We returned to the town square to find Akilah in a crouch, picking through the shards on the ground, collecting them into a small reed basket box. Glasses was lying in the grass, looking dreamily at the sky while a faun's hands hovered over him, the glow of magic a cushion between them. Zeke held the broken wind chimes up, tapping it with his antennae.

  Fig was staring at the forest blankly. Her face was slack, so I guessed she was busy being traumatized. I glanced around but didn’t see Elora. My heart leaped against my ribs, and I glanced around, calling, “Elora!”

  No answer. My pulse kicked harder. I turned in a circle and bellowed, “Elora!”

  “I’m here,” she called, stepping out of a doorway to lean there with a sheepish grin. “Don’t get scared, I’m fine.”

  “I’m not scared,” I grumbled quickly.

  I was—for a second. The Killer could have circled back at any time for another go at her, even with Ashwynn so near. Who knew how it thought. Behind me, Ashwynn moved to the little spring-fed pool to wash himself clean of blood.

  I strode over to Elora and squinted at the tiny house, then at her. It was full of silky gauze and sparkling strings of beads. The bed was a simple, wooden, a rough-hewn frame draped with fabrics in pastels, her blanket a pale quilt, and piles of pillows. No wonder she liked to sleep in. the little house had a fairytale cottagecore cozy energy.

  “Do you live here?” I asked, glancing around.

  “Duh,” she replied, grinning, but the grin was replaced by a frown. She flicked a finger at my arm. “Is the Lord not going to fix that?”

  “I dunno. It’s not his job to fix me,” I replied lightly. It would be nice, though. Not gonna lie to myself on that one.

  “You’re ridiculous,” she huffed.

  “Sure,” I said, glossing past that to get to what I cared most about. “What are you wearing?”

  Her mouth fell open, and she backed up a step, arms crossing. “What do you mean?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I mean, it said you wear it well, right? What are you wearing?”

  Her gaze skittered about, arms lowering. She looked at herself, then blinked big green eyes and said, “My boots, my bracers, pants, my jacket and tunic, and some jewelry.”

  “We’re gonna have to look at everything. You should change.”

  “Okay,” she squeaked, looking at herself with doubt. “I know it said that, but, I mean, what could I be wearing that’s… I kinda thought it was crushing on me.”

  This time I blinked. Not because she wasn’t cute or anything. I could tell she took a lot of time designing her perfect body, but because the PKer was the equivalent of an aesthetic table centerpiece kept by mystics for the ‘sparkly vibes.’ Would it crush on her?

  It had to be an abductee like us, so maybe it chose something other than itself. I paused on that thought. No. Who the hell would choose a crystal body? I snorted at myself. Said the girl who decided a half-orc male would be fun RP. Anything was possible.

  Elora’s hand flashed in front of my face, fingers snapping to get my attention. I zoned back in on her. She looked annoyed.

  “Are you going to get out of my doorway so I can close it?”

  “Oh. Yeah,” I murmured, and backed up a step. The door slammed, and I turned away.

  I almost fell back down the rabbit hole of my musings after seeing Elora’s house, but Zeke was there to save me. I pivoted and nearly bowled him over because he was right there. “Skaama, Zeke, you’re sneaky.”

  “Howdy, partner,” he replied, then jingled the windchimes. I heard an almost painful squeaking and guessed it to be laughter.

  “Smartass,” I mumbled, glancing at Fig and Akilah. Akilah was unshakable when it came to action, but Fig? She seemed… not right.

  I went over to her, approaching slowly to avoid startling her. “Fig?”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  She blinked rapidly, then looked at me and smiled. “Hello.”

  “You don’t have to pretend to be okay, Fig. I’m sure you’re worried about Jake and Frag,” I said, offering a tight grin, and patted her arm gently to avoid jarring the wound on her back.

  “They are fine. I’ve been watching their status updates.” Her tone had an odd sort of apathy to it. “You are at most risk with a limb incapacitated.”

  Then she did something a little weird. She stepped closer and took my good hand, cupid’s bow lips tugging into an adorable pout, “Please take care of yourself. For me?”

  My arm twitched. I felt my WILL clashing with something, but without peeling back the interface, I couldn’t see what. Locked into the moment, I froze, then tugged my hand from hers and stepped back. No way. She was not flirting with me. She was just concerned. Had to be. She was just sweet, like Elora.

  “Yup,” I nodded, turning on my heel. More than one person had commented on it. I guess I was in the right place to find ‘magical’ healing, since I’d seen it at work a few times already.

  Akilah finished harvesting the shards. She rattled the box at me, and I nodded. They might come in handy—if we knew what to look for. I wandered over to her, and she gave my arm a look, too. Okay. The attention was starting to annoy me.

  “Yes, I’ll get it fixed.” I headed off her comment right away, then told her about the important thing. “Meanwhile, Elora’s changing out of her clothes so we can see what it meant by that comment she heard.”

  Akilah’s gaze slid away. Her demeanor changed. I glanced around. Ashwynn. He walked toward us, wolf hide draped around his hips but otherwise bare. As usual. That was her version of a flinch, and I didn’t blame her. He’d charmed her, and who could say what would have happened if we hadn’t broken the spell?

  I shifted my weight, turning to face him, coincidentally putting my body partly in front of her. She didn’t need protecting. Except with him—I’d take no chances. I pointed at my wounded arm and arched a brow. “Think I can borrow one of your healers? I’d go get healed at Symbiot, but Elora’s probably about done changing…”

  I stopped talking when he walked up to me and grasped my wounded arm in his hands. In this place, pain was still present, but it was different. It was like everything else. Food tasted less flavorful. Water felt less wet. If there was a reason, I’d blame it on being a representation instead of the actual thing; water was the System equivalent of real water, and so on.

  “Allow me,” he said, closing his eyes. A prismatic shimmer spilled forth from him, twining up my arm like vines, then receding again. Once he finished, the stitches in my arm started to itch a hundred times worse than before. I could feel my hand again, and the cool grip of his. The numbness was gone.

  I ground my teeth and muttered, “Thanks.”

  He released me, his gaze turning toward Elora’s little house. The door was open, and she stood with her adventuring kit in a woven basket, a red dress fluttering around her knees. She stepped out.

  Zeke skittered over, flexing his raptorial forelegs in grabby little snatches. Elora turned away, shielding the basket and shaking her head.

  “Come on, Zeke,” Glasses called from his sprawl on the grass.

  “But partner, we gotta take this to the sheriff,” Zeke’s mechanical voice box said.

  “You will not,” Ashwynn stated, striding toward Elora, turning in a flourish to face the lawmen. “This is my elf, and you are within my district.”

  Elora’s lips pulled down at the Heartland Lord’s words. Then she stuck her tongue out at Ashwynn’s back. I kept my face neutral, but I appreciated her moxie. She slipped around the district lord and brought the basket into the stone circle, where less than twenty minutes before, a skirmish was fought.

  The blood was dried but still there, darkening the sun-warmed stone.

  “We’re putting our heads together, you bunch of stubborn… yous.” She set the basket down at her feet, glancing between all of them.

  I mentally amended diplomacy to her moxie. Glancing at Akilah, I stepped over to the circle and sat cross-legged to pick through the basket. I looked at her jacket, passing it to Ashwynn, who turned it over and then flung it carelessly at Zeke. The mantis flailed its forelegs and caught the garment.

  We did this, over and over, until I dug her jewelry out. Akilah settled beside me, opposite the Heartland Lord. I pulled out a hairpin with some sparkly gems, and Akilah snatched it before Ashwynn could, turning it between her fingers. She’d had the same instinct I had. It was probably the jewelry.

  “Where did you get these?” I asked, plucking up a pale jade earring.

  “Colosseum bazaar—remember when we went shopping, that time you died?”

  My lips tightened around my tusks. Yeah. I remembered the dying part, anyway. I exhaled through my nose and pulled out a bracelet, a thin gold chain with a teardrop stone of aquamarine. I held it up to the light.

  “That,” Ashwynn said, pointing at it, tossing a jade earring aside, ignoring Elora’s faint cry of disapproval. “There is a whisper of something within. Listen.”

  I didn’t hear shit from the crystal. I heard birds. I heard Zeke flailing with Elora’s adventuring pants. I hoped he wasn’t trying to put them on. I heard the spring bubbling, but no whispers. I handed the bracelet to Ashwynn.

  He took it and snapped his fingers at Akilah, who bristled instantly, lips thinning. “The shards you’ve collected, Akilah.”

  She withdrew the box from her inventory and handed it to me. I opened it and took the biggest chunk out to give to the Heartland Lord. Holding both, he eased them closer together. Both had the faintest pulse that had nothing to do with the constant rays of light from the blue sun. As Ashwynn brought them together, the pulses brightened and increased.

  A hard grin crossed my face.

  “We found it.”

  -ARCHIVE-