Tama

  Saki didn’t respond, instead she began to roll up her bedroll quietly. I turned to see that Tristy had finished packing up the other stuff and had her bag already on her back, with mine and Paige’s next to her. I walked over to Paige’s bag and began going through it, as I did I threw it on a pile.

  Anything not needed was discarded. Paige didn’t really have anything of value when I bought her, she was literally wearing rags in a cage. But I had a feeling that she hid something on her. Something she would end her own life while holding.

  Sure enough I found it. A small golden necklace with the symbol for Water of it. I pursed my lips. I turned to Tristy who looked at the necklace with disdain. “Why do you hate this necklace?” I asked simply.

  Tristy’s eyes narrowed at the small dangling jewelry and replied “It is who I used to be, and I don’t like the reminder of my past.”

  I nodded, fully understanding her pain. After all, I was starting to come to reality with just how much my past hurt. I had nearly lost my only true best friend over an insult to a man who would have never taken it to heart in the first place.

  Still, it made me curious “Does that mean you used to be a priestess? ” I asked curiously.

  “Oh my Stars Tama! You can literally see she was a Novice Priestess!” Anna said in my head. I brought up the screen and looked at the symbols on it. Anna highlighted a very specific part of the symbols and continued “Right here it says ‘Novice Priestess (Disbarred)’”

  “What does disbarred mean?” I asked out loud and Tristy winced.

  After a moment of silence, she responded “It means I have been banned from ever entering or being a member of that religion again. No one from that religion is allowed to help me or even talk to me. I am considered an outcast and hated.”

  I froze at that and really looked at Tristy for the first time. Not her physical self, but what she truly looked like. I saw the bags under her eyes, the silent rejection in her face. The determination on her lips. But most importantly, I saw the pain in her eyes. It was deep and almost like a current.

  She looked away and said quietly “That was a different time Mistress Tama, I live only to serve you now.”

  I looked at her for a few more moments before I nodded to myself and said “Burn the rest of her stuff. We don’t need it and it will weigh us down.”

  Saki spoke up and said “we might be able to sell it back to the goblins Tama”

  I turned to look at her and said “Tama would rather not talk to the goblins Saki.” Saki simply nodded and looked away, continuing to pack her stuff up. I looked back down at the golden necklace and for a moment, considered keeping it. Then I summoned my water and created an extremely dense ball of water that crushed the necklace into a tiny ball. I walked over to Paige’s ash pile and tossed the ruined necklace on it.

  I looked down at the pile of ash with no sympathy. I understood why, I didn’t blame her. But she still took the coward's way out and I would never mourn a coward. Walking back to my bag I grabbed it and looked around, realizing I didn’t know the way out.

  I turned and looked back at Saki , she looked back at me. After a moment she spoke in a tired tone. “I suggest we find a way out of this place. The guild master will be waiting for us if she doesn’t already think we are dead.”

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  I nodded slowly and looked over to Tristy. She simply nodded back in deference. I resisted the urge to blink away again. Not again, I would not run away. Instead, I turned back to Saki and said “How do we get out?” My tail lashed viciously, and my voice came out far meaner than I meant it to. Saki flinched at me and I felt even worse. I wanted to say sorry, but nothing came out.

  Saki seemed to consider for a long time before saying “I asked Reedril earlier and he said a bunch of nonsense about asking the ancient in me.” She looked at me for a long moment before continuing. “I don’t know what he meant by that and to be honest, I don’t want to.”

  Saki continued to stare at me as if waiting for a response. I gave none, just stared at her waiting. After a long quiet moment, she sighed and said “Let’s ask the goblins, those slaves came from somewhere.

  Saki

  I brought up what Reedril said hoping Tama would know something. Her silence on the matter made me wonder if she truly knew nothing or she truly didn’t care.

  I understood, I could have gone about what happened in many different way, better ways. But Tama was my best friend and I couldn’t bring myself to lie to or trick her. The thought made me feel sick and so I didn’t.

  I spoke the truth, and I had almost been killed for it. The fact Tama did not means she saw it for what it was, the truth. That didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it and I wouldn’t push.

  She simply nodded back at my suggestion and we decided to make our way to the goblin city the guard had mentioned . I forgot its name but it didn’t really matter. I did know directions to it. We made our way off the small ruined city block we were in and made our way down a street. As we walked, Tristy kept throwing glares at me.

  After around five minutes, Tama walked over to Tristy and whispered something in Tristy’s ear. After that, Tristy stopped throwing glares at me and started looking between me and Tama fearfully. I once again really wanted to ask, but didn’t want to push Tama.

  We made it to the end of the block and took a left. Following the path and killing spirits along the way at Anna’s request. At least I assumed from what she had said earlier and the fact Tama kept killing them as we went. I fired a few fox fire bolts myself. The spirits were extremely easy and didn’t put up a fight. Though they did say things like “Thank you” in a weird moaning way when they died.

  I would have killed them anyways, but it was good to know Anna wasn’t lying. We took a right at another street corner and found ourselves on a massive two lane road. There were strange machines on the road that had wheels like a cart, except thicker. Anna called them cars, and I didn’t know anything about them so I just had to take her word for it.

  I watched as the gems in the walls of the buildings shone gently. They seemed to almost be made of light. Soon we reached the end of the road and had the option of going right or left, there was a large building in front of us. A sign above the building was in a language I couldn’t read but Anna translated “Bank of Trust.” I didn’t know what that meant, but a Bank meant income right? I looked over at Tama, who was looking back at me. She seemed unsure which way to go. I pointed at the bank and said “This is a bank right? Maybe it has some gold coins we can loot!”

  Tama looked at me indifferently and shrugged “Do what you want Saki, Tama will wait here.” With that, she blinked to the top of the building and sat down on the ledge. She put her head In her arms and I heard quiet sobbing. I winced and tried not to listen in.

  I went to walk in but Tristy stepped in front of me. I thought she might try something, but she simply asked “Can I come with?” I nodded at her unsure of what to say. She nodded back once and stepped out of the way. I walked into the bank through the shattered front door, Tristy coming in behind me. I was worried she was going to attack me at a vital moment, but she just followed behind, looking around as she did.

  The room was massive and the floor seemed to be made of marble. Across from us over fifty feet away was a row of counters. I walked up to them and saw bits of ancient paper. Since Anna was with Tama, I couldn’t read the forms and just ignored them for now. I saw a door behind the counters going further in. I climbed over the counters, Tristy close behind as we made our way to the door and tried to open it. It was locked and I frowned. I looked at Tristy and she just looked back at me before bringing her hand up towards the door.