{-Llewel-}
Luckily, Myr seemed to feel a little better that they were able to help through the party chat; she eagerly suggested ideas, which were relayed to Haris through one of the others. Llewel sat beside her, sometimes offering suggestions, though mostly just listened to all of the others and the stories at the end. Casrane, like usual, was far from them—she had her map open and was talking to Vamir. She’d occasionally glanced over at the twins, but she never joined them. Not like Llewel could say that he was particularly surprised.
“Haris just said that that was the last of the ruins,” Zetai said through the party chat. “We’re heading back now. Do you think Casrane’s done with what she’s doing? I want to try to knock out a couple other quests today, too.”
Llewel looked over to where Casrane was. “To be honest, I don’t know. She just closed the map, though, so maybe she’s almost done.”
“Make sure she doesn’t wander off in the time it takes us to get back. Whether she wants to or not, she’s with us, which means she’s going on these quests, too.”
“I think you’re overestimating how much I can really persuade her.”
“Eh, you’ll figure something out.”
Eventually, he settled with just calling, “Casrane, the others are coming back soon. Don’t go anywhere.”
She seemed confused at first—she probably hadn’t expected it—before nodding. She said a few more things to Vamir before joining the twins at the table. “Have they decided what quest we’re going to do next?”
“No. They’re probably going to wait and see the spots you marked and go from there.”
“Well, at the very least, I should have all or most of them marked, with the help of Vamir. We shouldn’t run into any problems as long as we pay attention to where we’re going.”
They were all quiet for a little bit before Myr casually asked, “So, do either of you want to talk about that thing you did when we were with Haris? Like how you both blushed when Tinath said you liked each other?”
Llewel and Casrane glanced at each other now, too, but there was more of a distance than before. And when they both went to look at the table, it wasn’t out of embarrassment—it was because they’d both come to the conclusion that there was nothing worth saying.
“Never mind,” Myr mumbled after another moment. “Just thought we’d like something else to talk about…”
A mumble was about the closest thing she got to a response. From then on, they didn’t say anything while they waited—no one even attempted something. If any of the players there even noticed them, he almost wondered if they’d realize the three of them were a part of a team at all…
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Llewel hadn’t been doing much of anything, really—but he knew immediately when the players returned. Myr—undoubtedly eager for something more than silence—waved them over, and they sat down on the other side of the table.
“Did you mark the map?” Zetai prompted, glancing at Casrane.
She nodded.
Reynneak was already opening it. “I’ll go ahead and see what we can do next, then.”
And it was when his map was opened that Llewel was able to get a good look at it. There were a lot of little marks there, aside from the ones presented because of [Quest Finder]. Seeing all of them, Myr sank a little in her seat.
Tinath also more casually remarked, “Well, that’s a lot of rune spots. How’d you even figure out where all of those were?”
“I remembered a few of them from when I traveled in the area,” Casrane explained. “The rest of them I asked Vamir to help me with. There’s a chance there’s not quite as much as this, but these are definitely all spots where runes spawn. It’s better to avoid them if possible.”
“Seems like it limits our options a little,” Llewel observed.
Reynneak nodded. “There’s a couple of quests here in the city and a few elsewhere, but a lot are still in areas we shouldn’t go. We’re strong enough now, though, we probably could do some endgame quests in the other areas.”
“I’d rather we do that,” Myr offered. “They probably wouldn’t have as many runes around there, right? So we don’t have as much to worry about.” I didn’t have as much to feel bad about, was what she really meant—even if Llewel couldn’t blame her for it.
“I guess it’s an option,” Zetai said. “We’re already here, though. Might as well do what we can before making the trip back to another place.”
Casrane shook her head. “I don’t think we should go anywhere at all. We should still stay right here in Anseshara—there’s still plenty for us to do here. Maybe we can work out another system, but we shouldn’t leave here.”
Llewel sighed. “That’s an awfully suspicious request. Are you going to explain why?”
She hesitated. “We can talk about that later, alright?”
“Does it have anything to do with the stuff that you got from the shopkeepers? I still don’t think you’ve explained what all of those were for yet.”
“You’ll figure it out soon enough. Look, is it really that bad that I want to spend more time here? We literally got here yesterday, it’s practically a waste to do one quest and then leave again. There’s still plenty that we can do here.”
Tinath shrugged. “I know it doesn’t really prove Llewel’s point, but Casrane also has a point. We’ve only just got here and there’s still plenty of stuff we could do. Might as well knock out the safer quests, if not just to make the trip over here worth it.” She glanced at Casrane. “Let’s get this straight, though, I’m not saying this because I’m willing to go along with whatever you’re planning without being told about it. I think I speak for all of us when I say I wish you’d just talk with us… but I know that’s not going to happen. Not yet, anyway. You’ll have to do it sooner or later.”
Casrane, undoubtedly faced with the acknowledgement that Tinath was right, changed the subject completely. “While I was talking to Vamir, he mentioned a quest that he had. He said it wouldn’t take us out of the city. We can try asking him about it.”
Zetai stood up. “We might as well get to it. We’re not going to get anywhere just complaining—might as well get a quest going, too. Let’s see what it’s all about.”