Thankfully, it turned out that the pet menu handled all of a pet’s immediate needs. The dog didn’t need food, or even walks or bathing.

It was kind of miraculous.

The corgi appeared in a burst of golden sparks, as he had before, with a cute little yap that made Heluna smile. He told her that he’d named him Ein, and while she was confused, he just shrugged.

The last thing he needed was to try and explain anime to a woman in a low-cut top.

That didn’t go well back in high school, and he wasn’t looking for a repeat of that now.

The three of them ran up the beach. It was difficult for Heluna and Kaldalis to keep up with the energetic corgi pup. He raced down the sand until Kaldalis could barely see him, and then turned and rushed back to dance between their feet.

When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to tire out anytime soon, Kaldalis and Heluna slowed down to a walk. Ein eventually slowed down as well, looking back at them impatiently until they caught up. He even started to chase the waves as they rolled in and out over the sand.

“How long have you had him in that pet menu?” Heluna asked. “He’s got too much fucking energy.”

“Too long,” Kaldalis said, not wanting to admit that he kind of forgot about him.

Not that he didn’t have a good excuse. Between the questing and the Infernal Horde and the dungeon, he hadn’t exactly had much time to do anything for himself.

“You have to let him run around sometimes,” she scolded, regardless of his inner monologue. “It’s not fucking healthy for him to be locked away like that.”

“I know,” Kaldalis said with a wince. “I’ll try and be a bit better about that. I just don’t want to put him in danger. I’m not usually frequenting safe places.”

“You do all that fucking fishing, though.” Heluna’s tone turned haughty, or well, haughtier. “You can’t tell me you think the end of that floating dock is too fucking dangerous for a dog to run around.”

Kaldalis dipped his head. “You’re absolutely right.” He thought about it for a moment. The dock was safe, and while the dog might be a distraction, it wasn’t like fishing was vitally important to Kaldalis’ wellbeing. “Sure. You know what? That’ll be my criteria. I’ll keep him out when I’m fishing. That’ll help.”

Heluna seemed satisfied with that and let the topic go. Instead their conversation turned to how things were going around the camp. Ein paddled a little ways out into the water while they talked about Heluna’s duties around the camp.

Her slim frame made her one of the perfect candidates for squeezing into the enclosed areas of the submerged wreckage of the Persimmon and seeking any remaining food and supply stores, and so that took up most of her time. Otherwise she was helping to process any timber the adventurers found to turn it into usable lumber for the construction effort.

Heluna bitched a lot about the various tasks that seemed to be a waste of her time. Kaldalis didn’t mind. It seemed good for her to get her minor complaints off her chest to someone who wasn’t going to gossip, and he was just happy to know that she was keeping busy and safe.

After a while, Ein started yapping at them again, and so they took turns tossing a smaller piece of driftwood for him to fetch. They laughed as the small dog rolled around in the sand and surf, spinning out as his little legs tried to keep going.

It was quaint, like being home. Almost like he was back on Earth.

Even if he hadn’t left Earth physically.

As the sun started to set, Kaldalis told Heluna about his duties. She laughed along with his tales about the other groups he’d been running around with in the dungeons. And listened intently to his stories about what demands were being made of adventurers on the front end of the quests of which she was indirectly involved.

Eventually their conversation died down, and they just watched the ocean together.

“I don’t want to presume nothing,” Heluna said after a moment, breaking the calm silence. “But what aren’t you telling me?”

Kaldalis rolled his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Something’s bothering you. And don’t fucking insult me and tell me I’m wrong. It’s nice to catch up, but I can tell your heart is somewhere else.”

Kaldalis sighed and rubbed at his eyes.

Where did he begin? There was so much going on and so much to say…

“It’s the upgrade to the encampment,” he admitted, both to Heluna and himself. “I feel like I don’t have any control over this. I’m doing the quests, but I don’t know which ones are helpful. I don’t even know which ones are pushing us forwards and which ones are just wasting our time.”

“That must feel pretty shitty,” Heluna said after a thoughtful pause. “You adventurer types are really fucking big on being the masters of your own destiny and all that shit.”

Kaldalis frowned. “I’m not opposed to someone else having control,” he said, defensively. “But this town thing is pretty urgent, and I don’t like having no idea about how it’s going.”

“Wait. Why is it urgent?”

Kaldalis opened his mouth to say that it was for the next wave of players coming into the game, but hesitated. NPCs in this world seemed to be aware of the existence and uniqueness of PCs, but he wasn’t sure if they knew where they came from.

Or that their entire world was being simulated in a computer by a corporate entity.

It was one thing to tell someone that you were an immortal visitor from another world. It was another to tell them that their world was constructed to be an entertainment venue for profit.

“It’s, ah, complicated,” he said at last. “But due to… extenuating circumstances, I guess? There’s something of a time limit on this. Well, not really a limit. But there’s a window I need to squeeze in under, and it’s fast approaching.”

“How fast?” Heluna asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Well… I was told a week. And that was about four days ago.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

The two of them fell silent for a moment.

“It seems like there’s not a lot you can do, though,” Heluna said. “All you can do is keep doing what you’re fucking doing, right?”

“Yeah. I just don’t like being at the mercy of a system when I can’t see the progress coming,” Kaldalis said, though he grimaced when his own voice sounded like whining in his ears. “I’m not trying to be a little bitch about it, but the whole thing is chaos.”

Heluna laughed. It was a sharp and almost shrill thing. “The world is always fucking chaos. There’s not much that can be done about that.”

“I know, but unsurprisingly, acknowledging it isn’t helpful.”

“Right,” she said, “so you can’t control how this shitty world acts. But you can control how shitty the world around you is.” She bent down as Ein ran up again with the stick, taking it from him and scratching behind his little fuzzy ears. “Yes you can! Yes you can! Who’s a good boy!” She stood up and hurled the stick off into the distance, sending the corgi pup scrambling over the sand to run after it.

Kaldalis tried not to laugh at the adorable display, and instead asked: “How? How do I make it better?”

“Easy,” Heluna said. “Surround yourself with the support you fucking need. Find strong allies. Good friends. You want the system to stop being shitty, you fucking build a system for yourself. Just make sure it’s not a shitty one.”

“I’ve certainly started working on that,” Kaldalis said, though he hesitated as soon as the words were out of his mouth. “I mean. Mostly.”

He considered Balrim, Myrin, and Haldir to be his friends, but he wasn’t sure how close they really were.

Despite all they’d been through together, Haldir still felt like a stranger from another world. He felt closer to Heluna than he did to the other vathon, even though they’d done more together.

And with Balrim and Myrin’s banter, he still felt like a third wheel, even after all the weeks they’d been hanging out. Humans - or human consciousnesses in non-human bodies - were excellent at pack bonding, but there was no substitute for time spent together when building relationships.

“It’s a good idea, though,” Kaldalis said with a sigh. “Maybe the reason I’m struggling is because I’m working against the system instead of with it.”

Heluna made an exaggerated gesture with one hand, as if to flip her silvery hair over her shoulder, even though it was cropped close to her head. “Of course it’s a good idea. I said it, after all.”

Kaldalis found himself grinning. “Fine. You’re absolutely right, then.” It was what she wanted to hear, after all. “I guess I should try and talk to Onirioago instead of avoiding her.”

The finnian paused and then burst into more sharp laughter. “Alright. You were making sense for a fucking second, but now you’re talking crazy.”

Kaldalis joined her in laughter. She wasn’t wrong, after all.

When the laughter dried up and tears were wiped from eyes, Heluna tilted her head his way. “Hey. Uh. Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”

She looked out at the ocean, as if to avoid eye contact. “Not saying that I’m not like other finnian.”

“I mean, I thought you already knew.” Kaldalis shrugged. “It didn’t seem relevant.”

Ein approached again with the stick, and Kaldalis took his turn giving him a scratch behind the ears and hurling the stick back out over the beach. It flew surprisingly far, and the little dog huffed before chasing after it.

“Yeah, but sometimes assholes like saying things like that, like pointing it out makes them a genius or something,” Heluna said. “I don’t know. It’s just nice to be treated like a person and not a fucking oddity.”

“You’re an oddity for a lot of reasons, but that’s not news. You know, I know; it’s not a secret. It doesn’t feel necessary to say it out loud.”

“Me? An oddity?” She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not sure what you’re fucking talking about.”

“I mean, you’re friends with me,” he pointed out. “Historically, an odd choice for odd people.”

She laughed at that, but said nothing else as Ein returned with the stick for her to throw again. Apparently the dog was a traitor and preferred her shorter throws to Kaldalis’ longer ones.

For the rest of their walk, they talked of less important things. And they played fetch with Ein, of course. Overall, it was a wondrous time. Just what he needed. Kaldalis had originally been worried about losing the calm fishing had given him, but it had been really nice to have dinner outside of the ordinary and then watch the sunset with a friend.

It had also helped him to get back on the right path.

He had underestimated Heluna’s value as a support to lean on. She was as foul-mouthed as popular culture had told him to expect a sailor to be, but she had a kind heart. Kaldalis made a mental note to seek her out in the future when he needed an outside perspective to put him back on track.

They bid one another a good night once the sun was all the way down. She gave him a big hug, telling him to not go so long between check-ins in the future.

In all honesty, Kaldalis found himself wanting to spend all night hanging out with her, but he didn’t want to hit the fatigue debuff again. The first day of dungeons had been a late start that got him in a lot of trouble because of that. He promised he’d talk to her again much sooner than this time. And she didn’t need to call in favors for a nice dinner; a walk on the beach had been just the ticket today and would be again.

As he returned Ein to the pet menu, he also silently promised the pup that he’d be better about remembering to spend some time with him as well.

Hopefully he wouldn’t immediately forget for another two weeks again as soon as he went to bed for the night.