Nathan leaned against a tree trunk. He opened his status window and flipped through his contacts list. Finally, he paused at a name.
Just looking at it made his jaw clench. Unlike real life, he wasn't also assaulted by the sound his teeth made grinding together. He was aware of Janelle glancing over at him in weary amusement. He forced himself to relax.
"How's the boy?" Nathan asked.
"Sleeping like most of the NPCs who got away with us," Janelle returned. "Are you really going to call?"
"He's an idiot. Talking to him makes your brain cells vanish," Nathan replied.
"If he's such an idiot, why do you have him on your contacts?" Janelle asked.
"Because while I think he's an idiot, he's really not," Nathan said. He sighed. "He's got the God's Honest Luck going on, even in real life. It's unnatural, thoroughly unnatural."
"Some people are like that," Janelle shrugged. She looked over the clearing and sighed.
Nathan followed her gaze. Scattered around in little groups of three or four were the ones who'd managed to escape the guild and the town. There weren't a lot of them, only about ten from the guild versus the near fifty that it'd once held. Most of the ones missing were offline.
"I don't know that I want to tell him about this," Nathan admitted. He ran his hands through his hair and then ruffled it. "He's going to want to help, and I'm not sure I want it."
"He's also in one of the top guilds, no matter that most of their members are silly," Janelle returned. She stood up and brushed the seat of her pants. "Look. He's an idiot. A lucky idiot, but still he's an idiot when it comes to his friends and family. Otherwise, he's a bit scary."
Nathan huffed out a breath.
"Scary? Him?" Nathan shook his head.
"Yes, him," Janelle replied. She peeped around the thick tree trunk. "The boy's still asleep. I've no clue how to tell him that his family's dead and the town is gone."
"In the morning, game time morning," Nathan muttered as he decisively clicked his contact list. "If only our names were a bit more different, maybe?"
"You'd still complain." Janelle walked away towards where Stone and Magdalene were huddled in discussion.
Nathan rolled his eyes. There were definitely times when he felt his age.
"Nathan! My man! Why are you calling? A quest? A job? Ooh, a quest and a job?" His friend's cheerful voice sounded. "I'm so ready for something! I got booted offline for a large chunk of forever for this quest."
"Hey, Nate." Nathan took a deep breath. "I've got something to tell you and something to ask.
***
"You dragged me here on a quest, right?" Cora asked Heidi, frowning. She glanced at her outfit. "The quest wasn't just to dress me up and drag me somewhere, was it?"
"Oh, grow up." Heidi popped another cherry into her mouth, staring at the item on display at the auction.
It was a necklace made of what looked like actual ice. Cora couldn't figure out just how it wasn't melting.
"Heidi?" Cora frowned. "Or should I start shouting your game name? I've heard it's getting really popular for some reason."
That made Heidi's eyes widen. She sprang out of her chair, glancing towards the closed door.
"No! No, are you insane? Do you want the guards to come after us?" Heidi demanded.
"The guards? You're wanted? What?" Cora demanded, her attention firmly on Heidi. "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I promise! It was nothing!"
"It was something if you're talking about town guards coming after—," Cora's voice trailed off as Heidi looked away, biting her lower lip. "It's not town guards."
Heidi picked up a peach from the fruit tray, taking a bite. She made a happy sound as she caught errant juice.
"Please tell me we're not talking about royal guards." Cora sat on her chair, glancing down to see a happy couple rejoicing that they'd won the improbable necklace.
"Okay, it's not the royal guards," Heidi said tentatively. "Maybe?" She winced. "I'm a bit unclear on the levels of guards, actually."
Cora felt a muscle in her jaw twitch. It was an actual twitch which made her realize just how awesome the game technology was, but also brought home just how irritated she was at Heidi at this particular moment in time.
"What's the quest?"
Heidi brightened. She took another bite of her peach and thoughtfully chewed.
"I have to bid on a bracelet that comes up at the end of the auction. I don't have to win which is awesome because the last items are so expensive!" Heidi waved her hand dismissively.
Cora shook her head, resisting the urge to slap her hands to her head and scream. That would mess up the ornate hairstyle she'd let Heidi sculpt her hair into.
She wasn't sure how it was being held in place. It looked like so many artistic swirls and loops that she was sure that her actual hair wouldn't hold for longer than a few scant seconds before falling back into the curly mess it was currently in.
Cora made a mental note to carve out a few hours to go get her hair rebraided. It took so long but it lasted so long. With decent upkeep, she wouldn't have to worry about it for at least two weeks, if not three.
It all depended on how much she opened her windows. Even hair gathered pollen in a Southern spring.
"Do you even know what the bracelet looks like?" Cora asked.
"No, but it's called the 'Heart of the Mage.' Doesn't that sound creepy?" Heidi polished off the peach.
Cora worked to not let her eyes bulge. After that disastrous adventure of a caravan ride, she had the nerve to laugh about that name?
"Is it?" Cora stared at Heidi.
"What? No, of course not!" Heidi shivered. "I've no clue why it's called that. It's like some artifact from some family's vault. Though why they'd send it to auction of all things…"
"Maybe they don't know?" Cora turned her attention to the auction again. This time the item in question was two large glittering rocks. "You can auction raw gems? I'll have to remember to tell Enlais. Kylen is busy doing something in the mines. I have a sneaking suspicion that he's creating some sort of town down there."
"Well, maybe a suburb type thing? Wilderven is pretty large after all," Heidi consoled her.
"The things I have to go through," Cora lamented.
"Now, isn't that interesting?" Heidi asked, glancing at the auction.
"What?"
"Looks like it's perfect for your other little growing problem," Heidi added.
Cora followed her gaze to see a large sculpture taking up a chunk of the stage. It looked like a ginormous dollhouse shaped like a medieval keep.
"Oooh," Cora breathed. She called up the details of the item on the auction list beside window. "It's perfect!"
"Do you even have enough money?" Heidi looked doubtful. "I mean, I've never seen you buy anything in-game."
Cora slowly smiled.
"Watch and be amazed, Heidi. Watch and be amazed."