She and Vaa spent the three hours before the reset cheg out the various stores of the city. There were all manner of goods, not just ons, armor, and tris, but potions and even raw resources—whatever a person wao grind out Tokens for, they could.

  Naturally, foot-traffic was heaviest in the armor and on shops, but she and Vaa still spent some time looking at the others. While much of the items had a lewd bent to them, there were plenty ur items too. Extremely high quality healing potions, for one, whiatalie made a note of. And some more iing potions too, though she put those out of her thoughts, for now. She had other things to focus on.

  Before she k, an enormous bell was eg through the city, announg the new wave of assigs. Iy of eternal twilight, that was the only means of easy time keeping. The bell rang from some distant clock tower twice per day, once every twelve hours. Acacia had informed them that this one was the 'midday' bell, and the one would be the 'midnight' bell—simply an agreed-upon standard for the city folk to standardize schedules. Though people bustled about at any hour, there was more activity after the midday bell, and the midnight bell was when most people retired to their rooms to sleep—after cheg to see what their m assig would be , of course.

  "Looks like it's time," Vaa said, walking up to Natalie, who'd been iing a pair of boots.

  "Looks like it is," she agreed.

  They walked out into the streets, and the various Cityfolk had emerged from the many stores like rats out of the woodwork. They streamed in the dire of the pace, a mixture of expressions on their faces: curiosity, apprehension, nervousness, and in some cases, excitement. Everyone wao know what this cycle's assig would be, though they had varying levels of enthusiasm.

  It still felt surreal to see so many delvers walking about. They were in the dungeon. What the hell.

  "We should talk," Vaa said. "The board is going to be swarmed, anyway. I'm not sure if I want to elbow my way to the front."

  The boards were broken up by name, and spread out, so while there would be a crowd, it probably wouldn't be as bad as Vaa implied. But Natalie stopped walking and turo her partner.

  "Talk about what?"

  Vaa seemed vaguely nervous, chewing on her bottom lip. The girl had opened up iime together, or maybe Natalie could read her better. Going through bizarre experieeo break the ice. Still, she was reserved by nature, so she studied Natalie quietly before replying.

  "Acacia said the City's assigs aren't random, and teammates are often paired together, if there's … chemistry … between them. I wao talk about how that might affect the team before it happens."

  A mature approach. She grimaced. It was obvious who Vaa was refereng. Suddenly irritated, Natalie gnced away, "Elida and I will deal with that whe there. Even if we hate each uts, and things bee worse because of the City meddling, we still be on a team together." She was certain of that.

  "Okay," Vaa said. "But that's not … entirely what I meant. Is there anyone else oeam that might get dragged into an assig with you?"

  Natalie blinked.

  "Who's iy right now, for example," Vaa said ftly, unamused she hadn't uht away.

  "Are you asking if I want to fuck you?" Natalie asked in surprise.

  She hadn't meant to be so blunt; she'd just been caught off guard.

  And, as Natalie already khe shirl clearly wasn't used to addressing such topics so directly. Her face closed off, the forcible smooth posure of someone hiding their real rea. Natalie could still read her posture easy enough though: the suddenly rigid spine. She was annoyed ry, and … embarrassed?

  "I think it's better if we talked about it beforehand, as I said. We're still in the dungeon. We o be professionals."

  "Right," Natalie said. She scrambled for what to say. "And … you want … hoy?"

  Vaa's posture became even mid. She abruptly spun away and began to walk. "Never mind," she said tightly. "It was a stupid question. The answer is obvious." Her shoulders hunched forward and she stalked in the dire of the Pace.

  Natalie hadn't expected any part of this iion; she hurried to catch up. She could sometimes be clueless to the undercurrent of a versation, but she wasn't horrible with people, and in fact, when she wasn't blinded by other factors, she was even good with them—especially in these matters. To be fair, it was obvious what was happening.

  Vaa wao know if she might get dragged into something with Natalie, but on Natalie's rea, had instantly assumed there wasn't any i. Which was wrong, but she'd assumed it so quickly and with such misinterpretation that something became instantly clear:

  She was … insecure?

  It was absurd for someone who might actually be the most petent student of their year, possibly without even a Patron Goddess helping her along, and also a girl who was very much attractive, but Natalie k was the truth. And she knew why, or at least suspected why.

  A girl who had grown up with so many scars on her face?

  The scars weren't pretty, Natalie wouldn't lie and say that. They were pretty in the sehat Vaa retty, and that the scars beloo her, and that Natalie even liked scars, but … there were a lot of them. , straight white lines of various length and thiess that crisscrossed her face, more than a dozen, maybe more than two dozen. It was the first thing a person would notice wheing Vaa, and that was simply the truth. She was scarred. Heavily.

  And iionally. Those weren't scars from motacks. They had been inflicted by a bde. Natalie still wohe what, the why, behind them, but obviously that wasn't the kind of thing she could just ask about.

  And even on someone like Vaa, they'd left their mark. She'd instantly assumed Natalie wasn't ied.

  Which was. Well. Ridiculous. But that kind of deep-rooted insecurity wasn't the kind of thing she would ugh at and dismiss, even if a part of her wao.

  How should she clear the air, then? As much for warning Vaa for the sake of practicality as because she wahe girl to know that she was attractive. Scarred or not, Vaa had a stunning face: sharp features with hard gray eyes with flecks of blue that entirely captured her attention wheheir gazes met. Even if she hadn't beey, physically speaking, Natalie would've been ied ihere were few traits Natalie found more of a turn on thaermination and petence.

  All of those thoughts ran through her head in a few moments, Natalie deg how to hahe situation.

  "I guess it is kind of obvious," Natalie said. "Sorry, I don't want to make you unfortable, but you're right, better to have it out in the open. It's pretty likely we'll be thrown into something together. Maybe more likely than Elida, even."

  Because Natalie's i in Vaa came without oh the puns it did with Elida. And the dungeon had already split them up to give her one-oime with Vaa. It—or maybe Lust herself—knew Natalie's preferences well. She hadn't been hitting on Vaa, obviously, throughout their trip. The dungeon wasn't the time or pce for that. But yes, her i had very much been sparked in the past few hours. Maybe well before that.

  Vaa almost stumbled at Natalie's words. She gnced sideways at her, eyes widening slightly in surprise, having expected the opposite response, but Natalie didn't ent on her rea.

  "Oh," Vaa said.

  A short silence passed between them. Vaa cleared her throat.

  "I just wao know," she said. "In advahank you for telling me."

  Unfortunately, Natalie couldn't tell if Vaa returhe i. And she didn't offer any illumination onto the topic, which kind of went against the pretense of 'wanting to know for practicality's sake'. She should've told Natalie whether she was or wasn't, so they could know if the City was more likely to meddle.

  But Natalie didn't press.

  At a very minimum, Vaa was suddenly walking with a bit more energy to her step. Though maybe Natalie just imagi.