While Priscilla would love to acquaint herself with the soft looking bed, instead she began to rummage through the dresser’s drawers. The first drawer had a fountain pen, several quills, and an inkwell along with a thick stack of paper and envelopes. Priscilla brought the writing utensils and the stack of paper over to the coffee table before resuming her search.

The second drawer seemed to be where the original kept her accessories – several high quality purses, gloves, a parasol, and several sets of jewelry. There was less jewelry than Priscilla expected there to be, as the original had been described as somewhat of a fashionista who refused to wear the same necklace twice.

Priscilla didn’t actually like wearing jewelry all that much, which she knew was odd for a fashion designer. She could appreciate the splashes of color and sophistication jewelry could bring to outfits, but she didn’t like the way necklaces felt around her neck or the way bracelets just got in the way of everything. Priscilla tried to not wear rings because rings could both mess up her own fingers if she had to punch someone and it would likely cause a nasty scar on whoever she did end up fighting.

This drawer was mostly a bust but she did like the light green parasol for fashion or swinging around as an improvised weapon so she took it out for easier access.

It was the last drawer that had the most interesting item. It was full of underwear and stockings but an instinct had Priscilla digging past the lacy clothing to see what it hid. Her fingers felt something solid and she pulled it free from its cloth cage.

Priscilla now held a slim red book. The cover was blank but what drew Priscilla’s attention was the lock on the side. Her fingers itched to try and force open the book but she reminded herself that she had a mission and though mysterious books were extremely tantalizing, she had other things to focus on.

That reasoning didn’t stop her from briefly rummaging through the drawer for a key of some sort, but it did keep her from wasting too much time on the seemingly fruitless search.

Next, she glanced over the bookshelves for anything that seemed out of place or could be helpful. To her delight, Priscilla found several books on geography and a good number of bestiaries. She had always thought the monsters in the story were fascinating but as a reader, she only knew what the characters knew about the creatures. Now, Priscilla could learn more in depth about the creatures' habitats and habits, and have a good explanation for why she would know about obscure beasts trying to kill them.

She set the stack of books on the dresser for some light reading for tomorrow before taking a cursory glance in the closet, which revealed a bounty of beautiful dresses and, surprisingly, a color coded calendar. Priscilla couldn't figure out what the colors meant, but just knowing today’s date would be very helpful.

Curiosity satisfied, Priscilla sat back on the couch with the calendar to begin properly planning.

She had one month and three weeks until the plot was supposed to begin but that didn’t mean Priscilla had time to sit around on her ass. She already changed things by the mere fact she wasn’t brainwashed, and she couldn’t be sure how that fact would affect everything else. To the best of Priscilla’s knowledge, the Cult of the Violet Moon wouldn’t begin to directly affect Illnyea and crew for a few years, but they had so many plans in motion that it would be very bad if she just let it happen as planned.

Her knowledge of their plans could become obsolete the more she changed things, but she wasn’t the type to sit around and let the tragedies occur without even trying to stop them.

Priscilla went to write out the names of the main characters in the story so she could put down bullet points of the major storylines and how the cult’s plots could affect them. She wrote out Illnyea and Sulaiman just fine, but when she went to write the healer’s name, she found her hand cramping up painfully and spilling ink across the page.

“Fuck you, god,” she spat, rubbing away the muscle pain. Priscilla found that she could think of Kavil’s name but trying to write it again gave the same results, as did other characters who were introduced later in the story like Frigge.

There went her plan to write out everything to help her remember the smaller details. Shitty, but she could deal with it. She was known as the walking TDE wikipedia for a reason.

Priscilla leaned back on the couch and contemplated what plot point had a time limit to solve. It was probably Kavil’s village being raided by bandits – that had happened before the plot officially began, but not too far in the past it couldn’t be changed. Kavil didn’t deserve to have his whole world violently taken from him and having to go on the run. It turned out okay because he met Illnyea, but Priscilla didn’t want him to watch his family die in front of him.

She pulled out one of the geography books and figured out how far she currently was from the village. The village’s name was tiny and barely visible on the book’s maps, but she was able to spot it. By Priscilla’s estimates, it would take a little over a week to get there by horseback, so even if things went very wrong on the journey, she should still have at least a three week buffer before the plot begins and see what changes her meddling brought. If things went well, Priscilla could choose the next piece of “fate” to change.

That seemed perfectly doable, so now that Priscilla had a goal, she just had to figure out how to get what she wanted.

She picked up the fountain pen, summoned all her business acumen, and got to work. Priscilla didn’t stop or look away once, focusing her attention entirely on what she was writing until she felt satisfied that all the loopholes were closed tight.

Her eyes were dry and her spine ached when she finally sat up, the eight pages she had painstakingly copied setting out to dry. It was technically two of the same four page document, but she knew better than to only have one copy of a contract available.

She yawned wide, her ears popping as her body stutteringly stretched. Priscilla stood and stripped, throwing the beautiful dress over the back of the couch before she pulled a nightgown over her head.

Priscilla collapsed onto the bed, burrowing into the warm blankets and succumbing quickly to sleep.

It was far too soon that a steady knock knock knock roused Priscilla from her dream of sledding down an ice cream mountain.

“Whassit?” Priscilla slurred, rubbing her eyes and yawning. It didn’t even seem that the sun was awake yet, light just barely peeking over the horizon. There was another series of knocks and Priscilla groaned as she dragged herself upright and stumbled to the door.

“Yeah?” Priscilla said as she opened the door. Illnyea was on the other side, her hand hovering in the air like she was just about to knock again. Illnyea seemed a little taken aback by Priscilla’s appearance, which is probably because Priscilla looked very undignified right now. She hadn’t bothered to undo the braid from last night and she could feel all the tiny strands that had escaped it.

“Ah, I was wondering if we could talk a little more now?” Illnyea said, rubbing the back of her head.

“Right now?” Priscilla asked blearily, her mind slowly processing what was going on.

“Ah, yeah? I’m leaving with the caravan in an hour.”

“Yes, the caravan,” Priscilla said like she knew what was going on before yawning. “Let me clean up really quick and you can come in.”

Priscilla moved as quick as she could to where the documents were still laid out on the coffee table and scooped them up and stashing them in her drawer. She tossed the dirty dress onto the bed and thought that was good enough.

“All clear,” Priscilla called out and a bemused Illnyea entered. Priscilla collapsed into the couch, Illnyea taking a seat beside her. The couch was warm and soft and Priscilla had to sit up perfectly straight to not succumb to the temptation of falling back asleep.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” Illnyea asked, frowning.

Priscilla waved a hand to brush off the concern. “I was just thinking about the future and that kept me up a bit. But that’s not important, remind me where the caravan is going again?”

Illnyea looked like she wanted to ask more about Priscilla but begrudgingly accepted the topic change.

“We’re going to Harosaw City.”

Priscilla let out a low whistle.

“That’s two weeks one way if you don’t encounter anything that makes you slow down,” Priscilla said.

“I’m surprised you knew that off the top of your head,” Illnyea said.

“I like geography and maps,” Priscilla said. “I like knowing how to get places and what the best paths to follow are.”

Illnyea looked at the ground for a moment, face falling for some reason. Priscilla wasn’t sure what she had done wrong so she moved quickly to the next question.

“How long are you meant to stay in the city?” Priscilla asked.

“Just a few days,” Illnyea said softly before shaking her head and perking up. “We’re mainly visiting to finish up some contract negotiations and sell our goods at the big market faire. I’m going because mom…”

Illnyea paused, her face frozen as if she had just made a huge mistake. Priscilla appreciated the concern on Illnyea’s face, but it wasn’t like Priscilla would force Illnyea to pretend her parents didn’t exist just because Priscilla had a shitty relationship with them.

“What’d she ask you to do?” Priscilla asked, using her foot to shove Illnyea’s. That broke Illnyea out of it and she hesitated before gently shoving back, which made Priscilla let out a huff of laughter.

“She asked me to go with and see how Rudy conducts the negotiations,” Illnyea said. “I guess she wants me to get some practical experience in trading.”

Interesting that mumsie didn’t want to teach Illnyea herself, but maybe that was just Priscilla being cynical. The parents did love Illnyea after all, so it probably wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Hands-on experience is the best way to learn something,” Priscilla conceded, “but if you want my advice for negotiations there’s only one thing you need to remember above all else.”

Illnyea leaned in close, gold eyes locked in and focused. “What?”

“What does the other party want?” Priscilla said. “If you can figure out what they want, you can work backward from there to figure out how to get what you want out of the bargain.”

“So you mean…” Illnyea frowned, thinking it over. “I should know the market price for the goods before I begin bargaining.”

“That’s good to know, but no, that’s not what I mean.” Priscilla leaned forward as well, surprised and a little excited that her business degree actually came in handy in this fantasy world. “When I say, know what your business partner wants, I mean to look at the bigger picture. Sure, they might want to sell their goods at a ridiculously high price, but why do they want to sell so high? Are they just after profits because they’re motivated by greed? Are they selling at high margins because they want to buy something else, like medicine or an artifact? Or are they trying to sell their goods at higher prices because they want to be recognized as a skilled trader? There’s any number of reasons why someone is acting the way they are, and it’s up to you to sniff out the true reasons behind their actions – and once you understand what motivates them, then you can figure out how to use those motivations to get what you want.”

Illnyea blinked slowly, her eyes a little wide. Priscilla did just throw a lot at her, but she had faith Illnyea would get it eventually, she was a smart girl.

“I think I understand what you mean,” Illnyea said slowly, proving Priscilla right. “But how do I figure out their motivations?”

“There’s plenty of ways, the easiest of which is to research them ahead of time.”

“But how would I do that?” Illnyea said, frowning. “I don’t even know their name.”

“It’s true that you don’t know their name,” Priscilla said, hiding her smile as Illnyea briefly glared at her. It took a beat, but then Illnyea’s eyes flared with realization.

“I can ask Rudy,” she said, “or maybe one of the other senior merchants.”

“That’s a good place to start.”

Illnyea gave Priscilla a blinding grin. “I’ll try my best!”

“I know you will,” Priscilla said with a half-smile. Maybe having a younger sister like Illnyea wouldn’t be so bad. She was cute and eager to both please and learn, and while Priscilla may only be twenty physically, she did have a decent amount of life experience to offer advice to Illnyea when she needed it. With a pang, Priscilla wondered if this is what Mr. — felt towards her when they first met.

“What about you?” Illnyea asked.

Priscilla blinked, momentarily thrown by the topic change.

“What about me?” she parroted.

Illnyea rolled her eyes. “What will you be doing for the next month while I’m gone?”

Priscilla paused, as her current plans were not ones that she could speak aloud without coughing up copious amounts of blood that would scare Illnyea half to death. There was also another aspect to consider that Illnyea was this world’s protagonist. Her very existence may be tightly intertwined with the fate of the world, though Priscilla dearly hoped it wasn’t.

Priscilla decided to play it safe.

“I might do some traveling of my own while you’re gone,” Priscilla said casually.

“Where?”

“Muntoil has beautiful orchards this time of year,” Priscilla said. “The city of Roriton might be nice to visit too.”

Both those destinations were places that Priscilla did want to visit one day, but were not at all in the direction that Priscilla truly planned on traveling.

“What makes you want to travel?” Illnyea asked.

“There’s so much of the world I haven’t seen yet,” Priscilla said, “and one day, I would like to claim I’ve seen it all.”

Illnyea was quiet, looking down at her hands before saying, “Maybe I can come with you? After I get back of course, but I…”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Priscilla had to take a sharp breath in at that, as the offer was everything her younger self would have wanted – to have Illnyea offer to take her with to go traveling with all her favorite characters.

“If you’re not off on your own adventures,” Priscilla said measuredly like she hadn’t wanted to blurt out yes immediately, “then I think it would be nice to travel together.”

You would have thought that Priscilla offered Illnyea the world with how she lit up.

“When I get back,” Illnyea said, practically vibrating with excitement, “let’s talk about this more in depth.”

“It’s a promise,” Priscilla said, impulsively putting out her pinky. Illnyea laughed and linked her own pinky around it.

“It’s a promise,” Illnyea echoed, staring at Priscilla with such blatant happiness that she had to look away, feeling her cheeks getting a bit red.

But before they could say anything else, a loud brass sound reverberated through the air, making Illnyea’s shoulders slump.

“I have to go help double check the inventory,” Illnyea said reluctantly and not making any moves to go do so.

Priscilla laughed and shook her head, leaning forward to push Illnyea’s shoulder.

“There’s only enough room in this family for one irresponsible daughter,” Priscilla said teasingly, “and I’m afraid the position’s taken. Now shoo, go be responsible.”

Illnyea laughed and pushed herself to her feet. “Fine, fine, I’m going.”

“Safe travels,” Priscilla said, wiggling her fingers at Illnyea.

“Safe travels, sister,” Illnyea replied with a wink before ducking out the door.

Priscilla slumped back into the couch when the door closed. She enjoyed speaking with Illnyea and the teen’s energy was infectious, but Priscilla was running on too little sleep at the moment. She eyed the bed longingly for a moment but dismissed the thought almost as soon as it came. The sun had fully risen by now and Priscilla unfortunately could not sleep if she felt the sun shining on her face.

Illnyea’s trip did provide an unforeseen boon, however. It meant that Priscilla didn’t have to explain herself to her or have to maneuver around her to get the job done.

The first thing that Priscilla had to do was to obtain enough funding to actually let her achieve her plans. There was little one could do in any world if you had no money, especially when Priscilla had little to no skills that would let her make money quickly. Sure, she could offer to make custom made clothing but she didn’t even know where to begin – there was the issue of finding both supplies and willing customers, and Priscilla knew that her reputation would make that task infinitely harder.

Luckily, that first task was intertwined with her second goal, which was to ensure that Priscilla could move around freely with little to no questions from those around her.

Which was why Priscilla had stayed up last night writing out two copies of the contract. She fetched them from the drawer and laid them out in front of her again, looking at the documents with fresh eyes.

They weren’t entirely perfect, but reading over them, Priscilla couldn’t find any loopholes that would allow herself to be exploited or easy ways to declare the contract invalid. Her hopes were that she could ambush her contract targets while they were distracted by Illnyea and the caravan leaving and they would be so baffled she presented it to them, that they would sign it.

Priscilla practiced signing her first name a few times until she felt like it looked mostly natural. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any examples of the original’s handwriting, so she could only hope it was close enough.

She signed both copies of the contract and set it to the side to let the ink dry.

Priscilla had to get dressed and she probably should deal with the dress from yesterday while she was at it. She stood and threw the dress over her arm when a strange buzzing sensation began to emanate from it.

There was a muffled, whiny sound and Priscilla nearly dropped the dress as she realized that she had entirely forgotten about the artifact from yesterday. She debated about ignoring it some more, but decided against it. It would be better to deal with this sooner than later.

“You left me all alone in the darkness!” the rock whimpered as soon as it was freed from the pocket. “I couldn’t see anything and… I was so scared.”

Priscilla felt a pang of guilt at the quiet admission without a single hint of whining in its voice. It was an artifact, yes, but sentient artifacts were more human-like than typical magical tools – they could have thoughts and feelings just like her.

“I’m sorry,” Priscilla said, the words surprisingly heartfelt. “I didn’t do it on purpose, I had just been super fucking tired, and anything that wasn’t right in front of my face, I forgot about it.”

There was a moment of silence where Priscilla began to speculate just what she would do if it didn’t forgive her.

Then, in a small voice, “I forgive you. Just please don’t do it again, it was scary and I was all alone again.”

“I don’t plan to do it again on purpose,” Priscilla said, tossing the dress aside and sitting on the edge of her bed, “but I may have to stash you in a pocket sometimes to hide you from others. You’re pretty fucking eye-catching, you gotta know that.”

“That won’t be a problem for a mighty legend killer like me!” the rock said, quivering slightly before the smooth white stone began to stretch and thin out. The rock continued twisting in her hand until there was no hint of a rock anymore and only a surprisingly tasteful bracelet now rested in Priscilla’s hand.

She could only blink at the sudden transformation, her mind circling back to wondering just what the hell a legend killer could be.

“If you bond with me,” the artifact said, “then I can unlock my full potential.”

“Alright,” Priscilla said, laying the bracelet off the bed, “please explain just what the fuck you mean by full potential.”

“Legend killers are the very best artifacts that mortals can get their hands on!”

“Elaborate,” Priscilla said, leaning on her hands and giving the artifact a slight glare.

“Oh, I… don’t know.” The artifact trailed off, some of the exuberant energy draining from it as it stilled. “I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I’ve been free, I can’t remember.”

Priscilla had opened her mouth to press more but as the rock finished speaking, she had it firmly closed.

“What do you mean free?” Priscilla carefully asked. She didn’t want to push the artifact too much in case it became too volatile, but she had to know more. Her curiosity was eating her up inside.

“I was trapped floating in darkness alone for so long that I forgot that I was me.”

Priscilla was struck dumb that. She didn’t think that the artifact was just talking about the time it spent in her pocket.

“But you saved me,” the artifact said with something like awe, “and you let me see the light again after so long. Please let me prove how helpful I can be!”

Priscilla had no doubt that the cult leader had somehow been involved with the artifact’s imprisonment, he was the sick sort of bastard who would be willing to do that if he thought it would help him serve his goddess better. What type of imprisonment, she had no clue, but from how hollow the artifact sounded as it spoke, she believed it.

Sentient artifacts can be useful in all sorts of ways. Illnyea’s crew had quite a few even though they were meant to be rare, but, eh, it’s the protagonist, what do you expect? Illnyea had a dragon slaying sword named Siltheart, which had proven immensely powerful. On the other hand, Lag’ge had a sentient poetry book nicknamed Nile the Insufferable because it spent most of its time insulting everyone around it and complaining about the humidity.

Priscilla was more inclined to believe this artifact wouldn’t be as bad as Nile, whose disrespectful attitude was clear the moment he joined the narrative.

“Can you turn into anything else?” Priscilla asked, leaning forward with excitement that came with potentially having her very first magical item in this world. The rock quivered in place and then lengthened into a gleaming curved dagger, which had Priscilla’s eyebrows raising in appreciation. Now that was a handy trick.

“Alright, one last question before I give you my answer,” Priscilla said, curiosity demanding she ask because the worst thing the artifact can tell her is no. “Can you turn into anything else to wear? It might be handy to keep you on my person at all times, and I don’t really do jewelry.”

It took a long moment in which Priscilla wondered if she broke the artifact with her question before the rock began shifting again. The hard surface blurred and suddenly thinned, stretching out in five directions before resettling into the form of a singular gray glove.

“This is all I can do until we bond,” the artifact said, sounding a little winded.

Priscilla carefully picked up the glove, giving into the temptation to put it on. Pun fully intended, it fit her like a glove and when she wiggled her fingers, there was no stiffness or tightness of the fabric.

This artifact had shown remarkable shape-changing abilities by being able to change materials from rock to metal to now fabric. Even if the glove’s design was simple, Priscilla was sure she could coax the artifact to form into a more stylish shape.

“What will the bonding take?” Priscilla asked, trying to not seem too excited. Every artifact had their own rituals the wielder had to undergo to fully attune to it.

“You just have to agree,” the artifact said, and Priscilla tried not to deflate at how simple it was.

“Okay, fine,” Priscilla, “I agree–”

A small seal coalesced in the air above her gloved hand. A winged serpent eating its own tail in a perfect circle glowed gold and pulsed in the air as a sharp burning sensation bloomed in Priscilla’s chest, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe. She gasped as a headache throbbed at the base of her skull, wondering if she had just made a horrible mistake.

One second passed.

Then two.

And just as she finished counting three, the Priscilla was able to gasp in a large gulp of air as the pain suddenly receded to leave a vaguely aching skull behind.

“What the fuck was that bullshit?” Priscilla growled.

“You were found worthy, master!” the artifact chirped.

“What would have happened if I wasn’t found worthy?”

Utter silence.

The bonding requirements were stupidly easy and now Priscilla had an idea of why. She had accidentally formed a bond that would have killed her if she failed. Gods, she was reckless. Next time an artifact tried to sweet talk her into bonding with it, she was going to ask a lot more questions about the potential consequences.

“You should go find the other legend killers,” the artifact urged hurriedly. “We will be stronger together.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Priscilla said, unable to keep her irritation from her voice, “as I’m pretty sure I almost fucking died bonding to you.”

The artifact was quiet for another long moment and said, “Please.”

“Please be quiet,” Priscilla said, moving to peel the glove off her hand.

It suddenly tightened, becoming something almost like a second skin.

“For fuck’s sake,” Priscilla said, “I can’t go aimless wandering out in the world when I have no fucking idea where these other legend killers are or how many of you there are. It’s like asking me to go jump in the ocean and swim around to find a several one in a million fish just so that my first fish gets off the fucking hook.”

The artifact remained silent and Priscilla hated that she felt bad about snapping at the artifact, and sighed, accepting that in her new life, she was going to be fucking guilt tripped by a rock of all things.

“I’m not saying that I’ll never find these legend killer friends of yours,” Priscilla said firmly, “but if it does happen, it’ll probably be a sheer coincidence because I have a feeling that you can’t tell me anything about where the artifacts are or what it means to be one so I can keep an eye out for it.”

Priscilla leaned forward, softening her voice. “If I find out more information or if you remember more, I’ll follow it up, but right now, I have limited resources and I have to focus on other priorities right now.”

There was another silence before the artifact said, “I understand. May I know what other priorities you have? I would like to help you complete them.”

“Well, if all goes right,” Priscilla said, trying not to slouch too much with relief as the glove returned to its original fit, “we’ll be off tomorrow to go punch some lunatics.”

The glove shifted against her hand in a way that was honestly a little disturbing.

“OOH!” the artifact exclaimed, “Can you punch the lunatics while you wear me?”

Priscilla laughed at its enthusiasm.

“If you can make yourself into a sturdier fabric, then sure,” Priscilla said, “but if you can’t, I don’t know if I should risk you like that.”

The glove shifted against her hand again and Priscilla felt a low buzz of energy against her skin as the fabric shifted and stretched, the thin fabric glove turning into a thick leather glove with reinforced knuckles.

Priscilla let out an appreciative whistle, turning over her hand to look it over.

“The only thing that could make this better is to have blades pop out from between my muscles.”

Priscilla laughed loudly as metallic spikes popped out, the edges wicked sharp.

“How fast can you retract them?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the spikes retracted back into the fabric.

“I’m like fucking Wolverine,” Priscilla giggled. Besides the whole almost dying if she wasn’t found worthy thing, this artifact was honestly, extremely fucking cool.

“Only produce the spikes if I tell you to,” Priscilla said when she got herself back under control, “so I don’t accidentally fuck someone’s face beyond recognition each time I punch someone. Something simple, like ‘spike on.’”

“Understood, master.”

The back of Priscilla’s head throbbed dully and she had the sudden thought that the artifact was feeling extremely satisfied. She blinked a few times and the awareness faded, but never completely disappeared.

Priscilla hesitated, and then ran her finger over the back of the glove like she was petting a cat and asked, “Can you feel my feelings, too?”

“I understand master perfectly,” the artifact chirped. “Your wish is my command, so please make many wishes!”

Priscilla laughed again, and said, “I’ll try.”

There was another loud brass sound that rang through the air, probably signaling the caravan’s departure. Priscilla rolled to her feet and went to the window to see them off.

She could spot Illnyea’s gleaming head of silver hair anywhere. Illnyea weaved through the workers getting ready with practiced ease, greeting everyone she passed with a bright smile. Illnyea eventually mounted a horse at the front of the caravan and said something to the crowd.

Priscilla was fascinated watching Illnyea interact with the world. Though they had talked twice, this version of Illnyea was one that Priscilla was still unfamiliar with. She wasn’t quite the person that had helped Priscilla get through some of the darkest periods of her life, nor was this the Illnyea who had gotten tangled up with forces much larger than herself.

The version of Illnyea had grown accustomed to loving didn’t exist yet, the confident, yet caring leader who acted as the heart of the rag-tag gang of misfits and puzzle pieces that didn’t fit in anywhere except with each other.

This Illnyea was still seventeen, almost eighteen, and was still just a girl who wanted to explore the world. She hadn’t yet had the blindfold of peace ripped callously away from her and Priscilla hoped to prevent that for as long as possible.

As if sensing Priscilla’s gaze, Illnyea looked up and met her eyes with unerring accuracy. Even from this far away, Priscilla could see how Illnyea’s smile lit up her entire being as she waved excitedly up at Priscilla.

Priscilla offered a snarky wave of her own, unable to keep a smile down.

A large man pulled up next to Illnyea on his own horse, and said something to the crowd in a booming voice, and then the caravan surged forward as one.

Priscilla watched the caravan until it was well out of sight before she moved.

“Who was that?” the artifact asked, startling Priscilla slightly.

“Oh, that’s Illnyea,” Priscilla said, smiling in the direction they had departed. “She’s my younger sister. She’s the best, so dedicated and warm-hearted and always willing to help others.”

“Where is she going? Is she leaving you behind?”

Priscilla laughed. “No, no, nothing that dramatic. She just has to go on a trip and she’ll be back in a month. Now, enough about this – I have an ambush to initiate.”

“Is it time for violence?” the artifact asked with a quiver of excitement, making Priscilla laugh, though it had a more vicious edge to it.

“No,” she said slowly, a mean smile working its way across her face, “though I bet they’ll wish it was that simple.”