“Spill it,” Daniel prompted. “What’s the idea?”

Orrin took a few scraps of paper from around the table and fanned them out. Pointing to each piece in turn, he said, “Stone. Skymetal. Red Iron. Some Mythril alloys. Whatever else Garret thinks is best.”

Daniel looked at the paper laid out and then back at his friend. “Orrin… that’s paper.”

Orrin reached up and flicked Daniel’s forehead. “We’ll have a necklace made or maybe like a shirt. It will have all the various types of things he creates his arrows from. He’ll be able to pick the right tool for the job.”

Daniel’s eyes lit up as he caught on. “That’s actually genius. He complained that all he could really use was sand and wood during our matches. I think he wanted to show off his stone cage thing that he brags about but I wouldn’t let him get near enough to the walls.”

Orrin nodded. “This way, he can just tap his chest if he needs something specific. Of course, this all might be useless. There is probably some sort of limit or rules about what he can use, but it’s worth a shot.”

Daniel thumped his friend on the back. “It also gives us an idea of something valuable to look for in the Guild’s storeroom. Anything that Garret might make into an arrow.”

“I wonder if he could make an explosive arrow if we found C4 or dynamite,” Orrin whispered.

“Nobody’s around Orrin. No need to whisper,” Daniel started scooping up all the notes and work and piling it together. “Anyways, are you really going to make me go through all of this?”

Orrin glared.

“Fine. Fine.” Daniel raised his hands in defeat. “But you know as well as I do that come fight time, you are going to be the one yelling the details for every monster we encounter.”

Orrin crossed his arms and leaned against the table. “While that might be true, don’t you think it might be a weight off my shoulders if you help out a bit more? This isn’t the same thing as you writing your English paper the night before it’s due and still getting an A. This is life and death. Remembering what something can do before I have the chance to yell it out could save everyone’s life.”

Daniel frowned a bit. “I know it’s dangerous. I’m helping, aren’t I? Just because you have this need to research every facet of an issue before starting something doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t pulling our weight. Madi has been putting together supplies for you to carry in your magical bag, getting recipes for items that take up less space but have double the nutrition.”

He continued, standing up and leaning over the table a bit. “And while you might not have noticed, I was testing out how both of our new party members react to different scenarios and fight patterns. Did you even realize that Garret over-relies on his ability to read my attacks from the ground? He should never try to get close to me, but he thinks it’s all a game. He actually laughed when I hit him. Emily’s the complete opposite. Her magic is strong but takes forever to get set up. If something gets the drop on her, I’m not sure she’d have anything to react with. While you were reading about the monsters we might fight, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fight with the party we have. This is going to be completely different from the dungeon we did with Brandt and Jude. We don’t have their experience or leadership. I’m going to be the only real front-line fighter. You heard what that guy said. There’s a seventy percent chance someone dies in there.”

Daniel became very quiet and let his head hang. “What if he’s right? What if you die? We keep getting caught up in these stupid adventures. We were going to go visit the elves, remember? Madi told me they live for thousands of years. I’m sure one of them would know if any other [Hero]s had ever made it home. Even a hint that it’s even possible…” He trailed off.

Orrin’s anger at Daniel’s seeming avoidance of research cooled. He walked around the table and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Of course, it’s possible. We don’t need the elves to tell us that. Plus, all I remember was somebody saying there was a one hundred percent chance we destroy this dungeon and everybody lives.”

He jostled Daniel and waited for his friend to look up. “If you want, we could try to make our way further north after we crush this new dungeon back to wherever it came from. I’m not too sure visiting a nation at war and asking for their help is the best idea, but I’m willing to try if that’s what you want to do.”

Daniel’s eyes were watery and his voice cracked as he responded. “I’m not sure what I want to do. It’s too much sometimes, you know?”

Orrin nodded and without telling Daniel, released a small [Calm Mind] spell on him. He hadn’t realized how much the pressure was getting to Daniel. He had always seemed so calm and put together back in their world, too. The Golden Boy. Orrin began to wonder if that had been a facade as well.

“Sorry for acting like you aren’t helping,” Orrin apologized. “You know me. I get tunnel vision when I focus on something and don’t think about anything else.”

Daniel nodded sagely. “That is why you keep me around. You need someone to swat you upside the head.”

Orrin rolled his eyes.

Daniel moved to bop him on the side of the head, but Orrin had anticipated the move and increased his dexterity a few times. They laughed together in the courtyard with the sunlight throwing shadows along the walls.

“No way,” Madi shook her head and sat down at the library table, pulling Calak’s list and checking for any missed entries they hadn’t investigated yet. “It’s reckless and we need a lot more supplies for a trip like that.”

Daniel tried his best smile and slid into a chair next to Madi. “But we can plan all that now. Orrin can store more than enough food. We’ll already have most of what we need from the dungeon raid and we’ll be heading in that direction anyways. It just makes sense to go now.”

Orrin stood by the door and kept an eye out for anyone who might be walking… or rolling by. They’d made their way into the Catanzano house proper after another hour of researching, only to find that Emily had already given a small lesson to Madi and left. Daniel was trying to get Madi on board with skipping out on the two Guild members after the dungeon was defeated and going straight to the elven forest. Surprisingly, she was resistant to the idea she had previously agreed to.

“I said no, Daniel,” Madi huffed. “I think it’s a terrible idea right now.”

Orrin noted her reasons were changing but left the negotiation to Daniel.

“But it’ll be the best opportunity we’ll have,” Daniel pushed. He reached out and put his hand on the book she was about to open. “Madi, listen to me. Orrin and I are going. We’re going to need someone with your knowledge of diplomacy to keep us from getting riddled with arrows. Please?”

Madi’s eyes squinted at him at the too-obvious wheedling he’d tried. She pulled the book out from under his hand and then smacked it down quickly. Only Daniel’s quick reflexes saved his hand from getting squished.

“Don’t try that with me, Daniel. You should know better.” Madi sighed and closed her eyes. “Fine. The real reason I’m not excited to run into a warzone is some news I overheard from my father. Odrana has sent a squadron from their Fire Mage Corps to start setting fire to the trees. The war is escalating.”

“All the more reason to go,” Orrin muttered from the door.

“What?” Madi turned to look at him. “I didn’t hear you.”

Orrin pushed away from the door and stood across the table from his friends. “I said that is all the more reason to go now. We need to get the [Hero] to where he can do the most good.”

Madi tilted her head. “And if we get caught? Or the elves decide to shoot us first?”

Orrin shrugged. “We turn back. I’m not saying we should go walking into a trap. Just that the [Hero] has a Quest to solve. If the war really is ramping up, this might be our best chance at finding a way to end it.”

Madi turned back to look at Daniel, then glanced at Orrin again. “You two have already decided. Asking me is just a formality, huh?”

“Yes and no,” Orrin answered before Daniel could open his big stupid mouth. “We have decided it is necessary. If you have a real reason, other than your safety concerns, why we shouldn’t go, we’ll listen. You are our party member and friend.”

The hardness in Madi’s eyes melted when Orrin called her their friend. She turned away from both of them for a moment and Orrin thought she wiped her eye once before turning back. “It really is mostly safety concerns, but if you both really believe this would be beneficial somehow…”

“I do,” Daniel said with conviction. “Something is telling me to go to the elves.”

“But after the dungeon, right?” Madi said, with an eagerness that Orrin didn’t miss. She still had her dream of destroying all the dungeons she could in retribution for her mother’s death.

Daniel nodded. The boys waited quietly while she stared at her hands. She fiddled with the corner of the book she held, tearing a small hole in the leather binding a bit more.

“Fine. We’ll go. I need to go add some more things to my orders, though.” Madi glanced back up. “Promise me something, though. If it gets too dangerous, Orrin uses [Teleport] and gets us out of there right away.”

“I promise,” Orrin replied.

Madi let out a long sigh. “You two are so much work.” She didn’t expand on her thought. She stood and made her way around Orrin, leaving the library.

Daniel waited until the echo of her footsteps was gone and lifted his hand for a high-five to Orrin. “That was beautifully done, my man.”

Orrin slapped his hand out of habit. “What was?”

“Calling her our friend,” Daniel explained. “She still walks on eggshells with you sometimes. You gave her the perfect line.”

“I was just telling her the truth. It’s how I really feel,” Orrin said, feeling dirty. “I wasn’t trying to manipulate her or any-“

“Exactly,” Daniel stood and moved the books back to their shelves. “You can’t lie for shit. That’s what really sold it.”

Orrin examined the conversation in his head and tried to figure out how he felt. He hadn’t meant to trick Madi by using mind games. He also hadn’t wanted her to feel forced to side with them. He genuinely wanted her input on whether it was too dangerous to go to the elves for Daniel’s gut feeling that they could help end the war in some super-secret special way.

Orrin’s stomach dropped as he had a thought.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah, buddy?” Daniel’s back was to Orrin as he reached up to put a book on the highest shelf. “What’s up?”

“Remember that movie that you liked so much you actually bought the special edition? The one that we watched over and over at your house for like a year?”

Daniel’s body stiffened for only a minute before he pushed the book into its resting place and dropped back down off his toes. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Are you sure… no rings at all? Not even One Ring?”

Daniel turned to face Orrin, wearing his most disarming smile. “What are you-“

Orrin interrupted his friend and asked point blank, “Are we going to the elven forest just so you can try and sleep with an elf?”