Kaldalis barely made it out of the mess tent before running into a familiar face.

Or, more accurately, a familiar face ran into him.

Bangen was running at full tilt through the camp. Considering it was late morning, someone had probably just reminded her that she should eat a morning meal. She slammed into Kaldalis from the side, and a book flipped out of her hands on impact.

Fortunately for Kaldalis, he was able to keep his feet through the impact. Instinctively, he reached out and caught Bangen’s book. It took him three tries before his hands closed around the spine, but he managed to keep it from hitting the ground. It was a newer book, with uncracked bindings, and he wondered how long they would hold up after he returned the tome to Bangen’s hands.

“Sorry!” Bangen said before she even looked up to see who she’d run into. She staggered for a moment, grabbing his shoulder to steady herself. “Sorry!”

“Forget breakfast again?” Kaldalis asked as he held the book out to her.

“Oh! Kaldalis!” Bangen said with a smile as she accepted the book. “Is it that obvious?”

“A lucky guess,” Kaldalis said. “It’s just a very on-brand guess.”

“I guess so.” She laughed as she took the book from him. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Kaldalis said. “How are you holding up, by the way? I kind of dragged you into a wild mess last night.”

“I’m definitely better than last night,” she said, reaching up with her free hand and touching the spot where her horns emerged from her skull. “It’s enough to know that the camp isn’t being converted into a Geas Venom production facility right under all our noses.”

“That’s a good point. I guess no matter who ends up the new expedition leader, it’s a step up from Onirioago on that front.” He sighed. “It’s been a crazy few days. It’s hard not to lose sight of the little victories.”

“Oh! Also!” Bangen looked around, momentarily confused before she noticed - as if for the first time - the book in her hand. “The notes! The Jormungumo is a fascinating research topic.” She flipped through the pages rapidly before finding a spot she was looking for. She held the book up, showing Kaldalis a page covered in miniscule words. What little he could pick out seemed to be a lot of big biology words he vaguely recognized. “It might be weeks before we get anywhere on this. I think it represents an entirely new class of monsters! Something entirely undiscovered! A whole new mystery!”

“And no one else has found anything like her- it?” Kaldalis asked.

“No one,” Bangen said, waving the book around animatedly. “Not even just no one here. I mean no one in history! Our names could go into the history books for this!” She cleared her throat. “Well, I mean. Maybe not you and I specifically by name. But this expedition. Which, you know. The staff listing here is a matter of public record, so anyone who wants to know who discovered this could look that up and see my name on that list. And, um, maybe not yours. But…”

“Listen, I’m a simple man,” Kaldalis said. “Will this information - this research - help people?”

“Definitely!” Bangen said quickly. “Even if we were to flee back to Baimer tomorrow, and I finished this research on the trip back, this information could help us pursue, define, and categorize an entirely new class of life form! There’s no telling what that might mean for our collective understanding of the world!”

“Then I don’t need my name attached to it. I’m happy to help, that’s all.”

Bangen stammered for a minute, but then broke into a big smile. “Thank you. That’s a great perspective to have on it. I’ll try and see this project in a more selfless light.”

“As if you needed me to remind you of that,” Kaldalis said, patting her on the shoulder. “It’s obvious that you do this for the passion of it, not the glory. Everyone knows that. It’s why you’re not getting breakfast until halfway to noon. And why you’re standing here with me going off on a tangent rather than stuffing your face, too.”

“Oops,” Bangen yelped, her purple-red skin flushed a little redder. “Sorry! I should go-”

“Don’t be sorry,” Kaldalis said with a laugh. “Get your food.”

“Listen,” Bangen said, suddenly looking more serious. “At the vote tonight, I’m going to nominate you. I don’t know if you’ve thought about it or if you even want the job, but I think the camp needs a leader like you.” Kaldalis started to open his mouth to speak, but Bangen just rambled right through. She was staring down at her book, one hand picking at the corner of the back cover. “You’ve done a lot for the camp, and you’re always looking for ways to push everything forward. You’ve got my vote, and there are others on the research team who will recognize you as well. I know you don’t want stuff getting in the way of your adventuring, but I really think you’re the best person for the job. I can’t think of anyone more likely to put the needs of the expedition above their own.”

Kaldalis was stunned. He had worried for a moment that he didn’t have a chance, and now someone was - entirely unprompted - trying to push him towards the position.

Words failed him entirely.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just had to get that out or else I was going to lose my nerve.”

“Thank you, Bangen,” Kaldalis said, “your support means a lot to me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m glad I ran into you,” he continued with a smile. “I feel a lot better now.”

She nodded with a bit of excitement. “Good.”

“Now go on and get your breakfast,” Kaldalis said, putting a hand on her shoulder and pointing her towards the food. “I’m afraid if you don’t go now, you’ll wander back to your work without eating.”

“Thanks,” Bangen said with a laugh. “I’d forget my own head if my brains weren’t in it.”

Kaldalis’s first instinct was to say something about her brains being on a circuit board somewhere in Monsoon headquarters, but caught himself. The last thing he needed was to alienate one of his few friends by being an asshole to her because she was an NPC.

Bangen ran off to breakfast, and Kaldalis resumed his trip to the crafting stations with renewed vigor. He suddenly understood the importance of momentum. He hadn’t been entirely confident about getting Sivima’s support, but Bangen had renewed his spirit.

He had a shot. It was just that he’d gotten unlucky.

Talking to one of the alpha players first was his mistake. Of course they had their own in-group. But there were dozens of people in the camp, and only about fifteen to twenty were alpha players. A small fraction. Even if all of them voted for the same alpha player, the NPCs and beta players were unlikely to jump on that train.

“I have a shot,” he repeated to himself. “I can do this.”

He made his way into the crafting area. Despite the early hour, all the NPC crafters were hard at work, and the PC crafting stations were filled with people chugging away, either making new gear or grinding their skills.

It only took a minute to find Sivima. She was working at her forge, hammering at a small blade - either for a dagger or a spearhead - with frantic pace. Despite how early in the day it was, she was covered with soot all down the front of her and up her arms to the elbow. There were even a few glowing embers standing out on the front of her smock, smoking lightly.

“Sivima?” Kaldalis called to her.

“Kaldalis,” she grunted as she hammered at the blade. “Been a while.”

“Yeah, how are you holding up?” He said as he entered her crafting area, careful not to step between her anvil and the burning forge. “I thought I’d take a quick minute to check in.”

“Busy. I’m behind schedule,” she said, turning suddenly and sticking the blade back into the forge to heat, and whirling away from the flames to an entirely separate project taking place on a vice set into the workbench at the far end of her workspace. As she moved, she took the brief moment that she had two free hands and gestured around herself. “We’re all behind schedule. We’ll always be behind schedule. Being caught up and on time is a dream we can but chase forever.”

Kaldalis smirked. “It takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.”

“Exactly. We bust our butts just to stay the same amount of behind, thank you,” she started setting to work on what looked like a mostly-finished dagger, the handle a rough wooden block bolted to the tang of a finished blade. After a moment, she turned around and gestured at him angrily. “So are you just gonna stand there? Hand me that sanding block.”

Kaldalis was suddenly jolted into realizing he was the only person in a sixty-foot radius standing still. He jumped to help, grabbing the indicated tool and ran it across the tent to the blacksmith.