Chapter 3: Little Mace Girl

December 3, 2022

Floor 1

"We all set?"

Renee turned to address their little group as they came up to the high stone walls bordering the town of Tolbana.

Ashe was ready and she raised her halberd to show it. Rikki on the other hand gave a lazy wave and yawned. She couldn't complain, though. He'd slept on an actual bed last night, in a room paid for with his own coin for once.

"Couldn't we go later?" he asked. "It's too early for this." He was right on that account. The sun was up, but only barely.

"Not a chance." Renee jabbed a finger in the boy's direction. "The labyrinth has already been almost entirely mapped. If we can find the boss room before anyone else, we can sell the map data for good money." Rikki looked noticeably more alert once he heard that. Money, they'd learned over the last month, was a sure-fire way to get his attention.

He pulled open his menu then and his arms glowed for a short moment before his freebie «Anneal Blade» and newly purchased heater shield appeared in his hands. "All set. Let's get going."

Ashe stifled a laugh at his sudden burst of enthusiasm and stepped forward to leave. But Renee, she noticed, was now distracted by something behind her.

"Just… move over a second," she said, and pulled the brunette out of the middle of the street. Ashe found out why a moment later when she heard footsteps racing toward them. The kid barreled right past the group and startled Rikki as she ran under his arm. Braid swinging behind her and a buckler on her back, she rushed out the gates.

Renee took back her place in front of the other two then and muttered something about manners. Hand on sword hilt she said, "Now we go."

They stepped outside the town's walls more confidently than they had when they first entered. With the assistance of Renee's beta knowledge the last month had been good to them. Some efficient leveling had raised each of them to a comfortable level ten, and a crash course in weapon upgrades had followed right behind. All they needed for the latter was a good stock of the right materials, a bit of money and a blacksmith apparently. The only thing Ashe had had trouble figuring out was which items she needed to raise each of the five upgradeable weapon attributes.

Heaviness

Durability

Sharpness

Quickness

Accuracy

Once she had that all figured out, it was just a matter of figuring out which bonuses she wanted. For her part, Ashe had gone with Renee's suggestion of three to Heaviness and two to Durability. Renee had gone for Sharpness and Accuracy to the same. Rikki had scaled up his Anneal Blade to a paltry plus three in Sharpness and Durability. He was either hesitant to spend the money he'd saved up or he wasn't ready to risk another upgrade attempt just yet. In either case she couldn't really blame him. Renee had cautioned them both on the risks of enhancement failure. All the same, the improved weapons and their respective upgrades made a world of difference. The boars and wolves wandering the fields had seemed so dangerous the first few days. Now they were a dull morning warm-up. Ashe wouldn't complain about that, though. Easy was good. If it was easy then their chances of dying out here were slim.

It was about a thirty minute walk from the gates of Tolbana to the labyrinth entrance. The actual walk was slightly longer when you were stopped the off occasion to get rid of a couple boars or a pack of wolves but only just.

When they arrived at the foot of the labyrinth tower Renee stepped forward to push open the great double doors leading inside. They'd paid the dungeon a visit every day since the floor's field boss had been slain and the tower opened, but the great winding halls and bizarre shadows gave the place a rather imposing atmosphere every time. And if the field mobs were their morning warm up, the dungeon monsters, with their higher levels, were the real workout.

"Where do you think that kid was off to in such a rush?" Rikki leaned over to ask Ashe as they walked.

"Not a clue," she said. Maybe she was going to complete a quest, or meet up with a friend. "Maybe she had the same idea as us?"

Rikki frowned at that. "Hope not. This isn't any place for a kid."

"It's no place for any of us," she replied. His frown hardened, but she knew he agreed.

"Either way," Renee called back over her shoulder, "it's not our problem. She made it to Tolbana; she'll be fine."

She had a point. Tolbana was the closest settlement to the floor's dungeon, but it was also a ways away from the Town of Beginnings. Whoever that kid was, she'd lasted this long. "Still…" Ashe couldn't quite put it out of her head.

"Worry about yourself first. We keep ourselves safe. Everyone else comes second."

They fell into silence after that, but kept their ears open for the sounds of any mobs patrolling the corridors. Strangely, they didn't see any, at least for a little while. It made for easy progress up the first few floors of the dungeon. According to the beta tester there were supposed to be twenty floors in the tower, with the boss located on the uppermost floor. Whether or not that remained true in the official launch had yet to be seen. But if she was right then they'd find the boss room and be back in time to have lunch with the Rat. And that sounded good to Ashe.

They'd been walking about a quarter hour when Renee held up her hand to stop them. She held tight to her cutlass in the other. "Rikki," she said quietly.

The boy already had his shield raised as he muttered, "Why am I always sent in first?"

"Because you're the only one with a shield, idiot," the blonde hissed back.

"Get your own then," he said as he stepped past her.

"Both of you stop bickering," Ashe cut in.

They stopped and glanced back at her. Renee was the first to look back to the growing shadow of the «Kobold Trooper» coming from around the corner. She kicked lightly at the boy's heels to get him moving again and got a black look in return.

"I'm going," he muttered. He rolled his shoulders and started forward again. Ashe followed behind, halberd held ready.

The humanoid creature was met with a shield to the face as it rounded the corner. It stumbled back a step before its health bar appeared above it. Canines bared in snarl, it whipped its gnarled hand axe down on Rikki's head. He repelled the attack with his shield and drove the beast back. Red light spilled from its chest as the boy drove his sword through it.

"Switch," he called as he began his retreat.

The Kobold Trooper followed close behind and Ashe split its head open as it came back around the bend. Its body went rigid and burst into pixels a moment later. Standing over the spot where the beast fell, she asked, "Is it just me, or was that too easy?"

Renee shrugged. "Seemed pretty normal to me."

"No, she's right," Rikki said as he sheathed his sword. Renee gave him a look and he went on to explain. "It was already hurt before I attacked it."

Well, that explained that. And Renee as usual was ready with an explanation for the remaining question. "It was probably attacking another party and they just lost it."

That seemed reasonable enough to Ashe. And apparently it also marked the end of their short break. Renee waved her arms at the two and said, "Come on. If there are others here then we need to hurry." Without waiting another moment Renee set off at a brisk pace down the hall the Kobold Trooper had come from. Ashe and Rikki exchanged quick glances before setting off after her.

They came across a few other injured Kobold Troopers as they made their way up the tower. Strangely enough, though, they never saw any other parties. It was far easier progress than they'd expected until they found themselves caught between four of the towering creatures.

"Somebody switch me, please," Renee shouted as one Trooper's health dropped to yellow.

"Little busy here!" Rikki shot back as he struggled to hold back two more.

Locked in place by the fourth, Ashe couldn't move to help either. She saw light from a sword skill out the corner of her eye and then the shorter girl flew back into the opposite wall. Her health bar made a quick dip down to half, making it a near match for the brunette.

"I'm okay," she groaned.

The Kobold Trooper pinning Ashe down disengaged and wound its arm back high over its head. Taking the chance, she stepped back and the axe crashed into the ground. She slashed the creature across the chest then drove the butt of her weapon into the gash. It dropped its weapon and staggered back. One quick thrust later and it burst into pixels.

She turned back around to see Renee on her feet again, walking circles with the first Trooper. She caught the girl's eye and Renee pointed her sword at Rikki. "I'm fine. Get him."

Ashe nodded and dodged around her. Rikki's shield was taking quite the beating as he pedaled backward and moved it around to block attack after attack from each of the two kobolds still focused on him. Ashe fixed her grip on her halberd and slashed at the first of the two creatures at an upward diagonal.

With a bestial grunt it fell back. Rikki said, "Thank fuck…"

"Thank me when they're dead."

He nodded quickly. "Good. Dead is good."

Despite his defense, Rikki was doing the worst out of the three of them. In her HUD his health bar, right below hers and Renee's, was getting dangerously close to red.

"Use a potion. I'll get them," Ashe said as the kobold she attacked recovered. He gave her a look like she was stupid. "You're almost dead. Just do it."

"Fine," he grunted as he raised his shield once more to repel the kobold's axe. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't. That's Renee's job."

She thrust her halberd into the opening Rikki made. How lucky, she thought, that these particular demi-humans didn't wear any armour. The spear point dug deep in its chest and over its pained cry she heard a familiar voice shouting.

"I heard that!"

Good, Ashe thought as she recovered her weapon and turned on the second kobold. Its arm already wound back, she raised her pole arm to block and caught the axe on her weapon's shaft. She felt the impact of the sword skill through her arms all the way down to her legs. Her health reflected it, and the little yellow bar slid closer to red. With a heavy push she threw the creature back, and missed her chance to block an attack from the other.

The first kobold, though almost dead, was still standing, and swung its axe up in a broad arc. There was no sensation of pain in Aincrad - only a feeling of numbness where you were hit, like crawling static on the skin. That feeling swallowed her right side before she managed to recover enough to raise her halberd to catch the next swing.

She was beginning to think maybe she'd been stupid after all when the creature gripped the axe with both hands. It pressed down on her, locked her in place and set her arms to shaking in her effort to hold it back. Her health kept decreasing, and her breath caught when she saw the starting light of a second sword skill to her left, with the second Kobold Trooper behind it.

Something broke behind her and then the beast was thrown sideways. Rikki crashed into the advancing beast with his full weight behind his shield. A quick two slashes with his blade ended it and the Kobold Trooper was no more.

Renee flew into the side of the one still pinning Ashe in place. The pressure holding her down suddenly gone, Ashe watched the smaller girl push the beast back, forcing her cutlass deeper until it was buried up to the hilt. Red damage effects spilled from the wound and its health emptied out. The Kobold Trooper gave one last dying cry before it burst into pixels.

The blonde sheathed her blade and ran straight toward her. "You're okay?" she asked once and then again as she patted Ashe's arms up and down. She looked so panicked that Ashe thought it was less of a question aimed at her and more a comfort for her friend.

"I'm okay," Ashe assured her.

Renee heaved a sigh of relief. It only lasted a moment, and then she was rifling through her inventory for something. A regenerative potion appeared in the girl's hand and she forced into Ashe's.

"Drink it."

"It's okay," she replied and tried to laugh it off. "I've still got some of mine."

She moved to give the potion back and Renee shook her head furiously. "You're about to die. Drink it!"

Ashe glanced up at her own health bar. It'd been at about half when she moved to help Rikki. Now it was well into the red. She made a quiet "Oh," sound as she realized and accepted the potion. Neither member of her party, Renee especially, seemed inclined to take their eyes off of her until after she'd emptied the small vial. Her health bar pulsed once and began to climb in small increments. In a few minutes it would be almost back to full.

"There's supposed to be a safe zone somewhere around here. We'll find it and take a break." Renee sounded tired as she said it. "Are you good to keep going?" she directed the question to Rikki behind her.

Ashe saw his eyes flick upward to look at his health and he nodded.

"Good. I'll take the lead. Cover the rear."

His mouth turned to a hard line but he stayed put as the two girls passed by him to enter one of the pathways the Kobold Troopers had come through, and then fell into place behind them.

It was a quiet walk through the dungeon after that. None of them wanted to get caught between the patrol routes of so many creatures again. And so they kept their mouths shut and their ears open. Their levels were higher than any of the monsters in this dungeon, but not by much. And when the enemy could also use sword skills, it made things even harder.

"There it is," Renee said after a few minutes of navigating the labyrinth.

"What? Where?" Rikki asked from behind.

Ashe looked over the other girl's head. The path in front of them opened up into a larger chamber, much like the one they'd battled the group of Kobold Troopers in. There was only one difference she could pick out.

"The glowing stones, right?" she asked. Renee nodded.

Two tall pointed stones stood at either side of the narrow entrance into the chamber. Red lines carved into the surface gave off a bright light that Ashe hadn't seen on anything in the dungeon up until now.

A soft blue light enveloped them as they crossed the threshold and Ashe noted the icon above her health bar (like the one that appeared inside towns) that declared the space a safe zone. More of the pointed stones dotted the other entrance into the chamber.

Renee slid down the nearest wall, face in her hands and breathed. Ashe sat down beside her and Rikki went on to examine the stones.

"Are you doing okay?" Ashe asked. She thought Renee said something but it was hard to tell. "What?"

"Never scare me like that again…" the response came back loud and clear that time. Ashe didn't have to ask for clarification on what she meant.

"I know. I'm sorry; it was stupid of me."

"It was beyond stupid." Renee said as she picked her head up out of her hands. She still looked shaken up by the event. Ashe felt guilty just looking at her. The urge to inject a bit of levity into the situation came and quickly passed. Blowing off her friend's concern with a joke wouldn't help Renee to feel better.

A question came to mind then as Ashe glanced over at Rikki. The male was passing his hand back and forth through the safe zone barrier now. She looked back at Renee. "Why didn't you want to get a shield?"

Renee looked confused by the question at first, and then guarded. The girl knotted her hands and bit at her lip, but didn't say anything.

"You've been telling Rikki to get one for the last two weeks. Why didn't you?"

She shrugged. "I like my sword."

"You were also telling him that the advantage of a one-handed sword was that you had another hand free to use a shield. Last I checked I was the only one here with a two-handed weapon."

"I need to keep my other hand free," she said, and then looked straight at the brunette. "Is this important?"

Now she was just avoiding the question.

"Why?" Ashe tried one more simple question.

The other girl hesitated, chewed at her lip again and touched a finger to the bridge of her nose before she remembered that she still didn't have her glasses. "Right. Video game," she muttered. She still hadn't dropped that habit despite having spent a month in here.

"So why do you need your other hand?"

"It's for a different skill," she finally relented. "I found it in the beta and I liked it so I want it back, okay?"

That just made Ashe more curious. What kind of skill was it that Renee would sacrifice the extra defense she'd been insisting their group needed for the last month.

"What kind of skill?"

"It's an unarmed one. «Martial Arts». There's a quest to unlock on the second floor."

That did sound useful. Still, "So why didn't you get a shield for until you get it?"

She thought it a fair question. Renee, judging by the disapproving look on her face, did not agree. "There's no point wasting time training up a skill I won't use."

"Kinda stupid, though, don't you think?"

"That's my job, isn't it?"

There it was. There was the Renee she knew. Ashe smiled then, and the blonde gave a half-smile back.

It'd been just after dawn when they left Tolbana. A half hour or so of walking to the dungeon, and another hour of battling their way through it still put them at early morning by now. Even still, it wouldn't be too much longer before they started encountering multiple other parties in search of the same thing as them.

Ashe still wondered about the party they hadn't seen – the one that had left behind all those injured Kobold Troopers. Leveling up couldn't be their concern or they wouldn't have left behind so many still-kicking monsters. Treasure chests, Renee had assured her, had already been picked clean, so that was out too. A hunt for the boss room was the only thing left that she could think of.

They were still sitting there, staring at the high ceiling, waiting for the last bits of their health bars to recover when a high-pitched scream tore through the air. Both girls scrambled to their feet. Rikki was already halfway out of the safe zone, sword clenched in his fist. He checked over his shoulder once to make sure they were following and then tore off in the direction of the sound. They caught up to the boy quickly, and then Renee overtook them both. Ashe suddenly found herself wishing she'd spent an extra point or two in agility rather than strength.

She heard no sharp crash yet, the blasting apart of a body that followed a player's death. And it was that 'yet' that kept her running. She recalled the open fields just beyond the Town of Beginnings on a day not so far gone as it felt, and boy trapped beneath a wolf while she watched and laughed.

Just ahead of her Rikki had schooled his expression to neutrality, though his full-speed run spoke plenty. She didn't doubt that the same memory had sprung to his mind as well; made more painful by his friendship with the player she'd only known as Cyril.

The roars of multiple Kobold Troopers ricocheted off the dungeon walls followed by shouts in a shrill, panicked voice.

"G-get away! Leave me alone!"

The familiar whir of a sword skill queuing up hit her ears, then the heavy crash of an axe striking wood.

Renee disappeared around a corner and Ashe heard another cry. When she rounded the corner herself, the blonde had already tackled one of the two Kobold Troopers to the floor. Rikki threw the next with his shield and steel followed.

Ashe concerned herself with the small player collapsed on the ground between the two battles. They held their battered buckler up with their left hand and clutched tight to the flanged mace in their right. She crouched down in front of the player and tried gently to move the buckler out of the way.

"No!"

With a screech they whipped their mace up at the brunette's head. Ashe grabbed the weapon's shaft to stop it before it collided with her skull. Suddenly, she didn't regret those extra points she'd put into strength.

"Hey, hey… it's okay. We're here to help." She said to try to calm them down.

The arm gripping the mace beside her head relaxed, the buckler dropped away to the side and Ashe got her first good luck at the player. It was the same girl that had bolted past them when they'd left Tolbana earlier that morning. Big brown eyes, wet from terror stared back at her from under bangs of the same colour. She couldn't have been more than thirteen or fourteen years old.

"Ashe!"

Ashe's head snapped up and she saw the nearly dead Kobold Trooper Renee had attacked charging toward her and the little girl. She snatched her halberd up off the ground beside her and drew an upward arc along the beast's body. The kobold froze mid-step, then exploded into a flurry of pixels. She heard the same sound effect coming from behind her a moment later and turned to see Rikki walk through the splash effect.

"She okay?" he asked.

"She's alive."

Looking back at the girl now, her health was below thirty percent. Another couple of hits from those beasts and that would have been wiped out. Rikki nodded once before he began fishing about in his pack. He produced a regenerative potion after a moment's searching and crouched down to give it to the girl. Her eyes were fixed to the red vial and no sooner had Rikki held it out to her did she snatch it up in her hands and down the whole thing.

Ashe looked back over her shoulder at Renee then. The blonde furrowed her brow disapprovingly as the girl, finished with the item, sat with her hands in her lap and breathed.

"Isn't there something you should be saying to him?" Renee asked her. She pointed a finger at Rikki, and then swept it around to gesture to all three of their party. "To us?"

The girl's health climbed back up into the yellow before she uttered a word.

"… Thanks."

Renee wasn't pleased with that. She went to adjust her glasses to dispel her frustration and, realizing again that she still didn't have them, played it off by pushing her fingers back through her hair.

"What's your name?" Ashe asked as she knelt back down in front of the girl. The girl looked straight at her for a second, opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it and turned her face away.

Rikki inched closer. He pointed to himself and said, "I'm Rikki. What about you? What's your player name?" He spoke softly, and his general demeanour was a stark contrast to his usual grumpy self around her and Renee. Ashe never would've thought he'd have a soft spot for kids. The girl's eyes flicked up to look at him, but still no words came out. "Was it you leaving behind all those beat up Kobolds?" he asked. They waited a moment, and she nodded slowly.

The brunette felt a quick tap on her shoulder and turned to see Renee hunched over behind her. Cutlass belted back at her hip she looked ready to move on.

"Let's go," she urged. When Ashe didn't move immediately, Renee pulled her up by the arm and off to the side. In a hushed voice she said, "She's fine now. We can leave."

"She's a kid."

"And she made it all the way up here," she said and threw her arms out to the sides. "We even healed her. She'll be fine."

Ashe had to take a moment to process what her friend was suggesting. That girl, whatever her name was, had made it up here, yes. But she'd left a trail of partially injured beasts behind her. And judging by the way she'd locked in on that potion Rikki gave her, she didn't have any healing items left.

"Why don't we just take her with us?" The idea popped out of her mouth before she'd fully considered it.

Renee shook her head and hands both. "No. No more people."

"You mean no kids," Ashe corrected her. The way Renee started pouting told her she'd been right. It was no secret that Renee didn't like kids. She was an awkward mess with them at the best of times. Still, in circumstances like these Ashe had hoped she might make an exception, even despite the girl's reluctance to talk to them. She looked back over her shoulder then. Rikki was still crouched down in front of the girl spinning words.

"It's not like it has to be a permanent thing," Ashe said as she turned back to her friend. They were nearly at the top of the labyrinth. The boss room was just over their heads, and the money rewarding its discovery waited back in Tolbana. "We'll just bring her with us until we're done here and we can drop her back off in town when we get back."

"We already have our hands full protecting ourselves, Ashe. And look, her gear's about to fall apart. What are we going to do if it breaks before we leave? If she was smart she would have turned back ages ago."

The words were barely out of her mouth before Ashe noticed something change in her display. A new name and health bar appeared in their party.

-Ashe-

-Renee-

-Rikki-

-Rosalind-

So that little girl's name was Rosalind? It was a nice name but it left Ashe feeling like the odd one out.

Renee went slack jawed when she noticed. She recovered quickly and leaned around Ashe to bear down on the boy responsible for this.

"Rikki!"

"What? What'd I do?" He jumped to his feet.

"That!" she cried as she marched over. She pointed to Rosalind who still sat on the ground refusing to look up at them.

"What's wrong with it?" Rikki protested.

Renee looked about ready to start crying out in frustration by then. She groaned loudly into her hands instead. The boy looked over her to Ashe, but a sigh was the best response that she could give him.

"She isn't coming with us." Renee said when she lifted her head again.

Rikki wasn't having it. "That isn't just for you to decide."

Seeing that she was outnumbered two to one Renee threw her hands up in surrender.

"For the love of – fine! Just… fine."

Ashe helped the girl back to her feet and when she looked back Renee was already heading back down the corridor they'd come from.

"Where is she going?" Rosalind asked.

"We're trying to find the boss room," Ashe answered as the three followed a short distance behind.

The girl looked thoughtful about that for a moment. She tightened her grip on her weapons but didn't say a word.

It was a hard push up the last couple floors of the labyrinth but it wasn't all bad. It gave Renee a chance to blow off a bit of steam. And she got the I-told-you-so moment she wanted when, on the top floor of the tower, Rosalind's buckler reached the end of its durability. Luckily it held out until the demi-human attacking her was nearly dead. A single swing from Renee's cutlass was enough to finish it off, no sword skill needed.

When the splash effect from the beast's death dissipated the blonde turned to the three of them. She pointed at Ashe and Rikki in turn, then to Rosalind. "Keep your ears peeled and her covered."

She said it like they needed to be told. Without another word between them, Ashe and Rikki took up positions in front of and behind the girl. She could tell by the tightening her friend's cheeks, seen in rear profile, that Renee counted Rosalind's loss of a shield as a small victory. The mace would be next if they weren't careful.

Breathing deep, Ashe rested her halberd over her shoulder. She made up her mind then to take it into the NPC blacksmith in Tolbana for maintenance when they returned later.

"How much longer do you think?"

The question came from Rikki and the back of the group. Ahead of her, Renee pulled up her menu. She had it set to invisible, the default setting for all their menus, but there were only so many things she could be looking at. The map they'd been trying to finish was the obvious choice.

"If we went the right way it should –"

She never got to finish the sentence as a raucous cheer of multiple voices filled the corridor. They sounded close, too.

Renee stopped and craned her neck back to ask, "How much you wanna bet it's just up ahead…?"

Hearing her, Rikki slumped forward and groaned. If those voices were what they thought, then they could all kiss this money-making opportunity goodbye. Out of them all, Rosalind was the only one who didn't appear disappointed. In fact, after she heard Renee, the girl took off running toward the voices.

"Hey! Get back here!" Renee shouted after her.

They followed after her and, unsurprisingly, Renee caught her first. She grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt collar and Rosalind came to a halt with a choked yelp.

"Let go! Let go, let go, let go!" she shouted. Frowning, Renee handed her off to Rikki and walked forward to peer around the corner.

Ashe went with her. She could hear voices, all of them male and all of them excited, just up ahead. Sure enough, the great double doors of the boss chamber were right there at the end of the corridor. Camped right in front of them was a full party. She caught a few snips of their conversation.

"We found it!"

"You were right, Diavel."

They all seemed to be talking to a young male with bright blue hair. Diavel. That had been the name of the man who led the boss strategy meeting in Tolbana yesterday evening. Renee choked back a sound in her throat and the two of them returned back to Rikki, still waiting with an impatient-looking Rosalind.

"It's the boss room, isn't it?" He asked. Whatever hope he'd still clung to was gone when Ashe nodded. "Could we maybe still make it back to town before them? We have the map data, don't we?"

"If that one's thing wasn't about to break, maybe."

Rosalind pulled a face at that. They'd have to be careful about which battles they fought on their way back down the tower. Avoiding the fights altogether would mean taking longer getting back to town. Renee gestured for them all to follow and started back down the way they'd come. Ashe and Rikki slowly followed and subsequently stopped when Rosalind didn't move.

"No!" she cried.

Ashe and Rikki shared a quick glance before she went back to the girl.

"Why are we leaving?"

"We found what we came for. So now–"

"We can't!" Rosalind cut her off. "It's right there. I need to go home."

"We're going home right now." Renee looked visibly frustrated as she stopped to speak.

Ashe pursed her lips a moment then asked, "Are you playing with family? Friends? We'll take you to them once we get back to Tolbana." The girl's fervent head shaking told her no. She should have expected that answer.

"I have to kill it. I need to get back…"

Beside her, Ashe heard Renee choke back a laugh at that. "Good luck with that, kid. No shield and almost no weapon, you'll be lucky if you make it back to this hallway."

"Renee."

The blonde glanced at her and then immediately turned her eyes away. "It's true," she muttered.

Ashe didn't agree with her choice of words but they appeared to strike something in the girl. Her frantic energy was gone and she hung her head. Rikki stepped in, and the boy nudged her along from behind. The walk back down the labyrinth floors was a long and quiet one.

.

.

"What more do you want from me?" Renee asked. From two tables down Ashe watched the blonde hunch forward over the table. Across from her Argo the Rat was enjoying the meal Renee had bought for her to cover half of the information fee.

They'd been at it for the last ten minutes already. Renee, for some reason or another had bought information on that Diavel character, and after delivering that, the Rat had talked her way into a free copy of their group's map data. News was already spreading about the newly discovered boss room and a second strategy meeting had been scheduled for later today so it wasn't like the data was worth much anymore.

Then, in her usual nasal voice, the girl with the whiskers happily began her next round of interrogation. "I want to know about the boss. Stats, weapons, attack patterns."

"You do remember that I died, right? Like… every single time?" Argo stared at her for a few seconds. "Did I mention that I died really quickly?" The Rat set herself up to start writing things down, fingers poised over an invisible keyboard.

"I'm not getting anything back for this, am I?"

"I'll give you a deal next time, dig?"

Ashe strained her ears to listen to the next part. Until this point, the boss was one of few things Renee hadn't been willing to share with her or Rikki but the pair chose that point to drop the volume of their voices. Try as she might, the best she could catch in the next handful of minutes was, "I don't know. I don't know swords that well. It was big? It really hurt to get hit with?"

"You're helpful…"

"I had other things to remember… Oh! There was one thing!"

Everything past that was too quiet for her to hear and Ashe gave up trying. But Argo seemed satisfied by the end of it all, and bid them each a quick farewell before stepping out. Ashe moved over a spot and pulled the third plate over with her. Renee plopped herself down in the opened space and with a loud clunk dropped her head against the table.

"So that whole all-knowing thing you've been doing…" Rikki began, having evidently been listening in as well. The corners of his mouth turned up and he stopped.

Lifting her head just enough to look at them, Renee forced a grin and asked her, "Can I kill him?"

"No."

"Just a little bit?"

Again, "No."

Pouting, Renee sat up and turned to call over an NPC. Ashe pushed the plate part way back and said, "I already ordered for you."

Renee eyed it curiously a moment before dragging it the rest of the way over. "So long as you're feeling generous, you mind telling me why she's still here?" She jabbed a fork at Rosalind sitting directly across the table from her. Equipped with a brand new buckler from Tolbana's weapon shop, and her mace fully repaired, the girl paid her no mind as she shoved a spoonful of bean curry into her mouth.

"Why not?" The answer came from Rikki. "She can't be any worse than you."

Renee's fork turned to him then. "I'll remember that next time you need help."

"I don't like you…" Rosalind muttered when she finally looked up from her bowl.

"I like this munchkin. She's smart." Rikki grinned and placed a hand on the girl's head. She frowned as he ruffled her hair but did nothing.

Ashe leaned forward onto her elbows to watch and shook her head as Renee wordlessly waved her fork at him once more. The blonde regarded Rosalind with a sneer a moment later.

"The feeling's mutual."

Next Time: Holding Back

A/N: Three chapters in record time for me! Ok, that's a little sad but I'm gonna be happy about it anyway. From this point onward I'm going to be introducing a whole host of new characters, of which little Rosa is the first. But I promise, this is the last of the 'R' names. I've got the next chapter written already, minus a few edits still to be made, but after that they'll be posted as I finish them. I'm holding onto the hope, though, that that doesn't mean extended breaks between updates.

Again, if you've read this far, why not leave a review? I'd love to hear what you guys think about the story so far.