here, looking at it now we might even be able to knock out a couple of them.

They all made it rather clear they didn’t have a preference.

“Let’s just see what catches our attention first,” Llewel answered on behalf of them all.