I got up earlier than I usually do, partly due to going to bed early but also because I wasn't sleeping soundly. I hadn't seen Karla all evening and that left me a little bitter, for some reason. I knocked on her door but there was no response. I went down to the common room and I saw her at the inn door. She was talking to someone outside, but I couldn't see who it was. I waited till she was finished before going over and talking to her.

"Who's that?" I asked groggily. "Oh, some guy I met who offered to help me train faster. He's a couple of levels above us and he said he'd show me some of his moves." Karla said. None of this was registering well in my brain, but on the other hand I wasn't thinking clearly. Also Karla seemed to be in a good mood; it was worth keeping it that way. "So what's the plan then?" I asked. "We're to meet him on the west drawbridge. I know you like to have something to eat when you get up, so I told him we'd be there in about twenty minutes." She explained. "Are you having anything?" I inquired "I'm not hungry right now. I'll get something later. See you in twenty minutes." Karla said as she left the inn.

I sat at one of the tables and ordered something light: I only had twenty minutes, after all. It was strange, yesterday she was all distracted, then she meets a guy who's offering his time, and the next morning she's all cheery. She also seemed to have lost her appetite. I started on my breakfast and thought about it for a moment. "What can change someone's mood so radically and at the same time make them lose their appetite?" I wondered. My eyes suddenly widened as my mind connected the dots. I never finished my breakfast and it took me far less than twenty minutes to get out of there.

I got to the drawbridge first. Taking advantage of the fact that they weren't there yet, I found a spot to wait for them that made me look as though I knew the place. I watched carefully to see who would approach the drawbridge. A guy approximately my age arrived, looked around, then looked towards the town, he was obviously waiting for someone. I pretended to ignore him and slowly installed my armor as if I was choosing carefully which pieces I would use. I couldn't tell if I looked cool and in control or just ridiculous.

Karla arrived a few minutes later and the guy immediately went to greet her with the biggest smile I'd ever seen. He grabbed Karla's hand, bowed, and said "Ah Karla you're looking radiant and ready for action, I like it." "I hope I didn't keep you waiting?" Karla said. "Not at all, not at all, you're worth the wait." the guy said. I rolled my eyes, "Enough of this. He's laying it on pretty thick." I thought to myself. I went over to the two of them and cleared my throat. "Oh, Hi Wolf." Karla said slightly surprised to see me. "Wolf this is Ricky he's going to give us a few pointers and help us with our hunts. Ricky this is Wolf, the guy that I party with." Karla said as she introduced us. I nodded my head in acknowledgment, Ricky just smiled from the corner of his mouth.

"Shall we go?" Karla said. "Ok, I'll invite you both to a party" I said as I started fiddling with my menus. But before I could complete my actions I received a party request from Ricky. "Karla and I are already in a party." he smirked. I dismissed my menu and accepted Ricky's request. I gave Karla a quizzical look hopping to clear what was going on, she simply shrugged her shoulders. I huffed a little, and with a wave of my hand I let Ricky lead the way.

We walked towards the wilderness and on the edge of the farmlands we came across chicken hunter foxes, four of them. "You go ahead and I'll come in when necessary." Ricky said. I rolled my eyes and initiated the attack. Nothing hard here, they only had a bite attack, but you had to avoid getting bitten as it was difficult to make them let go. I simply did brute attacks to deliver the most damage and dispose of each one quickly. Karla activated different sword skills, she was obviously trying to show them off. Ricky barely did anything; he avoided the fight as much as possible. It's a good thing the foxes were not a great threat because I ended taking the brunt of the hits.

We took on a few other mobs. Each time Ricky stayed back, only swinging his sword when the mobs got too close. He claimed he was evaluating our abilities and had to let us do the work. He was all praises and compliments to Karla: "Oh, you really have a knack." or "I can feel your abilities; together we'll make them shine." So as to not lose face, he tried to appear useful by occasionally throwing in comments like :"Raise your elbow higher." or "Follow through." or "Feel the sword skill activate." Nothing he said was very useful, he sounded more like a tennis instructor than a sword master.

"Enough!" I screamed after hearing one of Ricky's totally useless comments. "Nothing you've said up to now is of any use to us. This isn't training, it's a waste of time." I said to Ricky. His expression changed, he looked like I had hurt his feelings, but his eyes showed defiance. "I can tell that you don't understand what I'm getting at. Some people let me help them and they follow my lead. The rest are just obstacles to push aside." Ricky said with forced politeness. "Oh, I understand alright, but no one pushes me anywhere." I replied brusquely.

"Wolf! What are you doing? Ricky's here to help us. We should at least let him try." Karla pleaded as she pulled me aside to talk more privately. "Something doesn't feel right. He makes us fight monsters but doesn't help in any way and tells us things we already know. Everything he says and all his energies are concentrated on you. Don't you feel it's a little weird?" I argued. "Aren't you overreacting a little? I think you're jealous." she teased. I was too annoyed to be teased.

I looked at Karla and for a moment I could have let it go, calmed myself and buried my feelings. But beyond her stood Ricky with his arms crossed and that look of defiance still in his eyes. "I'm done here. I can't deal with this right now." I said. I opened my menu and left the party. "Wolf, don't be like that." Karla pleaded. "Let me know when you're done with 'Ricky'." I said. I turned and headed back to town.

I grumbled to myself all the way back to town. I even absentmindedly charged my battle axe with a sword skill and I let it rip on the nearest donkey. It was still chewing hay when it exploded into shards of blue-green light. I was taking my frustration out on whatever was in my path. "Well, that was pointless." I sighed. A part of me secretly wished the donkey would have been a certain someone though : "Ricky the ass."

Sounded just about right.