When Katrina woke that evening, the sunlight slowly fading, she almost fot that she’d fallen asleep o one of Alicia’s flowers. For a brief moment, she almost wondered if she’d somehow shared a bed with the Dryad. Shaking her head, she sat up quickly, the events of st night ing back to her. Being so close with Alicia, holding her waist as they hugged, she almost couldn’t believe how natural it had felt. The feel of Alicia’s skin, the way her deep green skin blushed as she pyed with her hair, Katrina was almost surprised at how vividly she remembered everything.

  She didn’t spare herself time to linger on those thoughts, however. Cheg her phone, she saw that several people had respoo her emails and were willing to meet up for a chat. Eveer, three of them had made time in their schedule tonight, which meant Katrina o hurry so she could catch them before they fell asleep.

  She also had a text from Alicia, thanking her for the night out. A warm smile crossed Katrina’s face when she saw it, surprised at the kiure. The Dryad seemed oddly excited, given how close she’d e to passing out orain. It almost seemed like she’d thought st night was a date, but that couldn’t be right, could it? Katrina wasn’t sure what to make of the message, and spent her entire early evening thinking about it.

  Grabbihings, and a fresh ration of blood, she locked her window behind her and headed out.

  Her first scheduled appoi was with someone named Elias Lambert. He was registered as a Geomancer, which Katrina thought would be a great css to pair with Alicia’s innate abilities. Elias had provided his home address, and thankfully he was far enough away from Downtown’s restricted airspace that Katrina was able to fly the entire way.

  As she traveled, veering slightly south and towards the kefront, she pulled out her phone and opened Alicia’s tact. She’d just remembered that she’d never respoo the Dryad’s earlier text, despite having read and reread it several times.

  Katrina: Gd to help! I’m omw to the first potential delver, he lives out by the ke. If I schedule anything closer to you, do you want to e with?

  Alicia: Yes please!!

  Katrina: do :)

  When Katrina finally found Elias’ neighborhood, she immediately noticed how unusual it was. From a dista looked like the entire subdivision had flooded, with rivers and ponds scattered all throughout the area. However, as she flew closer, she saw that all these bodies of water seemed to be mahey were all sharply defined, snaking through the neighborhood before eventually joining together to form a rge river that ected to the ke. When she finally found Elias’ house, it looked more like a boat dock than an actual residence.

  The main building was incredibly small, most likely no bigger than a tiny studio apartment. Katrina nded in front of it, found the doorbell, and announced her presence. After a few moments, a speaker above the doorbell activated, and she heard a voie through.

  “Hello?” the voice asked. It was mase, but certainly sat in a higher register, and whoever eaking sounded incredibly friendly.

  “Um, hi, this is Katrina? I’m looking to speak with Elias?”

  “Yes! That’s me, I’m so happy you reached out. Let me get that pesky door opened for you…” Another moment passed, and the door in front of Katrina buzzed, then swung open on its own. “Perfect! I’m waiting inside!”

  Katriated for a moment, staring at the entrah an intense sense of unease. When she realized Elias was done speaking, she cleared her throat to tihe versation. “Could you invite me in? I’ve got a Status thing.”

  “Shoot, where are my manners!” Elias said through the inter. “Yes, please e in.”

  With those st words, the sense of unease vanished, and Katrina was able to ehe house. Inside, everything was incredibly humid, and she looked around at the strange house she now found herself in. It appeared to be a siory, and the floor had been split down the ter; one half of the house had a simple wooden floor, along with some chairs and a small table, while the other half essentially wasn’t there. The flave way to open water, with a series of lights both above and uhe rippling surface illuminating the enviro. At the edge of the water, resting his arms on a small ledge, resumably Elias.

  He had short, light brown hair that appeared much darker due to how wet it was. His face had delicate features that sat atop a strong jawline, and he seemed to be in the middle of attempting to grow out his facial hair.

  “Elias Lambert, I presume?” Katrina asked.

  “Yup! And you must be Katrina, it’s a pleasure to speak with you in person. I uand you’re looking for unaffiliated delvers?”

  “I am, and I appreciate you agreeing to meet me. It’s… ly something I feel fortable sharing over email.” Katrina was now getting used to the humidity, and her senses were starting to smell the blood running through Elias’ veins. He definitely wasn’t human, and she assumed he was some kind of aquatic Race, but couldn’t pinpoint whie.

  “Well, I promise that whatever we discuss here won’t leave this house.”

  “So, are you familiar with how the Chicago Dungeon works?”

  “Absolutely! Each floor has a locked staircase, you o solve a riddle and find the Key Dungeon before you pass. I actually heard that someone just solved the riddle, and I ’t help but wonder if your arrival is a ce.”

  Katrina sat down on a nearby chair, now slightly closer to eye level with her host. “That’s a good guess. You’re right, we’ve found the Key Dungeon, but we’re not delvers. However, the pt of the Dungeon is… sensitive, to say the least, and we don’t trust the Guilds to take proper precautions.”

  “Well, Ashes To Ashes I uand, but you also don’t trust any of the others?” Elias said.

  “We just feel it’s safer to do it ourselves. We need help, though, especially since we don’t have a DPS or a Healer.”

  “Let me guess, you figured that, as a Geomancer, I might be able to fill one of those roles?”

  Katrina nodded in agreement. “That was the hope, yes.”

  “Well, I’ll be ho, this sounds like a lot of fun. I only registered as a Delver for work, so I could use my css abilities closer to the city, but delving has always been a secret fasation of mihough, I’m getting ahead of myself, I haven’t asked the most important question. Would the Key Dungeon happen to be uer?”

  “I’m afraid not, it’s in a deserted suburb.” Katrina said, assuming that bad news was on its way.

  “Drat. I’m afraid I won’t be of any use then.” Elias pushed away from the ledge, drifting further out into the water as he leaned back. At first, Katrina noticed two scars underh his well-defined pecs, but as the rest of his body rose to the surface, she realized what he meant. The bottom half of his body had been repced with a blueish-green fish tail, which glistened ier as Elias did a quick spin to face her again. “I’m a mermaid so, without water, I’m a bit useless.”

  “That’s a fair point. We definitely don’t have the resources to flood the Dungeon.” Katrina sighed i before tinuing. “Is there a reason you haven’t joined any of the aquatic guilds that are always expl the ke? I hear they’re pretty x about membership itments.”

  “Well, like I said, I mostly registered for work. I never gave delving much thought until you reached out, but now that the idea’s been floated… maybe I’ll look into it.”

  Katrina stood up, sighing i. “If nothing else, I appreciate you meeting with me. Enjoy yht, Elias.”

  “Same to you! Who knows, if I end up joining a Guild maybe I’ll shoot you an email!”

  With a small smile, Katrina excused herself ahe house. A quick search through her emails revealed her destination, and she took to the skies as she plugged the address intPS. Her flight immediately began to fuse the phone, which wanted her to stick tnizable streets and paths, but it was good enough to get her where she needed.

  Katrina: First guy was a bust, sadly. Ended up being a Mermaid, so even though he wao help, he couldn’t.

  Alicia: Oh no! That sucks. Hope the one goes better!

  Katrina: Shouldn’t you be in bed? It’s getting pretty te

  Alicia: Yeah but I o push my schedule as te as possible so we start delviually. Unless you’ve discovered Vampire-strength sunblock :P

  Katrina: Alright good point

  on Alicia’s list was a Monk by the name of Emilia Cardenas. This time, she hadn’t been given a home address, but had instead been instructed to meet Emilia at her work. The GPS indicated that Emilia worked at a hospital, which caused Katrina to grow more and more nervous as she approached. If nothing else, this particur hospital seemed to be a smaller ic, much like the one she routinely visited for her blood donations. After nding, she took a long sip of her own blood rations before steeling her nerves and heading inside.

  She immediately noticed that this ic was rger than hers, though it still paled in parison to the hospital downtown. Several rows of chairs were filled with people of all shapes and sizes, some of which seemed worse off than others. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they were in an emergen, so there weren’t any truly awful injuries that might tempt Katrina’s huhe crowds still weren’t helping, but she felt fident she could get through a short versation.

  With no idea who she was looking for, she got in lio speak to someo the front desk. It was being run by a rge Lizardfolk, though Katrina was unsure if they were Beastkin or something else entirely. Their voice was heavy, and slightly raspy, and they did their best to get through the line as quickly as possible. Nearby, in the waiting room proper, Katrina saw a rge medical bag that seemed to be floating around of its own accord. Watg it for a few more seds revealed that it was actually being carried by some kind of Pixie or Sprite, a tiny woman that seemed to be no more than four or five iall. Her hair was bright purple, and sparkled as if full of glitter, and she had it tied into a tight ponytail atop her head.

  The Sprite was moving from person to person, administering basic care, asking questions, and taking notes on a small notepad. As Katrina watched, a taller man with hooved feet and rge antlers bumped into the Sprite, as well as the bag she was holding, and she erupted with anger.

  “Hey! Watch where yoing, mister! This is a Race ic, so you have no excuse to be this clumsy!” the woman shouted.

  Katrina was amazed at how powerfully the woman’s voice carried across the ic. Before she could waty further, she realized she was in line, and walked up to the ter.

  “Here for your blood rations?” the Lizardfolk asked. “That’s gonna be a separate ter, around to yht, and at the end of the hall.”

  “I’m actually here to speak with Emilia? She should be expeg me.”

  “Oh, yes! She mentioned she had someoopping by. Emilia! You’ve got pany!”

  The Sprite that had been buzzing around the ic turowards the front desk, and somehow crossed the gap in a matter of seds. “Excellent! Angie, could you hold down the fort for a sec? I’m taking a fifteen.” Emilia set her medical bag down, theured for Katrina to follow her.

  “I appreciate you sparing the time, I won’t need long, I promise,” Katrina said.

  “Eh, a girl’s gotta eat at some point, might as well knock out some business as I do,” Emilia said. Before they could reach the front door, however, she turo look at a patient in the waiting room and shouted across the lobby. “Hey! Jenkins! What did I say about keeping pressure on the wound? If you keep fidgeting, it’s going to re-open!”

  “Seems like you’re having a heck of a night,” Katrina noted.

  “Nah, this is pretty slow all things sidered,” Emilia said. She led Katrina to a small alcove nearby which housed a series of chairs and benches, all meant for Races of different sizes. The Sprite settled down on a tiny bench that looked more like a bird perch, and Katrina took a seat on a nearby chair so they were roughly at eye level. “So, you’re here about the job offer?”

  “I’m sorry, job offer? I had reached out because you’re certified as a Delver, as I was hoping you might help me with a small problem we’re havied to the Dungeon.”

  “Oh, fiddlesticks, you’re the Dungeon dy. I think I might have gotten my emails mixed up… Might o check that I didn’t shoot down a didate trying to apply…”

  Katrina bit her tongue in frustration, doing her best to stay calm despite the mix-up and the crowd around her. “Should I assume that means you’re not ied in helping us?”

  “Look, Katrina, was it? It’s not that I’m not ied, but life’s pretty hectic right now. I registered as a Delver years ago, when I didn’t know if I’d be able to tinue my career as a nurse. I actually helped clear out this street way back before the city was recimed, if you believe it.”

  “I must admit, I knew you were a Monk, but your size caught me by surprise.”

  “Ha! I get that a lot, but Races like mine pack a surprising punch with the right Css Features. Still, once I’d mao get int again, I found my abilities were just as helpful for keeping the ining smoothly. Right now, we’re fag a staff she, so I simply don’t have the time to start jumping into Dungeons and risking my life. Really sorry for the mix up, Katrina, I promise I didn’t mean to waste your time.”

  “No, I uand. I’ll let you get back to your break, and I hope you have a pleasant evening.”

  Katrina stood up, mentally crossing another name off her list, and floated into the skies again. The evening wasn’t going well, but she tried to stay positive as she pulled up her tact. This was her st lead of the day, and she still hadn’t heard back from the other delvers she’d emailed st night. She set her destination in her GPS and headed out.

  It seemed this person wao meet her at some kind of spa, or was it a yoga studio? Katrina wasirely sure, and she didn’t feel like pulling up their website to find out. The most important thing was that it wasn’t downtown, and she could tinue flying everywhere.

  As she approached, she saw that the building iion was surrounded by trees and greenery. A great deal of care had been put into the lot, and it appeared to have a rge backyard that had been fenced off from the surrounding area. When she nded in front of the building, she snapped a picture of the front garden, the it to Alicia. She didn’t fully uand what she was looking at, but she had a feeling the Dryad would appreciate it.

  Opening the door caused a smell bell t, and she immediately noticed a thin b of inse coating the air in the lobby. She couldn’t resist coughing slightly, and before she could collect herself, she saw someone appear at the front desk. She appeared to be human, with long blonde hair that fell past her shoulders.

  “Sorry about the smell, we try to keep it out of the lobby but it’s certainly a challenge. What I help you with?” the blonde woman asked.

  “There’s not actually that much, but my senses are heightened.” Katrina finally cleared her throat and stepped closer. “I’m looking for someone named… Burl?”

  “Oh, yes! He’s in back, he mentioned someone might be stopping by. Let me show you where he’s at.”

  The woman showed Katrina to a side door that led deeper into the building. As soon as they left the lobby, the lights dimmed siderably, and they began walking past a series of small, closed rooms. Eventually, they found a rger space with a few yoga mats, as well as the inse Katrina had been smelling this whole time, but they kept walking until they ehe backyard.

  It looked siderably different from the ground. Overhead, a series of rafters held strings of lights aloft, and they cast the garden in warm, f light. The smell of inse faded somewhat, instead repced by a strong floral st that seemed to be a mixture of several different flowers scattered throughout the yard. In one er, a small field of sand surrounded a tiny pond, and water cascaded down a series of bamboo shoots to fill it.

  In the ter of the yard, sitting cross-legged on the grass, sat an incredibly rge minotaur. Deep brown fur covered his legs and his head, which closely resembled that of a bull, plete with twe horns. His arms sat fortably in his p, and his eyes were closed as he focused on taking several deep breaths. When he finally spoke, his voice was incredibly deep.

  “Thank you so much, Sandy, I really appreciate it,” the minotaur said.

  “No problem, Burl!” The woman quickly turo leave, closing the door behind her.

  “So, you’re Katrina, I take it?” Burl asked, opening his eyes.

  “I am, yes. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

  “Not at all! I just spend most of my free time here, I much prefer it to the tiny apartment I’m stu. We don’t even have a unity garden, you believe it? I tried to petition the ndlord but I’m pretty sure he’s ign my emails.”

  “Typidlord, I know the type,” Katrina said, clearihroat again. “So, um, I’m actually here because you’re a registered delver, and I was w if you might be able to help me out.”

  “Right! Sorry, I tend to let my mind wander when I’m here. Helps avoid distras, prevent me from fixating on… well, never mind. How I help?”

  “I don’t know if you follow Dungeon news, but I retly found the Key Dungeon along with a friend of mine. Unfortunately, due to some… plications, we don’t want any of the Guilds getting inside. We’re pnning on clearing the Dungeon ourselves, but we need help. Since you’re not affiliated with any Guilds, I was w if you might be ied?”

  “A Key Dungeon! gratutions!” A hearty ugh echoed through the yard before Burl tinued. “You’re certainly right about ohing, I’m not in a Guild, but there’s a good reason for that. A while back, maybe a year or two? I remember all the Guilds being frustrated at a praying mantis boss in the Dungeon, he was somehow resistant to fire, you see, and—”

  “Yes, I remember Ashes To Ashes being particurly a that one,” Katrina said, cutting the minotaur off to hopefully keep him on task.

  “Oh, excellent! Anyways, around that time, I was getting pretty fed up with my day job. I thought I might be able to get into delving and live a more exg life. After all, I’m huge, I’m a Brawler, there’s got to be good mohere, right? Well, since I’m not a human, Ashes To Ashes vely decided they weren’t accepting applications at the time, but I mao get myself a trial run with anuild. We headed into the Dungeon, and the first batonsters appeared, when something inside of me just snapped. All the frustration from my job, all my a everything I lost in the ge, suddenly I had something I could bme it all on. I mao hold my own against that monster, but… apparently, I also tried to hold my own against my fellow delvers.”

  Katrina listened ily, nodding along with the versation. The mental toll of delving was well doted, and she wasn’t surprised by Burl’s story in the slightest. Still, she had a feeling she knew where the story was going.

  “If I remember correctly,” Burl tinued, “I’m on some kind of bcklist. Trust is the most important thing when you’re risking your life in the Dungeon, and I’d shown I wasn’t trustworthy. The whole i made me realize I need help; I found a great therapist, I started io Sandy’s studio. I’ve spent a lot of time w through those feelings, trying to process why I got so angry. I learhat there are more productive ways to el my rage, and I’m really happy with how far I’ve e.”

  “Let me guess,” Katrina said, “it would be best if you didn’t try to delve anymore?”

  “Without a doubt. I o avoid that life, though apparently I ook my name off the delver registry. I hate that I had to waste your time, Katrina. Your cause seems noble, but I’ll have to pass.”

  “I uand. Delving isn’t for everyo be pretty tough.”

  “Have you ever tried meditation? I tell from here how tense you are.”

  The question caught Katrina off guard. “I haven’t, actually. My tension is… it’s a Status thing. Not much I do about it.”

  “I used to think the same thing, Katrina, but I promise there’s a way to work through those feelings! To el them into somethihy!” Burl said, smiling wide.

  “Um, sure, I’ll think about it. For now, I do have somewhere to be, so…” Katrina waved goodbye, then briefly looked to the sky. She decided to not fly through the rafters, instead walking back to the lobby to leave properly. She waved goodbye to Sandy, but quied her pace when she realized she’d gotteo the inse and could now smell the girl’s blood.

  Outside, Katrina leaned against the building, repeatedly bumping her head against the wall in frustration. All three leads had been duds, and she hadn’t heard back from the other people on her list yet. She opened her blood ration and drank slightly more than she should have, then packed it away again. With nothing else to do today, she figured she might as well head home.

  Lifting off the ground, she zily flew home as she tried to think of other solutions to their problem. Worst case sario, they would have to partner with a Guild, which would likely mean surrendering trol of the delving process.

  Katrina: Third lead also fizzled out, not off to a great start

  When Katrina finally arrived home, she tossed her blood ration ba the fridge and colpsed into her puter chair. Booting up her puter, the first thing she did was email her job, expining that she needed some time off for Status reasons. With that out of the way, she started digging through old files until she found all her old delving resources.

  A few years back, after she’d mao get her life ba order, she’d extensively pnned out how she might build her Css if she ever started delving. She had notes about which Features might appear at different levels, ideas for spells, as well as a huge colle of random facts about different types of monsters.

  Cheg her Status, Katrina saw that all the flying had used up more of her mana thahought. She was still sitting at 89%, which wasn’t bad sidering how much flying she’d been doing, but she made a o try and be more servative iure. The way things were looking, her Regeion Inspiration might be the only healing Alicia was going to get, and Katrina couldn’t afford to waste mana on flying.

  The st thing she did was check her email. She didn’t have high hopes, especially after how tonight had gone, and was mentally preparing herself to send out another wave of inquiries. However, much to her surprise, she found a reply waiting for her. Eveer, it was from the Mage Knight.

  Her name was Tabitha, and she seemed skeptical of Katrina’s request, but was willing to at least meet for a brief discussion. Eveer, the café she wao meet at was in the suburbs, much closer to Alicia’s house than all the other potential didates. Katrina’s frustration was quickly overtaken by another wave of excitement, both because Tabitha was willing to meet, but also because she’d be able to spend more time with Alicia.

  Katri o text to Alicia, who seemed to be asleep now, with details about their meeting. She also saved all of her delving o her cloud, then shut down her puter and spent the rest of the night with her guitar.

  —

  "For the record, Elias was really cool, and I'm mad he 't delve with us."

  Maybe he'll be able to help out in a different way! Or, y'know, you could just befriend him and have more than one friend.

  "Is that sass? Who said you could start sassing me?"

  I'm just calling it as I see it. Do you have any friends other than Alicia?

  "...So, today's song is La Alborada by Francisca. It's a short, cute, lighthearted little piece that is a joy to py. To me, it feels very evocative of walking around, and while I was mostly flying in this chapter, I certainly spent a lot of time traveling from pce to pce. There are some wonderful slides that pop up all throughout the piece, among several other very guitar tricks. I hope you enjoy it!"

  Don't think this is the end of the versation, Katrina.

  Until ime! Nyx <3