Ever since he saw Cartman at the hospital, Kenny's common sense sounded small, but persistent alarms at the back of his mind. He tried to shoo away his suspicions when he first saw that infamous, dumb smile plastered on his guild leader's face. Cartman probably just made a good deal or successfully managed to piss off Kyle for the hundredth time. Or at least, he desperately wanted to believe in that. However, as the day continued he started to notice smaller details that didn't fit the guild's usual daily life.

Cartman was still surprisingly cheerful and Kenny swore that from the corner of his eye, he'd seen the knight clapping in excitement whenever he thought Kenny wasn't looking. Usually he acted like this when he managed to do some "mischief" on the expense of someone else. He could only hope that he wasn't the target of said mischief.

The guild room they rented at the explorer's hall was also way too calm for his liking. Karen went to the Auburn Thicket with Annie to gather plants and fruits they could later sell for restaurants or cook for themselves. Bebe was away with Wendy, leader of the Pleases and Sparkles guild. She was one step away from leaving Elven Keep. Stan was resting at the hospital after his encounter with a Hell Dragon. Sparky, his enormous ambush wolf rested near the bed of the boy to keep him company. Butters was running errands. Kenny didn't even want to think about what Cartman was up to. He had seen him around noon at that was enough Cartman for a day.

Kyle, however, was nowhere to be found. The gunner visited Stan in the morning, brought him some books, but after that he just disappeared into thin air. Worst part of it, he didn't speak to anyone about his destination or plans for that day. It contradicted with the fact that Kyle always told either Kenny or Stan if he was about visit an unknown place or asked them to accompany him. After all, despite their citizenship certifications, they were still considered to be tourists in this unknown town...

As he walked through the bustling town Kenny suddenly felt terribly alone and maybe a bit lost. Nobody really remembered Kyle and nobody could recall a those curly red locks and proud attitude. A natural reaction from the costermongers. On the other hand, for Kenny it was hard not to miss someone who occupied most of your thoughts over the past several months.

True, they weren't really on speaking terms after Kyle gave him a black eye, but this didn't really change the way Kenny thought of him and didn't stop Kenny from worrying, either.

Later, he went to visit Tweek's restaurant in the hope of finding Kyle. However, instead of the redhead he found himself turning into a side character in a cheesy romance novel. Craig Tucker, a ranger just like him, was in the middle of flirting with the owner of the place. Or at least that's how Kenny deciphered the crazy scene unfolding right in front of him.

Craig rested his elbows on the counter, trying to hold the conversation with Tweek Tweak was multitasking like a madman. He went from one point to the other, making soup, simmering vegetables and watching the half-caramelized sugar at the same time. Yet, despite the rush, they still managed to hold a conversation and the blonde seemed to find time to answer to the stoic guy. Kenny couldn't help but feel jealous of their chemistry.

The rest of the members of Stripe & Co. were quietly smiling to themselves in the background with the exception of Token Black, who focused on the high lagaard coffee made of roasted rye and beetroot. This was not the type of coffee he was used to. Furthermore, it had nothing to do with coffee and Token's face betrayed that he didn't like the beverage, at all. He made a face whenever he raised the dark liquid to his lips. Yet, despite the fact that he disliked the taste, Token did his best to bring back an empty cup to the kitchen.

Next to him Clyde enjoyed the show, while Jimmy hunched over his sheet notes, trying to revise the lyrics he'd came up with the other day.

Considering how the person who probably served Kyle food today was extremely busy, Kenny immediately chose the second option and sat down across the bard, who didn't spare him a moment to look up from his work.

"A! Kenny! W-w-what, - bu-bu-brings you here?" he stuttered. For a bard this would've been a serious problem, but surprisingly Jimmy overcame this when he started singing.

"I'm looking for Kyle…" Kenny told him, defeated. "Nobody saw him since morning and... well, it's really not like him to go off without telling it to someone. But he isn't here either..."

"So you c-c-came to me, your fellow bard." Jimmy noted.

Kenny only shook his head.

"I'm not a bard anymore. Remember, I reclassed when we arrived to the duchy."

"True. Well, less c-co-competition and more audience for me." Jimmy nodded agreeing. "But you are s-s-still a b-ba… tru-t-troubadour at heart."

"Well, if you say so..."

"Wait, aren't you two fighting?!" Clyde looked at him once he finished his venison and only had vegetables left on the plate. "You and Kyle, I mean."

Kenny looked at him, unsure on how to answer this assumption. They were fighting but not in the word's traditional sense. If he had to explain, it was more like a temporary knot in their mostly seamless relationship.

"It's a different kind of fight." Token came to his aid, or so he thought. He missed that sly spark in the dark skinned boy's eyes. "More like a lover's quarrel."

Kenny felt heat rising to his cheeks, slowly painting them into lively rose colour. It didn't take Clyde long to jump into the conversation, pouring oil on the fire.

"Wait, are you telling me Kenny and Kyle are finally together? Dude it only took them, wait, a year?" He leant closer to them after noticing that the conversation held promise of a juicy gossip. Little did he notice, his shirt touched the piles of leftovers on his plate, leaving a brown oily mark.

"Not in that way." Token grumbled, while shooing Clyde away from the plate. "Yet."

"Guys, can we talk about Kyle? Please?"

"W-w-we-e-ll, from a technical standpoint, we a-a-are already talking about Kyle."

"No, Jimmy. You are gossiping like three nymphs with the exception that nymphs are actually hot!"

"But not as hot as Kyle, right?" Clyde chirped in.

"Oh, just shut up!" he growled. "So, have you seen him or not?"

Token seemingly had enough or already had his share of fun and decided to have mercy on the poor archer. He raised the cup to his lips again, only to put it back almost immediately. Jimmy looked at him in disbelief, muttering something about him being 'a baby' and drank the lagaard coffee in one gulp.

"Well, he was here around noon. Ate a plate of beggar's fowl, drank tea and decided to take apart his gun at the table. You know, Kenny, it's really not my place to say, but you should talk to him about table manners." Token explained to him, making sure to call out Kyle's odd habits to prevent himself from focusing on Jimmy's "tea" theft.

"I'll talk with him about table manners once you finally tell me where the heck is Kyle!" he was about to stand up from his seat when suddenly hands grabbed his shoulders from behind, and pushed him back down.

"Don't start a scene, McCormick." It was Craig. The cold-blooded survivalist of Stripe & Co.

"I'm not starting a scene," Kenny argued helplessly, he was ready to jump to his feet.

"Yes you do. They already told you that Kyle was here, what else do you want?"

It seems like life itself decided to halt his conversation in the form of Craig Tucker. He thought for a moment, trying to find something that could bring him forward in his search for their gunner.

He only took apart his guns at night, after using them and right before they ventured into the labyrinth. Unlike him, Kyle couldn't just get a new bowstring from his bag if his weapon somehow stopped working in the middle of a fight, so he had to make sure even the smallest cog was in its place.

Guns were delicate, dangerous and rather problematic weapons, so Kenny was truly surprised that Kyle could be so patient with them. Especially because he was famous for jumping into situations without thinking first. This also meant, that if the situation called for it, he wouldn't think twice about going solo and exploring the labyrinth on his own…

He hummed to himself, looking up at Craig's jaw from his seat.

"Just one more question, did he have a map?"

That afternoon when Butters returned to their shared apartment, he saw his friend trying to stuff food and boxes of ammo into his bag.

"Oh, are you thinking about re-classing?" he asked innocently, but Kenny only shook his head. He took out the colourful boxes and tried to rearrange them again so he could fit in more bandages and pledgets, in case Kyle needs medical attention.

"Do you have spare alcohol at hand? Medicinal."

"Y-Yes. Of course! I just bought new bottles, but Eric won't be happy…" the medic told him uncertainly.

"Screw him." Kenny spat in anger.

Upon closer inspection Butters saw that Kenny had maps sprawled out across the table, all from the Yggdrasil labyrinth, up until the floor they started mapping few days ago.

Since the duchy refused to print maps and prohibited trading them in order to create some sort of balance between explorers, they had to do everything by themselves. While it was often tedious and took added some extra days to their trips, the method also prevented inexperienced people challenging parts of the lush wilderness they weren't supposed to.

Laws were made, that if someone found maps of the labyrinth, they were supposed to either destroy them or bring them to the palace or the guard station near their residential district. While the regulations seemed strict at first, the members of Elven Keep quickly learnt that this was for their own good.

"Did something happen? Are we going to explore without Stan?" he asked Kenny as he walked to his medicine box and took out the brown bottle he had brought yesterday while they were visiting the clinic. "I don't think that's a good idea. It's getting darker out there."

Kenny hastily took the alcohol and put it in the side pocket of the small brown bag on his waist.

"Just me."

"That sounds rather dangerous, Kenny."

"Didn't stop Kyle, though." Kenny murmured, eyes never leaving the map in front of him.

He tried to think about the places Kyle could be. It was unlikely that he wouldn't return from the evergreen forest by night, also, when Karen and Annie came back from the auburn thicket, part of the labyrinth that was several floors higher, they didn't even see anyone else. They didn't hear a single gunshot echoing among the trees. That would've been one of the trademark signs of Kyle being on the same floor as the girls.

This reduced the possible stratums and the more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. Kyle wouldn't camp out in the forest. He was too lazy for that and instead would just stroll back home to sleep in his own bed.

And since nobody saw him in the auburn thicket, this only left one possible stratum of the enormous tree shaped labyrinth.

"That bastard!" Kenny groaned and pulled out a rather new paper from the pile. Half of the map contained only sketches, sidenotes and possible routes, but he had the feeling Kyle was stupid enough to risk visiting that floor.

Kenny prayed that he will find the gunner soon enough to question him in person.