It didn't take long to uand why Elida had given such strong words of praise for Vaa. It was a bit terrifying how easily she could cut her enemies down provided the right opening. Her css seemed particurly suited toward assassination, which was a on theme for many rogues, but Vaa especially; if she mao sneak up behind a target and backstab them, that was often the end of the fight, no matter how healthy they had been.

  Natalie wasn't able to identify many of her skills, possibly because she didn't o call on them sidering the ck of real difficulty so far. She did, however, certainly have a stealth skill that worked well in shadows, making her all but disappear iwilit ruins—an envirohat Natalie suspected suited her.

  She hoped she provided an equally good impression, not that she was hoping for a spot oeam, but because who wouldn't want to impress a rising star of their css? Even if said rising star seemed to be deliberately keeping a low profile, something Natalie found intriguing.

  They didn't talk much as they fought their way forward, headed for the city-within-the-ruins in the distance. A colle of monsters faced them, mostly Wraiths, but many others including [Runewolems], [Feral Direhounds], and [Malevolent Vis], the st of which had e as quite a surprise, with the flora ing to life to assault them. Not that such a thing was rare in the dungeon, but she'd unsciously started to focus more on the ruins and hiding spots the detritus of the once-civilization provided thaual greehat had overtaken it. But unsurprisingly, everything in the ruins wao kill them, not one particur part of it.

  After an hour of steadily w their way through, they sat down for a break.

  "Doesn't seem like we're more than a quarter of the way there," Natalie said. "Hard to gauge distahough." They'd climbed up a nearby vantage poily to check.

  "It takes however long it takes," Vaa said.

  Natalie hoped she hadn't sounded like she'd been pining. She'd just been enting.

  It was hard to strike up versations with this woman. She was quiet and reserved wholly dissimir to someone like Ana. Not unfriendly like the impressio from Faye, but she suspected Vaa might not want to fill the sileher. Natalie wondered whether she should stay quiet then, but she didn't want te along for hours in dead silence.

  Thankfully, Vaa solved the dilemma, catg her by surprise by speaking first.

  "You move quickly with that hammer of yours," she said. "For its size a."

  Natalie seized the opportunity. For students from Te, a world famous delving academy, small talk about bat was as much a staple as the weather was for oners.

  "Thanks," she said. "I have a skill that makes it lighter." It was a friendly cession, giving away that detail about her css, but a nominal one, because anyone who thought about it would deduce that she had to have a skill like that, else her strength would have been totally absurd. Which it kind of was, for her level, but not so much she'd be able to handle [Valentine] so easily with just raw stats. "You're a nightmare yourself. Gd I haven't had to spar you." She paused, then added, "Kinda mad I haven't, either." Because as annoying as dealing with someone as slippery and deadly as what she'd seen would be, Natalie was also always spoiling food fight. Better to learn to deal with su oppo in a spar than the real thing, too.

  "Thank you," Vaa said.

  "I'm surprised you aren't higher on the ranking lists." She tried for a casual tohough with a curious tilt of her head, making it obvious that she knew Vaa's ranking was a deliberate effort on her part.

  Vaa was quiet for a moment. "I see no reason to draw attention to myself," she settled oually.

  "I uand that," she said. Sort of. "And I won't go spreading around what I see down here, by the way, that's just on courtesy." There was an implicit request that the favor was returned. Vaa nodded idly. Natalie hesitated. "Am a bit curious, though. Wanting privacy is natural, but perf well at Te es with all sorts of bes."

  "hat I need."

  "Not even attention from potential sponsors?"

  "No."

  Huh. That sparked even more questions, because if she had no desire or need for outside help, did that mean she already had a powerful sponsor? Elida said she hadn't been able to discover much about the girl when digging into her past, but maybe Natalie shouldn't trust what Elida said in the first pce. It had been an offhand ent, though, so likely not a lie. Then again, that sort of subtle deception would be perfectly natural for a Parda-Halt so—shaking her head, Natalie mused how that line of reasoning just went around and around, so she stopped thinking about it.

  "Why Elida?" Natalie asked suddenly.

  Vaa cocked her head.

  "Did you team with her, I mean."

  "Because she's strong."

  "But also a bitch."

  "Yes," Vaa said. "What does that matter?"

  Natalie wrinkled her was hardly surprising to find out that Vaa's only motivation for being on Elida's team was her pete was also o hear that she also wasn't fond of the girl's personality. But still. It didn't bother her in the slightest?

  "I think I'd sacrifie efficy if it meant actually liking who I'm risking my life with," Natalie said.

  Vaa sidered this. She at least didn't deride the perspective, which Elida might have.

  "That's reasohe scar-faced girl eventually said.

  She didn't eborate further. They psed into silence.

  "Is having twues an issue, oeam?" Natalie tried. "Generally speaking?"

  Vaa sidered this question carefully too. She seemed to be a woman who, even when she did choose to be talkative—by her standards—would think over the words she used.

  "It's not ideal," she said. "But we're different enough in style and fun it's less of a problem than you'd assume."

  "Oh?"

  "As far as rogues go, Elida leans more toward being a fighter than an assassin. She's extremely capable at fighting a monster head-on, perhaps as much as an actual fighter. And I take the more traditional role of a rogue."

  Natalie had noticed that, and already taken note of it. "She's good at dodging, even head-on. I've seen her go whole spars without taking a hit."

  "Skilled," Vaa agreed, and there was a hint of approval in her voice—a ge of admiration that Natalie stopped herself from being annoyed by.

  Vaa took another swig from her teen, then capped it and put it ba her belt. Natalie could read by the way she pushed off the wall their break was over.

  "Shall we?" Vaa asked.

  Natalie nodded and did the same, readying herself for the sed leg of their expedition.