Chapter Two

Chapter Two. Destiny

“You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

“So let me get this straight.” Vivace stated slowly around a bite of her soup. “This E- guy is a wanted criminal in Burmexia, with a really big bounty on his head, who is currently hiding out in the kingdom’s capitol? Is he supper arrogant, or just plain stupid?”

Dolly glared across the table at her current companion. The gnome had stated quite plainly that she was hungry, having not eaten since just after their meeting in the WildFang Inn, and they should discuss their dilemma over a hot meal in the dining room. She was at least courteous enough to pick up the tab for them both, but Dolly had been forced to pay for her healer herself- which they happened to find down in the bar in the form of a white mage. Her arm hadn’t been completely fixed, the damage had been to severe, but she could at least move it without the threat of getting a bone stuck through her skin. Sighing, she replied to Vivace’s previous question. “He’s confident, he has a right to be.”

“Cocky enough to go to the empire’s capitol? That’s not just confidence.” Vivace glanced down into her bowl and stirred the liquid thoughtfully. “And you are working for him because why?”

“I’m not working for him!” Dolly snapped. “I’m doing this one job and it’s done. I have no interest in becoming an enemy of the state.”

Vivace nodded. “So what is this job?”

“That,” Dolly hissed, “is none of your business.”

“Hmm.”

Dolly found herself twitching under the displeased stare of her table mate. This gnome knew how to make a girl angry, that was for sure.

“Is it illegal?”

“Might be.”

“Is it honorable?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Not always.”

Dolly smacked her forehead with her palm. “Listen brat-”

“Call me something bad that’s not my name one more time, and I’ll stab you!”

Dolly stopped. “What?” She looked up at the gnome across from her who had her hand on her sword, and blinked. Then she flushed and ran her hand through her hair angrily. “Calm yourself! Honestly. Maybe being a warrior does fit you.”

Vivace wasn’t listen to her at that point for anything more then some form of insult, so the comment passed her without retribution. Under the glare of the pink haired female, Dolly shook her head in irritation. “Fine. Bluebell. Happy?” Plowing on without an answer, she stated carefully, “This guy has some dirt on me, ok? While it’s not enough to cause any real trouble, my reputation would still be under fire if it got out. So I’m doing a quick trade off for him, then we’re even. That’s it. And it’ll go a lot smoother if there wasn’t anybody sticking their nose into it, got it?”

Vivace stayed silent for a minute before nodding reluctantly. Dolly let out a breath she’d been holding. Finally, she got a break! Deciding not to test her luck any longer, she pushed her chair out from the table and stood up. “Great. I’d like to say it’s been nice meeting you, but quite frankly, it hasn’t. The one thing I’ll say is you’re a determined little, well, a determined little Bluebell. I’m sure your Granddad’s proud. Have fun, and goodbye.”

Dolly gave a half hearted wave, and left (read: fled) before the gnome could say anything. Vivace stared at the door to the dining room as it swung shut, startled by the spontaneous disappearance of her meal partner. Glancing back and forth across the room, Vivace put her spoon down and got up. Leaving the dining area she went to her room, feeling uneasy at the thought that something had been left incomplete. It didn’t add up. If there was a wanted criminal in town, who was good enough to at least be wanted throughout the entire empire, why would he just agree to left things go after Dolce did what he wanted? If she was an evil figure, she’d kill any idiot that got in her way after they stopped being of use. It was only logical, right? Surely Dolce noticed that. She couldn’t actually believe that she’d be let off…and if she did know she’d have to make a break for it, why wait and do the job? She should get a head start and take this Erego down before he got the chance to use whatever blackmail he had.

Vivace shook her head, sighing, and dropped onto her bed. It wasn’t making sense, and she felt a headache building by thinking about it. And when was this job suppose to be done?

The gnome glanced at the clock beside her bed. The numbers 10:47 in a sickly neon green light. The man had said for her to do it tonight, right? There wasn’t much time left to tonight. This part of town seemed to be open around the clock, but it didn’t change that Dolly would be walking into a trap any moment now. But she was prepared, right? She had to be. Vivace shot up. But what if she wasn’t? Could she really stay here wondering when somebody was about to be betrayed and possibly killed? The fact that the same woman had tried to kill her a little less then an hour before didn’t seem to register in Vivace’s mind, as she made a quick decision to go for a walk, just to check the area out and see if there was anything funny going on. Sliding off the bed, she hurried out of the inn.

-:-:-:-

Vivace stopped outside the opening of the inn twenty minutes later, breathing heavily. She had done a quick search across the entire area, and was forced to admit that besides a few shady businesses and the building down the street, there was nothing here that should merit her attention. Dolly had probably left to another part of the city then, and Vivace had no idea how to find her. She looked around the area, trying to decide what to do. Finding no other option, she took off toward the other parts of the city, figuring that she could at least check the busier routes.

Entering the main streets, Vivace was amazed at how bright it was, the entire city being lit up by lights from store windows and round the clock bars. Vivace looked around, trying to find a direction to head in, disregarding the flow of people still making their way around the city. Some Players sitting on the steps of building entrance watched her with interest, but Vivace ignored them. She was on a mission and refused herself to be distracted. Reading the signs she took the left, deciding to try in that direction first since it had more shady businesses then the rest of the city- such as casinos and auctions, among others.

Vivace maneuvered through the crowd, looking for some sign to what she wanted. She thought of stopping to ask if anybody had seen the human, but decided against it. The last thing she needed was to drag somebody else into things. She continued running along the road, and taking every turn that appeared to be correct instinctively, until she became lost in the sea of streets.

The girl slowed to a stop, and eyed a clock on the bottom edge of a TV screen in a window close by. 11:36. Damn it! She needed a sign, anything. Glancing around desperately, she caught sight of a figure wearing a long black cloak entering the doors of a large casino down the street. The cloak and hat combination looked familiar, so Vivace threw caution to the wind and followed him inside of the building. Getting inside the doors, she looked around, ignoring the many patrons and employees passing by the entrance, scanning the area for the man. The tail end of a cloak disappeared behind a corner, and she went after it, staying at a distance. None of the workers noticed the gnome walking through their security.

Vivace continued into the bright halls, walking over a velvet carpet laid out on the floor. Brilliant decorations were delicately placed into the niches of the walls, with drapes and paintings hanging on the open spaces. She walked at a level pace, not really caring if the man stayed in sight any longer. He wasn’t who she was searching for, and Vivace had the distinct impression that his role was over. Glancing around, Vivace noticed a door at the end of the hallway reading ‘Employees Only’. She made her way toward it swiftly, and glancing around, passed through the conveniently unlocked door just before one of the workers turned down into her hallway. The gnome inspected the blank, grey colored room she appeared in, moving down toward an opening on the far side of the space. Besides a few boxes and the opening she was moving toward, nothing was inside.

The next hallway turned out to be made of the same drab color and dingy condition that the last room had been. Vivace noticed another exit at the end, and went to it, pushing the door open, she was rewarded with a flight of stairs. She began walking down them quietly, noting the echo that resounded against the walls. About halfway she stopped. There was some sort of noise coming from bellow, and she bent over the railing trying to get a glimpse of the cause. It was people, she was sure of it.

As quietly as possible, she sat down and pulled off her boots, to prevent herself from making any noise while walking. She tied the footwear into her belt and stood up again, leaning over the railing once more. The sounds were coming from below, but they were muffled. Vivace had to guess that there was some sort of room down there where the people were talking, and that a closed door was dimming the sound. Or at least that was the hope.

Vivace climbed onto the railing then dropped her legs over the other side, measuring the drop between her and the floor. Deciding it was survivable, she lowered herself as far as she could, and let go, landing at the bottom in a slightly off centered, crouch position, stumbling forward. She looked around hastily, but when nobody came rushing to see the source of any noise, she sighed. The base of the stairs was littered in shadows, and the gnome crept forward to the edge of a small opening. Peering around cautiously, she was slightly surprised to see that the hall opened into a larger, double storied room. Sneaking up as far as she could without being seen, Vivace looked around. The area directly in front of her was a metal platform, running along the side of the room, with chains clipped to the railing to hold up various hanging material from the ceiling, and littered with the occasional crate and toolbox. At the end there was a staircase to the ground below. Beneath her seemed to be a storage area, with crates and equipment scattered around in piles. A group of people were standing next to a large truck that was in there with them, in front of a garage door that led to the outside. She recognized one of the humans immediately, who was wearing a skin tight yellow jean material dress and deep red jacket. She dodged behind a small crate on the platform, and proceeded to view the events below her, pulling on her boots in case the situation required quick action.

-:-:-:-

“Erego is getting rather cocky, sending a first timer like you here.” A man wearing a jet black suit muttered, snapping his fingers and sending one of the men to retrieve something from Dolly’s hand. “And you’re cutting it close, the clock was running out. I should cut the payment for that.”

“I got it here on time.” Dolly snapped. “If you wanted it earlier, you should have said something then.” She let go of her package with a disinterested glance at the man taking it.

The black suited man ignored her, taking the package from his lackey and pulling an envelope from within its contents. Dolly stood impatiently while he read the paper, waiting for her pay so she could go back to her hotel room for the night and deliver the money to the criminal the next night. She hoped they wouldn’t make her fight her way through the process, since her arm was still healing from her battle earlier. Honestly, who kicks a rubber ball at a card in the Oblivion Deck? The entire idea was suicidal. And apparently it worked. She vowed to watch for that the next time she played a card game with an opponent- having the same embarrassing defeat twice would be a serious sign to hang up her gloves. Tapping her foot she brought her mind back to the current situation, where the man was busy folding up the paper and lighting it on fire with a lighter he’d pulled out. A fight it was.

He made a quick motion to his guards, and Dolly sprang into action before they could pull their guns out of the holsters. She quickly called up a section of the floor to turn into a game field, watching as the designs began appearing on the floor- only to switch her expression to confusion as the lights sputtered out into nothing. The men pointed their guns, and Dolly cursed, realizing the floor was built against gambler attacks. The man holding the package laughed quietly. “You didn’t really think the floor of a casino wouldn’t be prepared for your class, did you?”

Dolly responded with a flick of her hair. She was ready to draw her own hidden hand gun, something she only used in situations such as these, when a clinking noise from behind her made her pause.

-:-:-:-

Vivace’s eyes widen when she first noticed the man draw out a letter from his package. She continued watching, only to see one of the men behind Dolly make a gesture to the one leading them, and get a quick wave of the hand in response. As soon as she saw the weapons, Vivace stealthily slipped over to a spare chain clipped to the railing from a center structure in the middle of the room. She unhooked the two chains on either side swiftly, hearing them clink together in her haste. Dolly was in danger, with her powers somehow being blocked, and while she didn’t like the human, she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

The two chains she’d first detached swung forward, spiraling down toward the guards at the bottom of the room. Vivace ducked back behind her crate, dragging the final chain discreetly with her. A number of bullets lodged themselves into the wall she had been in front of, but too high up to have hurt her. Vivace smirked grimly. Hearing a voice start speaking angrily from the bottom, she muttered a small encouragement to herself and detached the final chain, holding onto it, and propelled herself and the crate in front of her off the platform. The decoy worked, with the guards immediately aiming at the falling crate, not seeing the small gnome rocketing toward them on the chain. Once they had registered the female, she had already let go of the chain and thrown herself at the men with her sword brandished.

A bullet made its way into the side of one man’s neck, dropping him like a rock against the cold floor. Dolly quickly shot at another, not giving them any time to react to the second opponent in the fight. At the moment she didn’t care that there was a stupid, little stalker-gnome following her, she would deal with that later. Right now, she just wanted to get rid of the men before they could get rid of her. The second shot hit the target, and Dolly drop to the floor to avoid a bullet aimed in her direction.

Vivace’s surprise attack had taken the guards unprepared, so the first woman she had brought her blade down on went quickly. After that, she was forced to dodge around the bullets fired at her, deflecting some off her blade and relying on her armor for the rest of her protection. She saw two guards get taken out by the blonde human shortly after, and found herself relieved that the gambler wasn’t completely useless in this situation. Bringing the blade up with a grunt, she cut through the stomach of the next to last guard, feeling blood splatter down on her. Vivace ignored it, continuing to move forward to the next man, who she thrust her sword into at the same time as a bullet imbedded itself into his skull.

The room fell silent as the body dropped to the floor, the only noise being the women’s heavy breathing and the clinking of swinging chains. Vivace looked up toward the human, who spared her a glance before looking around. Five bodies were scattered over the floor, but the man with the package was nowhere in sight.

“We have to-” Dolly began, but was cut off by a loud siren rippling through the air. Both woman looked around hastily, and Dolly motioned toward a door in the bottom corner of the room. “Let’s go.”

Vivace didn’t waste time in replying, she simply ran after the human as fast as she could manage. The two bolted down the hallway on the other side of the door, trying to get out of the building before any type of guard showed up to stop them. Dolly motioned for the gnome to stop as she checked the turn, then sprinted ahead waving her companion forward. Vivace followed cautiously, until they finally reached an exit.

“Keep moving, we don’t want to be caught as soon as we leave the building.” Dolly muttered quietly. “With luck, we’ll be able to slip into the crowd without being noticed, Fortunia letting off its alarms will probably attract a lot of attention. We can head to your room.”

Vivace nodded, and the two woman quickly made their way out of the building. A large number of city guards were rushing into the entrance of the casino, ready to arrest whoever was causing the problem at one of their major attractions. The city guard for their part, until they received news of what happened, would be looking for thieves, since it was the most likely issue for a casino to run into. Vivace and the human slipped into the street, walking along the shadows to avoid being noticed. Vivace was particularly careful about remaining unseen, as she was covered part in blood from the men she’d stabbed. Apparently, Dolly noticed this as well.

“Is there a place for you to wash up in before we go to the inn?”

“Why bother? I can say I got into a fight.” Vivace defended. Dolly shook her head. “That might work, if it weren’t for the fact that Fortunia was just robbed, and that’s going to be big news.”

Vivace blinked up at the human. “It wasn’t robbed-”

“That’s what they’ll be saying.” Dolly cut across as they made their way down the street warily. “He’s not going to admit that a deal went sour, the reports will just tell the public that some thieves broke in the rob the place, and killed some of the security while they were at it. Do you have a place to wash?”

Vivace huffed at the unfairness of it, and nodded her head. “There’s a well behind the inn.”

After that they made their way in silence, dodging into alleys every time a group of Players passed headed toward the casino. (“Regular people aren’t going to report us or try to get money from the state,” Dolly had explained the first time they did this. “It’s only the Players you have to watch out for, they’ll do anything for glory.”) After a number of painfully stretched minutes, they reached The Lurker, and Dolly made her way inside while Vivace passed out back to wash up. When they were both seated in the room, Vivace on her bed and Dolly in a chair next to the bed stand, they finally relaxed. Mostly.

A few minutes passed in silence where both were still slightly on edge as though expecting the city guard to show up at their room, and said nothing to each other, musing in their own thoughts. All of a sudden Dolly asked in a curious tone, “Why were you there, anyway?”

“I got worried.” Vivace admitted. “I don’t like you or anything, but it still seemed like an obvious trap you were walking into, and I couldn’t just sit here and leave you alone.”

“And you just happened to know where I was?” Dolly glared up at the gnome, accusation filling her voice. Vivace looked over, clearly stung.

“I had no idea where you were!” She said offensively. “I went looking for you, and it was like you disappeared! I went to that district, and saw some man that looked familiar so I followed him, then I found you. That’s all. I’m just good at finding things.”

Dolly continued staring at her for a long few seconds before slouching back and sighing. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”

Vivace glanced over in concern. “We just beat the bad guys, why do you sound depressed?”

Dolly’s shoulders shook in a silent laugh, and she mouthed the words ‘bad guys’. Noticing that Vivace was waiting for an answer, she put on a sardonic grin. “Well, now that the transaction was blown, I’m going to have to lay low to make sure Erego doesn’t spill the blackmail he has on me. Which will probably be just as bad, because a Player who goes out of sight doesn’t get their reputation boosted, if you know what I mean.”

Vivace shook her head. Dolly snorted. The gnome glanced up again, “Why not do stuff that he wouldn’t have a problem with? Or take care of him so he can’t hurt you?”

“You make it sound so easy, kid. It’s not.” Dolly stated from her position on the chair. “If I do anything he finds threatening he’ll tip off the wrong people, and after what happened tonight, he probably won’t be in the city for more than the next few hours. I can’t exactly get him if I don’t know where he is, and there’s no way I’m getting him now.”

Dolce glanced at the clock next to the bed to make her point. Vivace glanced at the time again, seeing her point. Truth be told, she was pretty exhausted herself. “Then why not join the Tournaments? I thought that was what Players do, you couldn’t be threatening him if you’re signed up for one of them.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “The Tournaments? The only one anyone’s interested in right now is the quest for the Royal Guard, and everyone participating in it is either a complete newbie or already teamed up.”

“I’m still searching for a group.” Vivace stated defensively, as though she’d just been insulted. Dolce turned to stare at her slowly.

“You’re kidding me.”

Vivace glared at her. “What? Plenty of people are joining, what’s wrong with me doing it?”

“You’re not kidding me.” Dolly groaned, stretching out over the chair and rubbing her first into her eyes. Peering out from underneath one hand, she took one look at Vivace’s face before snorting. “How many tournament have you done before?”

Vivace shook her head. “None.”

Dolly blinked, and lowered her wrist, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. “How long have you been a Player?” Vivace glanced at the clock. Dolly felt a nagging suspicion enter her mind and couldn’t help thinking along the lines of, Oh gods no…

“For about fourteen hours.”

Dolly buried her face into her hands again. “You’re kidding me.” She muttered. “You have go to be kidding me. Listen, here’s some advice for you. Drop your search. The only ones who win these things are the people who’ve already lost dozens of them. The big ones like this are only won be the people who’ve already won dozens of them. There are probably bets riding on the outcome by now. You have no chance.”

“I’ll have even less of a chance if I don’t try.” Vivace stated stubbornly. “And I plan to win.”

Dolly shook her head, muttering to herself quietly.

“Want to join me?”

The human didn’t bother looking up. Instead she just let out a high, shaky laugh. Vivace watched with interest. “I knew you were going to ask that.” After another moment where Dolly tried to reign in her emotions, she sighed, and sat up to get a full view of the gnome across from her. “You’re serious? You want to join up, track down however many more members, and enter a tournament we have absolutely no chance of winning and in which we’ll probably make great fools of ourselves in? Seriously?”

Vivace frowned at the chosen wording of her question, but nodded anyway. Dolly let out another high pitched laugh.

“Sure, let’s go.”

:-:-:-:-:-:-:

Morning sunlight drifted in through the window, falling on a figure sitting next to the window of a run down inn. She was curled up on top of a chair, breathing steadily in a peaceful manner after an exhausting night of battling and running. Soft noises from outside rose up from the square, signifying the day starting for the many workers who lived in the city. In the building across the square, a TV broadcasted the latest news reports of Fortunia’s break-in, labeling it as a robbery and attempted murder of the casino’s owner.

The human stifled a yawn and curled up tighter on her make-shift bed, not wanting to be disturbed.

“Hey, c’mon, get up get up!”

Dolly’s eyes snapped open, and she blinked rapidly at the burning light attacking her face. “You, twerp,” she muttered slowly, “are dead.”

-:-:-:-

The gnome and human pair stood outside WildFang Inn, checking the external boards for any Players listing themselves available for grouping in the Royal Guard Tournament. Every name Vivace pointed out, Dolly shot down.

“She’s a newbie, and not even a good one.” The human drawled. “We already have you, we don’t need somebody else who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

Vivace growled, but looked back up at the board. “Alright, what about this guy?” She said, pointing toward another name slowly. “He’s a mage, and has already been in four tournaments…”

Dolly glanced over. “No.”

“Why not?” Vivace asked, spinning to glare at the older female. “What are we suppose to be looking for then?”

Dolly flicked some hair over her shoulder, glancing around at the passing crowds. “Listen Ace,” Vivace frowned at the new nickname, but didn’t say anything as she couldn’t find an insult in it. “if you really want to win, which I’m going to tell you again is completely unlikely, then the first way to do it is putting together a good group. To enter in this Tournament, the minimum requirement of Players we can have is three, the most is twelve. We don’t want twelve. A good number would be five or six. Some groups, if well balanced, can have up to eight and be effective. Good groups normally consist of a tank, the guy who takes damage and keeps the enemies off everyone else’s back, a healer, self explanatory, some kind of caster, to take care of monsters not effected by physical attacks, someone who can deal with creatures at a distance or another type of attacker, like a tank, but doesn’t do as much damage, and some type of miscellaneous class.” Dolly ticked the positions off on her fingers, making a checklist for Vivace to see. “That’s how it’s normally worked for me, at any rate. Right now, it seems like you’re aiming to be tank- which isn’t suggested, by the way- and I’d be that oddity. What we want most right now is a healer. Groups are damned from the start if they can’t heal. But for that reason, there are practically none left, and the only ones who are don’t even know some of the basic spells. Until we get one we’ll be surviving off of items and medicine. For now, we probably want to be looking at some sort of caster.”

Vivace sat quietly for a moment, digesting all of the information that had been shoved on her. Then something clicked, and she glared angrily up at her comrade. “Then what was wrong with that last guy? He was a mage! How much more of a caster can you get?!”

Dolly looked down her nose as the girl. “Just because we’re looking for a caster doesn’t mean we’ll take anyone. Find somebody with a little more to them than that.”

Vivace swung back to the board, muttering under her breath. She scanned the postings with a ferocity that scared away some of the less experienced Players from the area. Dolly ignored her, checking out the passing Players with a similar distrust to that which Vivace had seen during her first hour in the city. A small commotion near one of the shops seemed to catch her interest for a while, and she watched two Players start a dual, much to the shop owner’s displeasure. “Things are getting stressed.” she muttered to no one in particular.

Vivace heard, and turned to look at what the human was seeing. “Does this happen all the time in the cities?”

“Well,” The woman began, keeping her eyes trained on the scenery and fight. “there are always some problems in big metropolises, with all the different people and everything. But around the times of big, nation wide Tournaments things get a little worse. Everybody’s hoping to prove themselves before the game even starts, and getting rid of the competition early is never a bad thing. With the contest starting in five days- which, let me tell you, you picked a horrible time to start a group- people are even more on edge then usual. There will probably be some riots the night before- we’re going to want to stay in by the way, despite how many opening celebrations there are begging us to grace them.”

The girl watched her comrade for another moment before glancing at the fight and tuning back to the board. “People can join us after the Tournament starts though, right? I thought I read something about that.”

Dolly nodded. “As long as you register your members at the various checkpoints before the end of the Tournament you can gather as many people as you want, within the limit. But we need three to start, so get back to looking.”

Huffing, the girl scanned the list again. And again. And again, until she was beginning to start a mental checklist on how many ‘Ralph’s and ‘Pyro’s had signed up on the boards. “No one’s sticking out.” She said finally.

“Of course not.” Dolly snapped. “It’s because all the good ones are taken.”

Vivace sat for a moment staring blankly at the board. “What is we found a group already partially formed and join up with them? Like, one that has two members and are looking for two more?” She twisted from her position to check her companion’s reaction. “Would that work? We might get lucky and find a healer.”

The human debated the option for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, maybe. Let’s go inside then.”

The two left the wall outside and pushed into the crowded tavern. Fighting their way to the wall listing the groups searching for members, they passed a number of bickering Players. Like before, Vivace jumped onto the counter to view the lists better, and Dolce forced herself into a spot beside her, glaring at the Player who had been trying to get there before her. A few irritated Players glared at the gnome standing at the boards, showing themselves to be less courteous to the vertically impaired than the ones from the other day. Dolce silenced them with an icy glare, and a quick flash of color in her eyes. After a few minutes of searching, Dolly shook her head and physically dragged her gnome companion from the wall.

Amidst her stutters Dolly pointed to a recently vacated table. “Get it before someone else does, I’ll be back with drinks.”

Vivace was torn between stabbing her companion and listening, but as she saw a few other Players eyeing the table she sprinted over and jumped on top of it, looking around and silently daring anyone else to try and take it from her. Some Players looked as though they might try, but were dragged away by their comrades. As soon as all the threats had been taken care of, Vivace sat down, making sure she could be seen over the top of the table to act as a warning. She saw Dolly heading back toward their table with two mugs after a few painful minutes, and was relived when the blonde sat down across from her.

“We’re not finding anybody here.” Dolly stated simply as she pushed one of the cups toward the gnome. “We should go check out some of the smaller grouping points, see if we can pick up anyone there. Even if someone’s not immediately interested in participating in the Royal Guard quest, we can convince them.”

Vivace looked around the crowded pub. “I thought the boards were the same everywhere. Don’t runners go back and forth to update information?”

“I’m not talking about the guild listings. I mean the smaller ones, independently owned.” Dolly said, taking a sip from her glass.

“Guild listings? Not all of these people can belong to the same guild!” Vivace said, startled. Dolly rolled her eyes.

“Guilds get funds from the nation by helping non affiliated Players complete quests and take part in Tournaments. That involves running the boards where Players post things, among other things. Therefore they are guild listings.” Dolly stirred the liquid in her glass, glancing at the gnome as she sniffed her own drink. “Independent stores or businesses can make their own, private listings. It normally costs to post things there or you have to be a part of a service, and they’re much more specific. We won’t bother trying the temples, they’re overrun. We just need to head elsewhere.”

Vivace nodded, and they settled into a brief silence. It was broken by a deep voice speaking from behind them. “If you’re looking for interested members, you should head down to the Orchard.”

The two companions turned to look at the man who’d spoken, Dolly with a small suspicion in her eyes and Vivace purely with interest. The man was the same that Vivace had followed the night before, and she immediately perked up. “The Orchard?”

Dolly glanced back at her, almost in warning. If the man noticed, he continued without showing it. “There are some travelers who’ve set up camp down in the southern end. I believe there are a handful interested in the Royal Guard’s Tournament. If you’re looking for members, you should go down to the Orchard.” With that, he turned and made his way toward the bar, obviously uninterested in what they chose to do with his information.

Vivace and Dolly turned to look at each other at the same time, one in aggravation and the other emitting excitement. “We should check it out.” Vivace stated. “It might turn out to be what we need.”

“Hello? Danger, Danger.” Dolly countered. “Haven’t you ever learned not to trust people who don’t show you their face? That they’re normally bad people? Besides, I don’t like the way he repeated himself. Seemed like he was trying to push it to much.”

“He was just trying to make a point.” Vivace said bluntly. “We should at least check it out, if it’s a trap or something, we’ll get out of there.”

“If we can get out of there.” Dolly muttered. “The Orchard’s out of the city limits, there aren’t any guards to keep things nice like there are in here. Besides, only vagabonds stay outside the city instead of coming in during Tournaments. This place was built to hold extra people, that’s why there are so many parks.”

The two glared at each other for a moment, both determined to win out on the argument. “Alright,” Vivace stated slowly. “What if one of use goes there, and if we don’t get eaten, we come back for the other.”

Dolly snorted. “No. Besides, do you forget,” she leaned in closely, and whispered so the sound wouldn’t carry, “that we are responsible for what happened last night to the Fortunia? I wouldn’t put it past its investors to see an investment in getting rid of us.”

She leaned back, as though she had made an irrefutable point. Which, Vivace admitted, she kind of had. But that still didn’t mean she’d back down. “Maybe, but we took care of that fine. Alright, alright,” she added hastily as she saw Dolly’s face flush angrily, “we had an advantage. But you said before, the city always gets lots of people around the times of big Tournaments, and this one’s supper big, isn’t it? We should at least check it out. The moment things become suspicious, we leave.”

Dolly stared at her companion, forming a number of thoughts in her mind, many of which consisted completely of curses and blasphemy. Finally she settled with a simple, “Being stubborn is bad for you, you know, right?”

Vivace grinned, taking that as a ‘yes’, and took a large drink from her mug. After they had finished with their beverages, they made their way out of the crowded pub and across the city to the outer walls. Vivace still held some amazement at the large structures and variety of people, and had to be prodded on by the human on multiple occasions. Without Dolce’s guidance, the small gnome would have been lost in the brimming city. Finally reaching the South Gate, they passed though toward the fields and fruit groves. The trees in the area had yet to reach fruition, still in their early stages of development. As they passed through the area, they could see a few city guards walking around awkwardly.

“Huh.” Dolly muttered. “Looks like they’re trying to exert some control out here. That’s odd, they normally don’t bother.”

“Must be because of the Tournament.” Vivace shrugged. Dolly didn’t seem convinced, as she kept here eyes locked on the patrolling guards. They continued into the Orchard along the unkempt rows of trees until they saw the shapes of tents perched toward the end, inside of a small clearing. Dolly slowed their pace down, and they continued forward, looking for signs of the people they were approaching. Noises were floating back over the field, and the two females listened to the sounds curiously.

“What language is that?” Vivace asked, awed. Dolly narrowed her eyes, but didn’t answer. Instead she motioned for the gnome to slow down more, and peered ahead. After a moment where the two came to a stop, Dolly muttered quietly to her companion.

“Demons. No wonder why the guards are down here. We might want to check elsewhere.”

“Whatever for?” A chirpy voice asked from behind them. Vivace spun around, while Dolly looked over her shoulder in a more dignified manner. Behind them, a deep grey skinned girl stood casually, one hand on her hip and the other hanging carelessly at her side. Her hair, a cherry brown color, was short, half hung back in a pony tail with the other half loose around her long elfish ears. Two short horns were poking up through her hair, and a pointed tail swished back and forth behind her legs. She wore a white tunic with short sleeves hanging off her shoulder, and a light brown corset. Dark brown trousers were tucked into knee high belted boots, with a forest green cloth hanging around her waist to form half a skirt, stopping toward the front. Vivace found herself gaping at the demon standing in the Orchard, being the first one she’d ever laid eyes on, which didn’t go unnoticed by either of the two taller figures.

“Hasn’t anyone told you staring is rude, gnome girl?” The demon asked, an amused glint entering her eyes. Vivace snapped her mouth shut quickly, and muttered an offhand apology.

“Excuse us, we were just leaving.” Dolly said with a glance at her companion, turning to move away. The demon stepped lightly in her path.

“It’s also rude to just go somewhere to get a look at people. If you didn’t have another purpose, you shouldn’t have come down here.”

Just as Dolly was about to make a heated reply, obviously with the intent of fighting, Vivace broke in. “We do have a purpose! We heard there were some people interested in joining a group to do the Tournament, we wanted to come check them out and see if there was anyone good!” Both of the taller females stared, as neither of them had expected the girl to say what she had. Dolly had a returned urge to drop kick the gnome back to the city walls, but the demon seemed to have different ideas.

“Really?” The horned girl looked at the gnome with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. Then her expression changed, and she smirked. “Well let’s go, the other travelers are this way.”

Vivace beamed, and she turned to make her way to the tents happily. Dolly seemed reluctant to step any further, swearing death on her companion as soon as they left the grove. ‘The moment things become suspicious, we leave’, she thought ruefully. I’ll kill her!

Noticing the girls reluctance to go further into the Orchard, the demon looped her arm with the blonde female and began pulling her towards the tents.

“Demon.” Dolly growled in warning, glaring down at the limb touching her.

“Human.” The demon returned, smiling innocently. She didn’t let go of the woman’s arm, instead continuing to drag her forward after the gnome. They reached the tents where Vivace was standing, waiting for them to catch up. A number of the other demons were watching suspiciously, and upon the arrival of one of their own seemed to draw some conclusion about the situation, and resumed their tasks. “You actually came at a bad time, some of the other folk interested in the tournament have decided to make their own group, so they don’t need to join another’s. In fact, there’s only one demon here that’s still looking.”

“Huh? Why didn’t they just join up with the others then, instead of looking for a different group?” Vivace frowned. They began walking into the collection of tents, Dolly having pulled her arm out of the demon’s clutches when they first reached the gathering.

“Well, they had some disagreements.” The demon said happily. “Honestly, you’re the first team that’s expressed an interest in checking out the Player after finding out the race of our people. If you are, in fact, still interested?”

“Of course!” Vivace stated determinedly, looking up at Dolly for support. The human shrugged.

“If this Player meets our standards.”

“Oh?” The demon looked amused, and they entered a tent that seemed to have a small area for food and drinks, along with merchants. “And what if you don’t meet their standards?”

“We will!” Vivace said with a determined air. She looked around the tent, as though hoping a sign would point them to who they were looking for. The only people inside were going through supplies, and none of them bothered taking notice of the girls as they entered. The demon nodded over to a corner filled with cushions to sit on, and the group made their way over, taking seats.

“So, who are you people exactly, and who do you already have with you?” The horned girl asked stretching out comfortably in a cat like position.

“It’s just us.” Dolly replied before Vivace had a chance, immediately taking charge of their side. The gnome glared, but let the girl continue. “We’re looking for a starting number, who comes after doesn’t matter right now.”

“And the first question…?”

“Vivace Bluebell!” Vivace introduced. She looked over at Dolly who was inspecting the demon carefully. “This is Dolce Lithus. Dolly. Warrior and gambler.”

The demon blinked. “You’re a warrior?”

“I am.” Vivace said defensively. She was mentally preparing herself to draw her blade if the demon made any comments about her height. The girl looked at her for another long moment, nodded awkwardly and glanced at the human, moving on. “So you don’t really have a great class balance right now.”

Dolly sneered. “We’re two people, of course we don’t. We were kind of hoping for a caster here, and to get a healer after the Tournaments started, since there aren’t any left now.”

“What class is the Player here?” Vivace interjected curiously. Dolly shook her head sadly, but it went unnoticed by the girl.

“A geomancer.” The demon replied. Vivace looked at the floor thoughtfully. She ticked off the list Dolly had described back in the city of good groups, and quickly estimated what category a geomancer would go under.

With a fallen face she said quietly, “So then that really wouldn’t help make it balanced.”

“Not really.” Dolly agreed. “Geomancers are generally an oddity class, unless they put all their effort into learning earth based healing, which still isn’t very strong. It’s strange though, most demons don’t show interest in geomancy.” The human looked at the woman across from them pointedly. She shrugged.

Vivace stared at the ground in concentration for a moment, then nodded decisively and stood up. It was the human’s turn to shrug, but as she was about to get up, the gnome asked the demon resolutely, “Can we meet this Player? Where are they?”

Dolly slipped back in surprise, and cursed as she hit the ground beside the cushion. The demon glanced back and forth between them. “Shouldn’t you talk this over as a group?”

“We’ll do that when we go to meet them. We can’t say no just because of their class.” Vivace declared. The human looked up at the gnome- which she found rather awkward- with a murderous glare. Then she turned back to the demon. “Give us a minute, will you?”

The demon leaned back with amusement, and nodded, getting up swiftly to let them talk. As soon as the girl was gone from the tent, Dolly glared at her comrade. She pointed silently back to the cushion Vivace had abandoned, implying for the girl to sit back down. When the gnome had done this, she spoke.

“Are we really sure we want a demon geomancer joining the group? More then likely she only knows earth based magic, and none of that is any different damage wise then regular attacks. It’s not like we’d be getting the bonus of a caster, who can damage intangible enemies. Plus,” she dropped her voice so the merchants would be able to overhear, “demons aren’t the most reliable of party members. They have a lot of bad reputations, and just having one in your group will lower the amount of response other alignments will give to you.”

“But there’s the thing.” Vivace said happily, but sharing the same hushed tone. “I don’t think that’s the case. Didn’t you notice?” Dolly looked at her blankly, clearly wondering who hadn’t noticed what. The gnome plowed on relentlessly. “The Player had disagreements with the other demons, proof that she’s not entirely like them, whatever they’re normally like. And she’s a geomancer, you said most demons don’t do that sort of stuff. It says something about this person’s character! We should meet them and give them a chance, to hell with what everyone else thinks!”

Dolly stared at the small figure facing her. After a painfully long silence where the gnome beamed at her with a determined set to her mouth, she shrugged. She was already on the run from wanted criminals and partied with a gnome warrior who had dreams of winning the biggest Tournament in the past three centuries during her first ever quest. It wasn’t like taking on a demon earth mage would do them much harm. Vivace whooped, and stood up to go to the exit.

“Wait.” Dolly said with one last thought. Vivace turned around, looking at her friend expectantly. “What do you think of the one we’ve been talking to so far?”

Vivace shrugged. “She’s cool. Honestly, it didn’t meet up with the pictures I’ve had in my head from stories I’ve heard.” she smiled. “If the Player’s like her, I think we’re good!”

Dolly watched in amazement as the gnome bounded out of the tent searching for their new group member. She sighed, and followed the girl swiftly as to not fall behind. Outside the temporary room, Vivace was making her way over to the demon they’d be speaking to, who looked up curiously from where she was standing with two older travelers. Dolly could hear something being said as she came up behind, and saw the demon’s eyes widen slightly. Without responding, she turned to both of the people standing beside her and said something in their foreign tongue, who also looked somewhat surprised before nodding and walking away. Dolly stopped beside the remaining people, and glanced at the demon girl. “So what’s your name, anyway?”

The demon turned to look at her. “Oh, right. I’m Elera, of the Darkwater Clan.”

“When’re we meeting the Player?” Vivace asked, looking around at the demons listen to the man who’d walked off. The woman beside her cringed. Dolly took pity on the gnome, and said lightly. “I believe we already have.”

Vivace turned to her questioningly. The human simply raised her eyebrows at her, and looked back at the demon, who sent a grin down towards the smaller female. The gnome blanched, and stated vehemently, “You could’ve mentioned it was you earlier!”

“Does it make a difference?” Elera asked innocently. Vivace glared at the woman and stomped her foot while shaking her head.

“No, but you still could’ve mentioned it earlier.” There was a short pause, where the gnome glared at the demon above her. Tapping her foot, she dismissed her grudge and asked, “So you’re with us?”

“Well, I’m not going to find any other group in the next four days, am I?” The demon shrugged, “To tell you the truth, I’ve been into the city before looking, no one seemed interested. So yeah, I’ll join.”

Vivace smiled, a victorious glint entering her eyes. Holding out her hand, she said gleefully, “Welcome to the group!”

Elera quirked an eyebrow and smiled with a mixture of expressions on her face as she was forced to bend over to shake the gnome’s minute hand. Once this was done, Vivace pumped her first into the air. “Now all we need to do is register and we’re all set. When can we start doing that, anyway?” She questioned, looking at the human.

“For this Tournament,” Dolly replied, “groups are only allowed to register on the starting day, as they enter the Opening Ceremonies held in the coliseum. We can start getting ready and do some team training before that though, so we won’t be idle.” Then, to the other Player, “Can you come with us, or are you going to spend the next few days here?”

“I can go with you. Before that, though, if it’s alright,” Elera said quietly, glancing at something over their shoulders. “Honored Florafire wanted to give all of the Players in the caravan a sendoff before they left, for luck in the Tournament. She’s coming now.” Vivace did a half glance over her shoulder, but stopped as she heard their new teammate continue. “It’s kind of a Darkwater tradition, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, we’ll wait for you.” Dolly waved dismissively. The demon smirked. A smirk that stated quite clearly waiting isn’t what the others would be doing.

“Well,” she said calmly. “since you’re in the group, she’s going to want to give you the sendoff too.”