{-Myr-}

Any apprehension she might’ve felt was beaten down by her excitement—Llewel had enough doubts for the both of them. She was just glad that Casrane was with them, that maybe all of the twins’ new and old friends could come together and pretend like there was nothing serious going on.

Myr got up early, wandering downstairs and choosing the perfect place to wait. She tried her best to ignore the way that, before she came down, Casrane and Tiolfe were talking; it was a hushed conversation, one of hard decisions, that didn’t fit with what Myr decided to be the mood of the morning.

She sat by where all the players logged in from, pretending to be doing something else until she saw the familiar face.

“Tinath!” She immediately stood up, ready to find wherever Casrane had gone.

Tinath, however, was much more wary towards the enthusiasm. “Do I want to know what you’re smiling like that for..?”

“Yes! You definitely do—look, I’ll show you! She should still be at the counter.”

Without allowing further questions, Myr took Tinath’s hand and guided her to the counter. Casrane and Tiolfe were still talking but, after a nudge from the latter, the former looked over to see them. Her expression got brighter, too, even if it seemed a small smile was all she could manage.

“It’s really you,” Tinath breathed.

Casrane nodded. “It’s nice to see you again, too, Erin.”

Tiolfe grinned as well as she remarked, “There should be an empty table over there. It’s reserved for another group but they’re not going to be coming around today. No one’s going to bother you over there.”

They both gave their thanks and walked over there. Whatever conversation they were going to have, there were lots of emotions tied to it—it was best to give them the space.

“It’s freeing, isn’t it?” Tiolfe mumbled as she went back to her work. “It seems like everything’s coming together for you. I can’t imagine it’ll be too much longer now.”

Myr knew she was right—there was no coincidence about this. Eventually, they were going to reach the end of this story. She just hoped it was one they could all look back on with a smile.

She moved on from the thought, though, before it could linger too much longer. “Is there something I can help you with? I think it’s gonna be a little while before Zetai and Reynneak get here and I don’t have anything planned.”

“Oh, I’ve got all kinds of work for you,” Tiolfe remarked. “Just remember, you’re the one who asked for it! Maybe you can try to rope your brother into things when he gets down here, too. Or, wait, he’s already down here, just sulking in a corner.”

Myr glanced around the room until she caught sight of him. “Llewel, do you want to help us?” She didn’t care much for the fact he was nearly across the room; there weren’t really enough players to make a difference.

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He didn’t say anything, but he stood up and wandered over there.

They both helped Tiolfe with whatever she asked them for—which mostly amounted to cleaning or general housekeeping. The three of them upheld a casual conversation during it, though most of it was admittedly just stories of other players Tiolfe had helped. By the time they were almost done, Tinath and Casrane and finished talking and joined them. They’d just wrapped everything up when the time Zetai and Reynneak came.

It sounded like the two had been having a hushed argument before but, upon seeing all of them, Zetai blinked and remarked, “Well, that’s one more person than I was expecting to see today.”

Seeing them, Casrane’s smile faltered—there was no avoiding the real reason she was here anymore. She nodded to herself, and glanced at Tiolfe to ask, “Is there somewhere the five of us can go without being interrupted? I don’t want anyone else overhearing.”

“It might not be the most practical of places, but the storage room is right over there.” Tiolfe gestured to a door near the counter. “People are only allowed in there if I let them clean for me, so no one’s going to bother you inside. It should be unlocked for you, you should be able to take all the time you need.”

“Thank you.” Casrane glanced at all the others. “I know this is probably a bit strange, but there’s some things I need to tell all of you. It’s nothing… too serious. Just a handful of things I need to get out of the way as soon as possible.”

Unfortunately, whatever semblance of a casual air they’d been able to maintain up to this point was gone. Casrane led them to the storage room and closed the door once everyone came in. Though she gestured for the others to find a place to sit, she stayed right by the door.

“I already told the twins a part of it—that Nankohm is planning something and they’re willing to go further than they had before. For that reason, from now on, I’m going to be staying with you. It’s… a risk no matter what option we take, but at least we can be assured that we’re either all safe or all in danger.”

She looked between all of them, as if debating if she really wanted to say anything more, before she continued. “I still don’t understand the full extent of what they’re planning. I tried what I could, but… they’re careful. It became too dangerous to do it on my own—as much as I don’t want to, I can’t really avoid dragging you all into this anymore. I need your help if we’re going to be able to figure out exactly what they’re doing and what we can do to stop them.”

Zetai gained a smirk and confidently remarked, “Well, just say the word, and we’ll be ready to help. Trust me, if we were worried about getting wrapped up in this, we never would’ve gotten this far. You’ve got our help for as long as you need it.”

“I still think we should still be cautious…” Reynneak mumbled.

Llewel nodded, and his tone almost sounded urgent. “I don’t want to see any of you get hurt.”

“Not because of us…” Casrane agreed in a nearly inaudible mumble. She shook her head. “I’m… glad you’re willing to help, though—the next part gets a little easier if you’re all willing. I think we should all do a… teambuilding exercise, if you’d like to call it that. Ucadra should have a quest for us.”

“Is that the same one that involved talking to all the other shopkeepers up to this point?” Zetai asked. “We were planning on doing that one last, since it’s gonna involve a lot of traveling…”

“I think we should do it now.” Casrane seemed surprisingly calm despite how close she must’ve known she was to having to explain something she didn’t want to. “Just… trust me on this one.”

“Let me guess, it’ll make sense when it’s all over?” Tinath remarked with a frown. “You know that’s not an excuse, right?”

Casrane avoided looking up at any of them, then repeated, “Just trust me.”