After short negotiations—somewhat difficult with a man who appeared to never speak—Mist arranged for a tab to be opened at the Blue Haven, fervently promising to pay for the soup and dumplings just as soon as she was possibly able. After that matter had been settled she made for the team house with Kitten close behind, bursting in on Praetorian as he was heading out.

"Ah, Mist," he said, from where he now sat upon the floor. "No, don't mind me, I don't use my nose much anyway. Is there blood?"

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I was just excited—are you okay?"

"I believe that I'll live," Praetorian said, as he got up and brushed himself off. "Now, if you would kindly clear the portal I shall attempt to make as dignified an exit as possible, considering the circumstances."

"No, but before you go ... wait, where's Amanda?"

"Yes. Well. It seems that currently she'd prefer a loss of all consciousness and sense of self to an evening in my company, so she'll be staying here. Do keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't wander off or anything."

"Praetorian! You can't just leave her!"

"Believe me, given the choice—"

"There is a choice! Staying!"

"Aha, but, you see, I've reliable information regarding the whereabouts of that rarest of creatures, an elf girl who finds me tolerable. Our mutual friend Slythaneile is acting the matchmaker, perhaps an attempt to atone for his switching of sides—"

"Sly? You've seen him?"

"Despite everything I do feel something of a connection to the lad. Why ruin a burgeoning friendship over something so trivial as crippling betrayal, I say—and besides which he's my ticket to the mysterious world of pointed ears and almondine eyes. In any case this particular elf maiden has a thing for necromancers, personally I question her taste but it takes all sorts, doesn't it. I'm off to try my chances. Not much to lose at this point, wouldn't you agree?"

"No! I wouldn't! What about your responsibility? Isn't that more important than anything else? I thought you took this seriously! I thought that was your redeeming quality!"

Praetorian let out a sigh, then stepped closer to Mist. "I know you're cursed with a kind of relentless optimism, but do try to accept this one little fact: Nala is gone and she's not coming back."

"W-what? I ... what does that have to do with ... I mean ... I mean ... I know."

"Oh?"

"I, well, I went to get you a stave, actually, but we don't have any team merits left. She must have used them."

"Ah. Well. I can't say I'm surprised. Still, one can't really blame her. Not with ... with all that occurred."

Mist sniffed and nodded.

"There, there. We all cope in our own ways, yes? Some distract themselves by running around like mad idiots, others seek refuge in the forgotten past, still others indulge in base desires. Incidentally why do you have a slime in your hair?"

"I, um. Kitten wanted me to buy it. Or she wanted to cheer me up—it doesn't matter. Stop distracting me, what about Amanda? Where is she?"

"Lumping around in a room, I'll leave deducing which one as a fun challenge for you. Now, if you could simply take a step forward, or back, or slightly to the side—really any direction will do, pick your favourite and hop to it."

Mist planted herself solidly in the doorway. Praetorian tsked a bit.

"I do intend to leave," he said.

"And I do intend to, um, not let you. Not without Amanda."

"Ah, lovely. An impasse. Just what I desired."

"I don't think you're really like this," Mist said. "I don't think you're truly horrible. But if you leave Amanda alone, knowing how she gets when you're not around—"

"Believe me, none know better, but it is one single afternoon. She needs it as much as I do, such constant closeness is venom for the soul even if both involved are agreeable. You've seen us together, you must surely have noticed how we grate upon one another, could you earnestly state that continual contact with me is the best thing for young Miss Willow?"

"That's ... stop trying to be clever, you're just trying to worm out of this."

"Consider this, then; perhaps a few hours of non-consciousness will be good for the poor girl. It's not as if she sleeps. Which must be rather uncomfortable for you, now that I think on it, sharing a room as you do. Does she just sit and stare at you all night?"

"No! Of course not! I hope not? Mostly she just reads or lies there or sits down or looks out the window—"

Mist stopped herself, remembering her position. She resolidified her stance and set her firmest gaze on Praetorian.

"I'm not the necromancer here," she said. "You are. So you have to tell me, is it 'best' for her? Being apart from you? Getting like she gets? Is it responsible of you to let her go like that?"

"Honestly, no, it's remiss of me to allow a charge to lose themselves like that. It's bad for the binding and carries certain risks—but as I said, this was her choice. I have given her every opportunity to change her mind, I have been beyond patient with her, but there is a limit to every necromancer-zombie relationship and she has pushed me past mine. She is unreasonable, and I use that word with great precision. It is without pleasure that I do this, but I really don't see any other path. Dear goodness is that slime of yours doing a handstand?"

"What?"

Mist turned to look back outside—she saw Kitten, but the slime was performing no act more extraordinary than 'adequate trowel-handling'. She extended a tendril to give a little wave to Mist—who was whipping her head back around, just in time to see Praetorian leaping through the completely unoccupied back door.

"Apologies!" he called, already out of sight. "But blocking an exit only works when there's no alternative!"

Mist let go of the door frame, deflating. She returned Kitten's wave without enthusiasm, then went inside to find Amanda.

"—so then I had some more dumplings and asked her if she's in a team and she isn't but then she had to go because she had duels and I didn't have enough to pay but the owner was nice about it, I opened a tab and I guess I'll have to figure out how to get some merits because I still feel guilty about it. Then all the stuff with Praetorian happened, and I left Kitten outside doing gardening, I suppose she's still there, and I came in to find you."

Amanda let out a long rattling groan, and Mist patted her cold hand.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. It's not even getting dark outside yet, look. It's a nice afternoon. Almost evening I suppose, the days are getting longer, have you noticed? Not as long as on my island, in the summer most people sleep before the sun is even down!"

Amanda lolled a bit. Mist sighed.

"Anyway," she said. "What I really wanted to ask Clare was if she wanted to join us. Because she's single she'd be okay. Um! Um, I mean, not 'single' single, but not already in a party. That's what I meant. We can't have anyone who's already in a team unless they're part of an official tournament team, don't ask me why but apparently that's how it goes. I guess that's why Sly could join the elf team. But, if they've never been in a party they're up for grabs! So that was kind of my idea. Try to get some people in our team. Like her. Heroes are good fighters, right? And there is a connection between us and them, heroes and valkyries I mean ... even if Nala couldn't find it that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, right? Maybe ... maybe it's ... oh, I don't know."

Amanda's hand twitched, and Mist gave it a squeeze.

"I keep thinking about Nala," she said. "And poor Tzugakk, of course. I try not to but it's just ... it's so unfair. It's horrible. We don't even know who did it. Summer has some ideas I'm sure, but she's too scared to even leave her house. Maybe I should visit her. Um, I guess it'd have to be without you, sorry. But you think it's a good idea, right? Summer might be able to help us." Mist stared at the wall, then nodded at it. "She might know someone who could join us ... that's what we have to focus on now. Getting more people. Then we'll try to figure out how to get a stave for Praetorian, and maybe something for you, armour or something, and I'll read more about slimes to find a use for Kitten, and I'll ... I'll do my best. We'll ALL do our best, and so maybe—no, definitely, we'll have a chance!"

Mist's words fell upon dead ears, but they did not go unheard. Not by Kitten, who was deeply engaged with her garden, nor by Praetorian, who was enjoying unexpected progress towards certain personal goals re: elf girls. No, the one who heard Mist's speech was far away, far above, and far removed from her idealistic little world.

"'...no, definitely, we'll have a chance!'. Irritatingly chirpy girl, that one. Are you prepared to concede yet?"

"No, Balgan, I am not prepared to concede. Not yet."

The room was elegantly furnished in reds and blacks, filled with mementos and artefacts and other such clutter, and large enough that this clutter was magically transformed into ambiance. Occupying the room, aside from the clutter-made-ambiance, were two of the masters of Bright Battle Academy; Count Illyich Balgan, student liaison, and Caroline Hale, adventurer's guild representative.

"Miss Hale, you know I enjoy your stubborn streak but this has grown beyond a joke. The entire affair becomes more tedious by the day, I do wish you'd simply let me end the matter. No word on the dwarf, I suppose?"

"None."

"Do we at least know how she did it?"

"No. No, and that is disturbing. She must have deactivated her safehold shard, but where would she have learnt to do that? When would she have learnt?"

"Mm. I suppose it's academic at this point, aha. She's gone, and good riddance."

"We'll see."

"Ah Miss Hale, you and your fascinatingly mercurial optimism. You have faith in her, it's rather charming. Some manner of fellow feeling? 'She reminds me of myself, before the cold weight of this cursed world crushed my girlish dreams'."

"Nothing so romantic. I'm loathe to discard a potentially useful tool—or weapon. The Guild doesn't care about race or class, all it cares about is results. Nala Greyward represented something new, and her absence feels like a loss."

"My my, you little radical dreamer. Too late for speculation now, I suppose. The boulder has been given that vital shove, and so we have no choice but to stand aside and observe the chaos it wreaks. You should understand this better than anybody, 'watcher'."

"Understanding is not acceptance. I'd like to confirm something with you, Count Balgan, in your capacity as student liaison."

"Goodness, how official. Very well, Miss Hale. Go on."

"The goblin's death ... tell me that it wasn't officially sanctioned."

"Of course it wasn't. I may be irredeemably flippant and naturally I dislike the very existence of a team such as the 'Blue Slimes' but when it comes to the lives of my students, well ... in certain matters I am unfortunately paternal. Just can't help but be protective of the silly little things. Oh, I'll play games with them, spy on them, wind them up and watch them hack each other to bits but when it comes to actual death ... to be honest I find it rather distasteful."

"This coming from a vampire."

"Undeath gives a certain perspective. You can believe me when I tell you that I don't wish death upon anyone, just as you can believe me when I tell you that I had nothing to do with this particular incident. Indeed, I've even dabbled in an investigation. Not openly of course, it wouldn't do to be seen to care, but for my own peace of mind as much as anything ... yes, I am searching for answers. I want to know who killed that wretched little goblin. I want to know why."

"Have you any leads?"

"Possible suspects certainly, but little more than that. The lancer Cane Calfstrong is top of the list, though he pleads ignorance."

"He was paired with the goblin in the game. Hard to believe he knows nothing."

"My dear Miss Hale, you may trust that I had my most thorough minions question him. Either he's telling the truth or he has been manipulated into wholly believing what he says to be the truth. We know that the goblin ran, we know that the goblin was found, we know that the goblin was murdered. Those are the facts, all else is supposition. Ah, aside from two rather pertinent titbits. The killer knew how to destroy a safehold shard, and they knew how to collapse an instance."

"Not exactly common knowledge."

"Indeed not. It seems likely that they had help."

"From what quarter?"

"Ah, who can tell. We are far removed from the earth, we exist in a world apart ... but politics reach us even in the land of the free sky. And upon that somewhat whimsical note I must depart—unless you require anything further from me?"

"For now I do not. Thank you for your time, Count Balgan."

"You know me, always room in my schedule for a conspiratorial tête-à-tête. I'll send a shadowtail if I turn up anything juicy, aside from that I suppose I'll see you officially at next week's meeting. Until then, farewell, Miss Hale. Do give my regards to the Guild. And please, don't waste any further thought upon the Blue Slimes. Their manner of problem, well. I've found that it often ends up taking care of itself."