"What do you mean about me finding you?" Karla asked. She obviously hadn't caught on and was probably in no mood for cryptic comments. "It was you. You're the one I was looking for. I went to the second floor hoping you might be there. I wasn't there for hunting or trading. I went back to Taran hoping for a clue to your whereabouts." I explained.

"I don't know why you'd be looking for me in Taran. I don't know why you'd be looking for me at all, for that matter. It's not as if you've wanted me around lately or anything. You have better things to do apparently. Following your own path, so to speak." Karla noted. She crossed her arms and looked away for a moment before continuing "Ok, so I'm here, now what do you want?" she asked.

"I want to be your friend again." I said. She frowned at me, and I put my hands up so that she didn't get the wrong idea "What I mean is that I want to be on your friends list. I couldn't contact you, so I went looking for you. In the end I had to contact someone else just to get in touch with you. It's too hard if you're not on my friends list. Please add me again?" I begged.

She was still frowning, her eyes giving away her annoyance. "Fine." she huffed and opened her menu and sent me a friend request which I accepted immediately. I felt happy that she did friend me again but my happiness did not appear to be shared. "I'm only putting you on my list to prevent you from killing yourself by your own stupidity, which would suit me fine if this wasn't an actual death game. Now, if there's nothing else you need from me, I'll be on my way." Karla said giving me a look of disapproval.

"No, that was it. I won't ask for anything else." I grumbled. Not asking didn't mean that there wasn't something I needed from her, I just didn't feel this was the time to ask. She headed for the stairs and just before taking them she looked back at me. I was watching her go and she made a sour face just before going down the stairs. Then she just took off.

I just stood there for a while, going through my menus, bringing up the friends list just to make sure Karla's name was in fact there. I went wandering the second floor and I nearly got myself killed, just to get that name on the list. And in the end, I had achieved what I set out to do. Then why did I feel terrible? Something in the look Karla gave as she left, made me feel very bitter.

I dragged my feet out of the keep and into the fairly busy streets of Elland. I had nothing planned so I simply headed to the market place, and browsed the shops aimlessly. I stopped briefly at the bakery where I had learned how to cook. I considered whether or not I should make use of my time increasing my skill. But I wasn't really in the mood for any skill building or self improvement. Anyway, each failure would probably frustrate me more than it would on a regular day.

Somehow I ended up in front of the pub. I smiled at the cliché: a guy gets in trouble with a girl and heads to the bar to drown his sorrows. Somehow that sounded just about right. You couldn't get drunk as such, the drinks could only slow you down, both mentally and physically, throwing in a little euphoria to serve it's purpose. On the other hand I had eaten very little today so if nothing else I could at least get a meal in here.

I walked in and headed for the bar. "Hey, grab a table. I'd really appreciate it if you do." someone called out to me. I turned around and saw a waiter pointing at the tables. "I didn't think you cared where I sat." I replied. "It's better for me if you're at a table. That way I'll finish the quest faster. Before you ask; I'm not a NPC. I picked up this quest to wait on tables. If I complete it I get a full meal, some col and a little xp. It's not much, but I can't get myself killed in here. The players I serve have to sit at the tables for it to work though." he explained

I grabbed an empty chair at a small table and sat down. "Hello, I'll be your waiter for today, what would you like to order?" the waiter asked. I knew what I wanted so I didn't even glance at the menu "A mug of ale and a chicken sandwich please." I ordered. He fiddled with his menus which eventually caused a popup window to appear in front of me. It had the list of items I had just ordered and the price. I accepted and the waiter left to get my order.

He came back with my order. "Thanks a lot for sitting at a table, a lot of players aren't so considerate. Enjoy your meal." the waiter said before going about his business. I ate and drank, feeling a little better than I did when first came in. The food has an enjoyable effect on me, but for some reason the waiter had managed to cheer me up. Even if it exposed the simple consideration I wasn't giving to the person I cared the most about.

There was no point going anywhere else so I spent the night at the inn here in Elland. I had an uneventful night and simple breakfast, and was now feeling a bored and agitated. I didn't feel like sitting around doing nothing all day. It's not as if I had enough material to even do some crafting, I would have to gather what I needed before starting, and that meant going out into the wilderness. There was no way around it: I needed to go out there and kill some monsters.

I asked a couple of players if they had come across any red players but they seemed unconcerned with them. It appeared that red players were ignoring this floor altogether. Without any red players in the area, there was very little actual risk to me. Small comfort when my mind could still hear Karla scolding me about going out on my own, emphasizing my guilty feelings of wanting to do just that.

I checked my gear and headed for the drawbridge at the west gate. I got about half way before my attention shifted to someone calling to me. Karla, it turned out to my surprise, had not left this floor. "What do you think you're doing?" she fumed. "Uh,... making myself useful by training a bit. I'll go crazy if I stay in town all day." I complained. "You're willing to put yourself in danger again? I won't be able to bail you out every time you're life is on the line. If I'm in town I won't even know that you've gotten yourself into trouble." she raged. She's was right, but there was one way to satisfy her. I looked at her squarely and said:

"Come with me then!"