Karla was pinning me to the wall of the alleyway, with her finger to her lips and standing a little too close for comfort. I nodded to show that I understood to keep quiet. She turned her head to observe the street that she'd pulled me from, but didn't move away. I also turned to look just in time to see two players passing by. I'd have been spotted if Karla had not grabbed me. I breathed out slowly, after they disappeared from view, and turned to Karla who was leaning in and sizing me up. "You're not very stealthy, are you." she scorned, with a slight frown and a wry smile. I was hard to think of a witty reply with her standing so close.

"Come!" she said as she pushed away. She led us to the end of the alley and knocked on one of the doors. The door opened, Karla went in and I followed. "Now will you tell me what happened to you guys?" came the voice of the one that had opened the door. I turned and looked at him. "Ory! It's good to see you." I said "I'm here too!" Sharpclaw said. I saluted him and sat on one of the storage boxes. The boys sat on sacs of grain and Karla propped herself on one of the barrels. "Is this place safe?" I asked. "Pretty much! No one ever comes here. We use it as our secret hideout." Ory said.

"It's a storage room of one of the merchants. Apart from opening the alleyway door from the inside you can only get in here from the store. We found out about it when we didn't have enough money for a room. The store owner goes out in front of his shop every twenty minutes or so. If you're in the store when he's out, you can get in the storage room without him noticing you." Ory explained. He pointed to the sacs of grain. "Those bags were our bed for many nights. We used the blankets stored on the shelves so it's comfortable enough. Better than sleeping on the floor anyway." Karla's eyes were clouding slightly. "But we come here less often, we managed to make some money to pay for a bed for the next few weeks. You said you needed a place to hide, so you can use this space if you like." Ory offered. "So what did happen to you guys? Why do you need to hide?" Sharpclaw asked. Karla smiled at Sharpclaw and we told them our story.

"We can't walk around with orange cursors; people will think we're criminals. We just want to lay low till we go back to green. We really appreciate your offer and your help." I concluded. Ory and Sharpclaw smiled proudly as they felt they had done something good. Then Sharpclaw tugged on Ory's arm. "You ask her." Ory told his brother. "Ory." Sharpclaw pleaded. I couldn't figure what they were going on about or why they were both blushing slightly. But Karla caught on as she got up off her barrel and crouched in front of Sharpclaw. "You want to ask me something, Sharpclaw." she said in a friendly way. "You, ... you wanna be my friend?" Sharpclaw asked. "Sure." Karla said and she opened her menu and sent him a friend request. She also sent one to Ory which he shyly accepted.

The boys left us in the little storeroom after they offered to bring us some lunch and any information they got on Kabel. We looked around the practically square storeroom. Only the sacs of grain would work as a bed, and would only fit one person. "This is the first time we've shared a room." I said. "Don't get any weird ideas. It's not as if we have a choice." Karla snapped. "Sorry. I wasn't implying anything." I replied. I sat on a box and fiddled with my menus for lack of something to do. Karla sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm glad I don't have to go through this alone." "Me too, I didn't expect a character like Kabel to ever cross my path." I said. "I meant more than that. I don't want to be alone ever again." Karla elaborated. I smiled and said with a hint of a tease "I don't think it's possible anymore. With the boys on your friend list, it looks as though you have a fan club." "Oh stop it. For your information, it means I can now message them if we need anything." Karla explained.

We tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible. Karla had taken the sacs as her bed for the next few days, partly because I was trying to be the gentleman, but mostly because I fell for her pleas, combined with her big sad eyes and pouty lips. I'll never figure out how girls manage to do that so well. I had slept on floors before; it wasn't the end of the world. The cramped space, the bare floor and even the fear of getting caught was nothing compared to the wait. We had nothing to do! Like a waiting room without magazines, info screens, tablets, or cell phones. But this wait would be a few days long. Even knowing that it was best that we stay where we were, it wasn't going to be easy.

Having done nothing all day, when the evening came I wasn't tired. Karla was just sitting on her makeshift bed fiddling with her hair. I could tell she was as frustrated as I was about staying in the little storeroom. Hiding out was losing it's charm, what little it had to begin with. "I've got to get out of here for a bit." I exclaimed. "I thought we were laying low? We have to make sure Kabel thinks we're already gone. You want to be spotted?" Karla said indignantly. "We won't be spotted. Grab a blanket and follow me." I urged. Karla looked at me inquisitively, then shrugged her shoulders and rolled up a blanket.

I opened the door slightly and looked around; the alley was deserted. We moved to the back of the building where some crates were lying about. I climbed up on a crate that was against the wall and put my hands together to give Karla a leg up. She gazed up to the roof, then looked at me and sighed as if I was crazy. Then put one foot in my hands, nodded, and I pushed her up. She grabbed the edge of the roof then swung her leg over it and smoothly made it to the top. I threw our blankets up and, with Karla's help, managed to get to the roof, albeit with far less grace.

The roof was flat with a raised edge about 30 cm on all sides. I stretched out my blanket and laid upon it looking straight up. "Stargazing? Seriously? You took me up here to do some stargazing? I've already seen them and they don't change." Karla said out of disgust. "C'mon, it's better than the storeroom ceiling." I encouraged. She huffed and laid down next to me on her own blanket. "I wanted to come and look at them one last time." I sighed "We can't stay here anymore. Partly due to Kabel, but also because we're reaching our progression limit. I want to get stronger and I know I can't do it here without putting us in danger. But I don't want you to feel obliged to come with me. I don't know what we'll have to face; I want you to be safe." "You jerk! We're a team; we work together. I don't feel obliged to go with you. I want to go with you." Her face flushed a little when she said it. "Anyway, who's going to keep an eye on you and make sure you stay out of trouble? You'd be lost without me." she said smugly. I stared up at the sky.

"I would be."