They seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Coalescing out of the shadows before he could even subconsciously sense their presence. They were on him before he could even turn.

He was trapped.

“Hey buddy,” Myrin chirped as she sidled up beside Kaldalis. “Where’ve you been all morning?”

“It’s well into the afternoon now,” Balrim pointed out.

“I was busy,” Kaldalis said, bristling at their sudden appearance. “And I haven’t had lunch yet. Let me grab something and we can talk.”

Kaldalis bought himself a little time with that, though he wasn’t immediately sure why. He felt like he’d been caught doing something wrong, and that he needed to cover for himself.

But helping Reno and SeventyEight wasn’t wrong, was it?

Even if it was, he couldn’t possibly be in trouble. He hadn’t made any prior commitment to Balrim and Myrin that he’d skipped out on. It was true, he’d promised to share any audience he got for his stream with them, but spending one day helping some newbies level wasn’t getting in the way of that, especially when they were building their own stream off of exploration that didn’t require his constant presence.

The mess hall hadn’t changed much with the town upgrade. It looked a bit more like a food court with a lot of scattered seating, and now had three enclosed walls. The fourth wall was open, though it had a canvas tarp tied up, presumably to be fastened down to guard against weather in the event of a storm. There was a bit of outdoor seating as well, underneath a cloth awning that reminded him very much of the old tent.

Once he got his food - a fried fish sandwich with real, actual bread - he elected to sit outside under the cloth awning.

For whatever reason, being in an enclosed space to eat felt weird.

“Right. So, where have you been?” Myrin asked again once Kaldalis was seated with food in hand.

“Grinding with Reno and-” Kaldalis began, and then stopped abruptly to clarify. “Grinding experience with Reno and SeventyEight. Everyone who got off the boat is level one, so they need all the help they can get. You two should know as well as I do: it’s a jungle out there. You never know what crazy bullshit is going to pop up next.”

Myrin grinned. “That means you don’t know?” she said, a question in her tone.

“He knows not,” Balrim agreed, nodding somberly.

“Knows not, does he,” Myrin said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kaldalis interrupted, knowing that the pair would continue with the bit for several minutes, if allowed. “What do I not know?”

“New zone dropped,” Balrim said. “Word went around that the new Zara town is going to be in another region of the island.”

“Let me guess,” Kaldalis said. “Nos Meles?”

Myrin blinked in surprise. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“New quest,” Kaldalis said, pausing to take a bite of his sandwich. “Sivima gave me a thing to help her build a new workshop. The mats come from a separate zone. Nos Meles.”

“Huh,” Balrim said, “that’s convenient.”

Kaldalis agreed. “Almost like we’re playing a videogame or something. I know this place feels real as hell, but Monsoon isn’t that good.”

“Okay,” Balrim said with a laugh. “I guess you have a point.”

“We’re thinking we gotta be on the first boat over there,” Myrin said, rubbing her little green hands greedily. “Our streams are all about exploring, and we’ve got a whole zone worth of jungle that no one else has visited yet.”

“That’s not all,” Balrim said, “but think about it for a second. A boat full of adventurers arrive, set up a camp, and start exploring the jungle for materials. Sound familiar?”

“Yeah, it does sound like Monsoon reusing assets as much as possible,” Kaldalis agreed. He winced immediately after he said it, though. He probably shouldn’t be talking trash about his employer with his friends while he was literally on their proprietary streaming service where they could see it.

“What I mean is that there’s gotta be another dungeon close to the site,” Balrim said, as if covering for him. “We’ve got world first on the Sunken Ruins of Aruna. Don’t you want to keep on building up that dynasty?”

Kaldalis felt a brief moment of excitement at the prospect.

It quickly came crashing down as he remembered the fourth member of their group.

Haldir.

As much as he agreed with Balrim that it would be smart to stick together for top-end content like that, there would always be a missing person.

“I’d love to,” Kaldalis said, “and you can count on me if you need a tank for anything, dungeon or not, but right now my time is needed elsewhere. You two can handle yourselves for anything shy of the actual dungeon, but Reno and SeventyEight are going to get clobbered out here without me on hand. They can handle the flytraps and kismeleons, but a grizzled dragon or an irritator blundering into them is a hopeless fight. Not to mention the Infernal Horde.”

“There are other newbies,” Balrim said, his tail visibly lashing in irritation. “And we got around just fine out here without having one of the Alpha players babysitting us. You took on an irritator by yourself on day one!”

Kaldalis shook his head. “I promised. I told Reno I’d help her out before I even met you two. It’s the reason I got into the game in the first place.”

“It’s fine,” Myrin said, patting Balrim’s shoulder, trying to calm him. “You’re just trying to look out for them.”

“Trying to replace us, more like,” Balrim muttered.

Myrin rolled her eyes. “He’s trying to help his friends. What has Kaldalis ever done that has led you to believe that he’d do anything else but exactly this?”

“I know. I understand that,” Balrim said, holding his glare on Kaldalis instead of looking at Myrin. “I just thought we were his friends, too.”

Kaldalis met Balrim’s glare with one of his own. “You are my friends. I don’t know what your social life is like, but I have more than one friend, and I’m the one who decides where I spend my time.”

Balrim started to open his mouth, but then snapped it shut. Kaldalis couldn’t decide if that meant he didn’t have a comeback for that, or that what he came up with was too cruel to say. Normally he could tell which one, but Balrim’s reptilian features made him hard to read accurately.

“I’m sorry,” Kaldalis said, trying to hide a grimace. “You are my friends, and I promise when you need me, I’ll be there for you. But you’re just going to the new area to explore. Reno and SeventyEight need me here and now to farm experience. You don’t.”

Balrim wasn’t satisfied. “You don’t know that. What if it’s more dangerous there? What if we need you from the moment we step off the boat?”

“Then you can come and get me,” Kaldalis said in what he hoped was a calming tone. “If it’s that dangerous, nobody is going to pull that far ahead of you.”

“It’s fine,” Myrin said again, and even Kaldalis could tell she was trying not to grit her teeth. His first instinct was that she was irritated with Balrim’s behavior, but he had to entertain the idea that she might be irritated at him as well. “Forget about it, Balrim.”

“You’re right,” Balrim said, standing up. Kaldalis could see the boiling fury behind his reptilian eyes. “I should forget about it. It’s obvious I won’t be the only one.”

He stormed off before Kaldalis could say anything. It was childish, but Kaldalis couldn’t blame him too much.

Once he was gone, Myrin sighed loudly. Her calm expression melted away to let her irritation actually show through.

“I-” Kaldalis began.

“Don’t,” Myrin interrupted. “Just. I’m gonna say one thing, and then I have to go get to work on setting up for the expedition to get established in Nos Meles.”

“I won’t keep you,” Kaldalis said. “Not after…” He gestured vaguely. “All that.”

“Good. There’s an old adage that fits. ‘Make new friends but keep the old.’”

Kaldalis grimaced, but nodded. “I know,” he said.

“Good,” Myrin said, venturing a smile, “I don’t actually know how that sentence would end in this world, everything being in crescents means I don’t know if silver or gold are actually valuable.”

Kaldalis gave a laugh at that, grateful for the lightening of the mood.

“Just don’t forget about us, okay?” Myrin said as she stood up. “Like you said, you’re the one who decides where you spend your time. Don’t let them control your choices like you’re accusing us of doing.”

She left before Kaldalis had an answer for that.

Kaldalis sat there for a long moment, staring at his fish sandwich. He’d lost his appetite with that conversation, but he was too hungry not to eat. Skipping breakfast and catching a late lunch was a stupid idea.

He forced himself to go through the mechanical motions of eating, biting down on the fried fish sandwich and forcing himself to chew and swallow.

While he was eating, Aurigeant sidled up and sat down across from Kaldalis at the table. He tried to look up and smile at the Finnean, but he just looked away instead.

People were depending on him, and Kaldalis wanted to be dependable, but now people were pulling him in too many directions at once. And this was before even considering what other potential demands Garyung might have to put on him by now.

“Rough morning,” Aurigeant said, gesturing with a fork in the direction Balrim and

Myrin had gone.

“Yeah,” Kaldalis said with a grimace, forcing down another bite of sandwich. “You heard any of that?”

“Too much,” Aurigeant said. Kaldalis thought that would be the end of it, considering his normally terse behavior. But, to his shock, the Finnean continued. “I’d give you advice on that, but my way of handling this comes way too late for you.”

“Why?” Kaldalis asked. “What do you do?”

“You’ve probably wondered why I don’t talk very much,” Aurigeant began with a wan smile. “It’s not because I’m a deep method RPer on this Finnean thing. It’s because when you talk to people too much?” He gestured with his fork back and forth between Kaldalis and where the other two had vanished off into town. “This is what you get.”

Kaldalis had to agree with him at that.

It was way too late to be useful advice.