{-Myr-}

She’d gotten her first level up! But the moment was quickly ruined by her brother’s lack of interest and the way he and Duuzlo disappeared inside. She stood outside for a moment after Zetai and Reynneak had joined them, though she chose to ignore Zetai’s messing around and find Llewel.

The twins had been here several times before; almost everyone had. Myr knew this place better than most of the streets of Nafrius, often wandering them when Llewel was busy. She knew exactly where Duuzlo would’ve taken him, so she wandered over and got as close to the door as she dared. If Llewel wanted her to come, then he would’ve offered—but she wasn’t going to let herself be in the dark. Neither of them would notice she was there.

“Give me one moment,” Duuzlo instructed. There were shuffling noises until music started to play, loud at first but quickly muffled. “I can’t do anything without this. Reminds me of when I was your age; my parents would bring me out to the concert hall. Now it feels like I never left that time in my—”

“That’s great, Duuzlo, but can we get to the point here?” Llewel sounded nervous, and she assumed the sound of footsteps going back and forth was his. “You know who we are, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. You’re Llewel and Myr Beithana. You help out whoever you can, without expecting much in return. You have dreams of leaving Nafrius one day, and from the looks of it that day is coming up soon…”

“That’s not what I meant and I think you know that.”

“Oh. No, I don’t think I know what you mean. You’re going to have to be more specific. Are we talking about knowing you personally? Because if that’s what you want, I have plenty of stories of your first few days here in Nafrius. Poor things, you didn’t know what to do or how the world worked like everyone else did…”

“You know who we were before we came to Nafrius. You’ve known us longer than we’ve known you, haven’t you?”

“In a way, everyone knows who you were before you came to Nafrius… though I don’t think very many remembered what happened in those days.”

“I just need you to answer a simple question for me. I saw a girl and I know I should remember her but I don’t. You have to know something.”

“Well, go on, then. What did she look like? There’s a lot of girls running around here, you can’t just say you’ve seen one and expect me to know who you’re talking about.”

“She had red hair, one of her eyes was brown and the other was blue, she—she had these weird markings on her right cheek and there were some on her hand, too. I couldn’t see what she was wearing because of the cloak she had on. She recognized me and I recognized her, but I still can’t remember how or why…”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about. Are you sure you weren’t mistaken somehow?”

“I’m sure of what I saw and felt.”

“I… suppose there might be one person I know of that’s close to that description. Ms. Kyrenise. But that’s all I’m allowed to tell you—she’s dead, or at least that’s what they say.”

“Kyrenise..?”

Myr had to muffle a gasp. She recognized that name, too. It was her name, or a part of it, anyway; the name of the one who helped them be more than they were meant to be.

The music stopped. “I’m sorry I can’t be of any more help to you, but I really must be going. I do hope you figure out who she is. I think that’ll help us all, in one way or another.” Then Duuzlo hurried out, nodding to Myr as he passed her, and rushed off towards where Zetai and Reynneak were.

She chose to ignore, for a moment, the shouting that went on in the other room. When Llewel slowly came out of the room, she prompted innocently, “What was that about?”

He just shrugged and kept walking. She sighed, knowing there wasn’t going to be a way for her to do anything anytime soon, and followed him to the others.

In the short time Zetai had been left alone, she succeeded in single-handedly setting a statue of Emmyth on fire. Her expression was a mix of pride and wonder about what her punishment might be, and the way she talked to Duuzlo made it sound like she had no regrets.

Llewel grumbled something while Reynneak walked towards them. “Please don’t tell me you had anything to do with this.”

“I did nothing,” Reynneak confirmed. “She got bored and instead of listening to my warnings, she started whacking one of the statues. Apparently there’s nothing keeping [Flaming Tip] from activating outside of battle.”

“Remind me again why I thought it was going to be a smart idea to go with you..?” Llewel shook his head.

Duuzlo’s voice rose, a rare occurrence that led Myr to step behind her brother despite knowing it wasn’t for her. “Do you even know who Emmyth is?”

“An old guy that died a couple hundred years ago, did something, founded Nafrius,” Zetai responded casually. “He was just a guy, wasn’t he? I don’t get why you have all of these statues and stuff for him if he was a normal person like the rest of you.”

“He saved the world from its complete collapse,” Duuzlo corrected. “He stopped the fighting between the regions and made them one. It’s with a heavy heart I have to acknowledge that the thing he sacrificed so much to prevent is happening… an event that you are supposed to be in charge of stopping.”

“Sorry, but I’m in co-op, not story mode,” she remarked.

Duuzlo blinked. “Please get out of the temple. I will consider letting you in later, but I will not stand for your presence here any longer. Leave.”

“Alright, I’m going.” Zetai wandered towards the door. “We’ve got to find a way out of here and into Anthalas anyway.”

The remaining three gave a collective apology to Duuzlo before following her. They spoke nothing on the matter, simply moving on to find another quest. It was something they’d discussed earlier; finding a quest that would lead them out of Nafrius and into Anthalas, instead of wandering out on their own.

Reynneak and Llewel were talking to each other in the back, making sure they had everything for their trip. Zetai took the lead, guiding them into obvious and obscure areas alike in hopes of triggering something. Myr stayed in the middle, thinking over the name she heard and what Llewel had said he saw. The hope of another encounter brought both excitement and apprehension. She wondered if he felt the same.

“Do you know where you’re supposed to be going?” Reynneak eventually asked.

“Not really,” Zetai answered with a shrug, “but I know it’s got to be around here somewhere. Like that dude.”

An older man raised his head in acknowledgment. “May I ask you a favor?”

[Quest: Letters for a Friend

Zuzned regularly sends letters to his friend, Yullun, in Anthalas City. Unfortunately, he can’t make the travel there himself and he’s looking for someone willing to do it for him. Would you mind traveling across the plains and giving Yullun her letter?

Rewards: Silver-Lined Shield, 300 coins, +60 EXP]

“You’re the guy we’ve been waiting for,” Zetai said with a smirk. “We’ll deliver the letter to your friend.”

“Be warned, there are monsters lurking all over the place on your way.” Zuzned pulled a letter out and handed it to her. “It’s not like the city. They’ve got free roam out there in the wild. It’s not a place for the unprepared!”

“We’re plenty prepared,” Reynneak assured him. “You don’t have to worry about us or the letter.”

“I want to stop at home first,” Llewel reminded all of them. “Can you just give me a little bit of time to take what I want before we have to go?”

Zetai nodded. “Just try to be quick. The fun stuff’s barely getting started, and this is our chance of actually making stuff interesting.”

Llewel gave her a grateful glance before darting off. Myr considered going with him, but she knew that there was nothing worth bringing. Anything she might miss but couldn’t bring with her she trusted him to leave in the care of Fininri or Duuzlo. So she stayed with Zetai and Reynneak, half-listening to their conversation while having daydreams of her own.

“Promise not to set the entire plains on fire.”

“Come on, it was one statue.”

“Zetai.”

“I make no promises.”

Zuzned looked at them quizzically. “Are you sure I don’t have to worry? I’d like to remind you that, if that letter burns, you’re not going to get anything. You’ll have to come back to me and start all over again.”

Zetai waved dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll be fine. We know what we’re doing… mostly.”