She woke to herself sometime later, feeling disoriented, wrung out, and tired, like she’d cried herself to sleep again. She couldn’t remember why specifically, but it wasn’t exactly uncommon and didn’t really merit much thought. As usual it was dark and quiet but she soon realized that, unlike usual, she was being held and had her face buried in the curve of someone’s neck. It was embarrassing but she felt safe, right up until she realized she didn’t recognize the scent. Because the person didn’t smell like anything at all.

In spite of the omnipresent dark, and the usual hot water smell of the spring, she’d always been able to identify everyone by scent alone. Suddenly not being able to tell where she was or what was happening was too much, too terrifying, so she struggled and pushed. But the person didn’t yield, as though she were fighting a statue, which sparked the events of the past day to tumble through her mind.

“Miss Mea?” She tentatively asked. She couldn’t imagine anyone else that strong.

“Ah, feeling better then?” The grip loosened, allowing Ghoumi to sit on Miss Mea’s lap.

“What happened?” Ghoumi asked and got a dry, humorless laugh in return.

“I was going to ask you the same. I think you had a panic attack.” Ghoumi hadn’t heard of a panic attack before as a phrase, but the words were obvious enough and she had been feeling pretty upset that it seemed to make sense. She didn’t know how serious a thing it might be, but when Miss Mea shrugged it off she did too.

“Where are we?” The place smelled like men. Elf men.

“Mm. Bunkroom. I moved you in here as soon as the attack started.” Ghoumi silently absorbed that. She remembered what she’d been thinking about when what Miss Mea called a panic attack started and decided not to think about it again. “It was that or just leave you there. I thought it might be better if I helped. Apologies for the presumption.” Ghoumi wasn’t sure why Miss Mea started defending herself like that, so she patted the stone-hard arm that circled around her.

“No, no—”

“Mea, Mea,” a figure came crashing through the previously shut door with a great bang. Ghoumi flinched from the sound and the almost blinding light now pouring through the door frame. She squinted at the silhouette, and though she couldn’t actually make her out, it had to be the aurum girl. No one else was as pointlessly full of cheerful enthusiasm. Or that size.

“Mea! Let’s just call the big one!” She said, seeming to lock on to where they sat in the dark. “There’s lots of rooms in the mountain that nobody uses, and there’s lots of food and water and Sunny is there. If anyone is sad or lonely then mom and dad can help, too! The big one can take everyone there, since that’s how we got here at first.” Miss Mea hummed and tossed her head back to move the curtain of silver Ghoumi hadn’t even noticed she’d been covered in.

“So the first thing is: good job, Mia. That’s perfect.” The girl giggled happily at that, dancing in place. “Second, don’t just burst through doors like that. Look at it, it’s completely destroyed.” With her eyes adjusted to the light, Ghoumi looked over the now shattered door dangling perilously from one hinge and reassessed the simple-seeming girl as terrifyingly dangerous, just like her sister. Perhaps more so, since she didn’t seem aware of it. “Last thing is, you shouldn’t barge in on someone like that when they aren’t feeling well.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” She said, sounding genuinely remorseful yet still obnoxiously energetic.

“It’s fine, I’m feeling better now,” Ghoumi said, trying to hop off of Miss Mea’s lap but failing. Miss Mea didn’t seem interested in letting her go for some reason. She wiggled a bit to indicate she wanted to be let down.

“I’m feeling better now, you can let me go,” she ventured again. No response. Miss Mea didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything at all, in fact. Ghoumi looked up at her strange savior, sucking in a breath to word it more strongly, only to find Miss Mea staring off into empty space with a look of such contemptuous rage that all the air froze in her lungs.

“Patron will be here soon,” she said with a blink, eyes refocusing on her sister. “Should go back to the main room.” Miss Mea stood smoothly, cradling the dwarf girl with an absent air as she went. Ghoumi remained paralyzed at first but it soon morphed into a humiliated mortification.

“Put me down!” She said, raising her voice. The first time she’d dared to in years.

“Oh, of course,” Miss Mea said, setting her down smoothly. She was glad of the dark because it hid her sudden flush. Being hauled around like that was something that hadn’t happened since childhood and was immensely embarrassing. Even those noble ladies hadn’t done that! Probably hadn’t wanted to get their precious elven hands dirty with a dwarf, but Miss Mea seemed to have just forgotten she had someone on her lap.

The two disappeared into the other room and Ghoumi waited until the heat in her face faded before following after. It seemed that in spite of her fit she hadn’t been too long away, as the rest of the girls were mostly still eating and drinking and talking in quiet voices with one another. But even in that brief time the others had all managed to find clothes, even ill-fitting as they were, which must have once belonged to the guards. Ghoumi regarded her own still damp one-piece tunic with some disgust, but something else caught her attention first.

As the tang of blood in the air had receded over time, the enticing smell of alcohol replaced it. Really good stuff too, at least to judge by the scent, which was exactly how any good dwarf would judge it, of course. She was drawn away towards that nearly forgotten pleasure and soon found herself with a mug of something rich and earthy. After a few minutes spent sipping slowly and losing herself to the flavor she scanned the room more languidly, this time noting how much life had returned to everyone’s expressions.

They were almost all former adventurers, so there was something of strength still left, even after everything that had happened. Or at worst some gritty determination to survive, which was the trait Ghoumi herself had cultivated, clung to, and tried to teach to each of them as they’d arrived. They had all ended up looking to her for comfort and guidance, and each new addition had added heartbreak and relief both. That someone else had to suffer was awful, but that the torment would be spread a little more thinly, and that there was a new voice in the dark to talk to were things all of them took a guilty little bit of comfort in. That was no secret among them, either. There were few of those left, after so long in the dark with nothing but each other.

Yet, like the others, she felt something important returning to her, something better than simply staying alive. It was a lightness of heart she hadn’t felt in years. There’d been no one to turn to while she’d been taking care of everyone, and after being held and allowed to cry and just come apart in a safe place like that, she realized that having someone to rely on was something she’d desperately needed.

As she sat sipping and letting her mind wander, she began to wonder about the person they had called Patron. Whoever it was had to be amazing if even Miss Mea was confident that their problems would all be solved. She looked for the two of them as those thoughts crossed her mind and noticed that both of them were standing near the bound twins and talking to each other. The way their binds forced the two onto each other was a special kind of torment that didn’t bear looking at for long. The caution about releasing them was likely justified too, as the captain was very much the sort of person that would use some awful magic to keep them that way.

Just as she was reaching the bottom of her mug and debating with herself about getting more, something happened. A dark shape rose up from the ground in the empty space near the door Miss Mea had forbidden and passed into ceiling. It appeared to be shaped vaguely like a person, but was far too big to fit into the room. Far, far too big.

“Oh. Bother.” An otherworldly voice echoed through her mind, but Miss Mea took one look and burst into laughter. She stumbled over to whatever-it-was while clutching her sides and said something in a rapid patter. Ghoumi could hear her speaking clearly, but couldn’t understand a word of it for some reason. A long sigh whispered through her mind followed by another round of Miss Mea laughing while clutching the nearest wall for support. Ghoumi didn’t know what was so funny, but it was infectious enough that she found herself giggling, too. Some of the other girls joined in, though theirs was clearly more nervous than genuine.

“Had your fun yet, shortstack?” Miss Mea stopped laughing so fast it sounded like a hiccup.

“Shortstack?!” It was a term that meant nothing to Ghoumi, but whatever else Miss Mea had to say was immediately drowned out by a Skill being cast.

“[Paradox]” As with any Skill she’d never learned before, hearing it invoked filled Ghoumi’s mind with the understanding of what it did. But it had never hurt before, and this one hurt. She could feel it like a dull ache in her bones, in her teeth. In her mind like an old obsession. The will of something beyond comprehension waiting, pressing itself upon everything. It was something she couldn’t escape from, a precipice that demanded a fall.

“I am immutable; any space fits me without changing.” The great and terrible thing spoke, and the world shattered. Everything twisted and unmade itself before suddenly settling to reveal the previously too-large shape in its full monumental glory. It was very like a person, but was absolutely not. More like a crudely carved statue of some child’s fantasy, with thick, rounded features and exaggerated proportions. Though it might have been just the aftereffects of that Skill rattling her, Ghoumi couldn’t bear to look at it for long as it made her dizzy. It clearly couldn’t possibly fit in the relatively small underground space, and yet it did, causing the room to stretch and warp in nauseating ways without actually changing at all.

But more important than the dizziness and nausea, more important by far, she was immediately certain that she was in the presence of a god. A real god! One of them had returned at last. Ghoumi had always been one of the faithful, despite how unpopular it was in most places, and her faith had been rewarded.

“Absolute fool,” Mea said, interrupting Ghoumi’s thoughts while laughing. “Immutable? You’re completely stuck now. Didn’t even think about what that phrasing was going to mean, huh? Amazing. Amazingly stupid!” Miss Mea said, seeming unperturbed by the strangeness of it all as she slapped at the titanic god’s leg with another laugh. Ghoumi wasn’t sure if she should speak up against such blasphemy, but she didn’t know this god, and she didn’t think it was wise to try chastising Miss Mea anyway.

“Speaking of which, the wording for the one we did about my weight didn’t work the way we wanted. I can move just fine obviously, but my actual weight didn’t change at all. Still heavy as a house, which is pretty weird in practice since I keep all my momentum and everything. Well, it works so whatever, I guess?” She shrugged. “Something to think about for next time.

“Anyway, now that we’ve got showtime over with, here’s what’s up. First off, these two,” she said, gesturing at the bound twins. “Something’s going on. They’re connected somehow and I’m not sure if undoing the magic would kill them or save them. Not even sure I could undo it, actually.” She paused, staring off into nothing for a moment before glaring at the towering figure. “Well, you still can, so fix it.”

Ghoumi went round eyed at the way Miss Mea was ordering around a god, but the two were clearly close in ways she couldn’t guess. The god didn’t seem to care about Miss Mea’s disrespect, simply rotating slightly in place to look the twins over, then with a negligent finger gesture their physical bonds dissolved and knit into comfortable-looking clothing.

“It is done.” The two didn’t immediately fall to their knees in praise, as Ghoumi would have, but clung to one another without uttering a word. Though the fear that had been so etched into their faces eased somewhat, Ghoumi thought they looked like they were still worried, and decided to intervene. She eased off her chair and made her way towards them.

“Good, that was low key creeping me out.” Miss Mea said, and suddenly Ghoumi realized that the god’s voice, though distorted, sounded just like Miss Mea’s. She had no idea what that could mean, if anything, and set it aside as she edged around where the two were standing. The twins gave her a look as she approached, something not quite anger but not quite acceptance either. They clearly remembered the way she’d ignored them before, but she wanted to make that up to them.

“Those two seem a bit off, you sure the magic didn’t fry them?”

“Certain. Their thoughts are confused, but mostly they fear us.”

“Ah. That makes sense.”

“Come on,” she quietly invited the pair. She wanted to help them now that they were no longer forbidden, and she wanted something to occupy her mind aside from the implication that the god could read her thoughts. “It’ll be good to stretch your legs out a bit, and I’m sure you’re hungry.” To her relief they seemed interested, even if they didn’t say anything. It was a little self-serving, but Ghoumi couldn’t deny that taking care of others was a great way of distracting herself. It was also, the unwanted and unworthy thought crossed her mind with a flinch, a way to earn her some small measure of grace from the god that was before them.

“Anyway, next thing is all these ladies — oh, and that lad over there,” Mea continued, pointing out Vuelln as she switched topics and tones without pausing. “They were all abused by the local nobility and the guards, though I think that’s the same thing around these parts? Anyway, they’ll need some specialized attention to heal, I think along with, you know, shelter and food and whatever. We’re doing the adventure thing so that’s not gonna be us. So, how about it?”

“What will you offer?” That froze Ghoumi in her tracks and sent a chill down her spine. The twins continued on ahead of her towards the pantry area while she frenetically thought about what they even could offer a god. What texts survived were vague about the things that gods demanded, but they were always deeds and treasures so great that they were beyond the imagination of a village girl like Ghoumi.

“Oh for —” Miss Mea cut herself off with a noise of disgust. “Look. You wanted people for Sunny's project, right? Well, here are a bunch of people!” She wouldn’t dare argue with a god like Miss Mea was, or even with Miss Mea herself, but a project sounded dangerous. There wasn’t much they could offer, but going back to being playthings wasn’t what she would consider a rescue.

“That is insufficient.”

“How can you even be for real.” Miss Mea was gesturing animatedly in a way Ghoumi had never seen out of her before. Not that they knew each other well, but she almost seemed like a completely different person when talking to the one they called Patron. “You need people to live in Sunelli’s little town thing she built, and I have people. How is that not good enough?

“For a place to live, yes. Caring for their trauma is another matter.”

“That wasn’t a real question, I know how it goes with us,” Miss Mea said with a hand flicking dismissively towards the actual god. “Fine. Um.” She scrubbed at her head vigorously with one hand, sending that long hair dancing around. “Ah right, what was that idiot’s name? The local lord guy.” She glanced around until her eyes met Ghoumi’s.

“Hey, help me out?” The dwarf girl was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she couldn’t immediately respond. “Uh, Ku... uh. All the kirol elf-y people have that double L thing going on," she muttered seemingly to herself, "and it has to be six letters so Kuello? Maybe? Eh, close enough.” She finished with a shrug.

“D-did you mean L-lord Kuelli? T-the lord of Venbuelli?” Ghoumi couldn’t stop herself from stuttering before that overwhelming, almost nauseating, presence. But she was proud that she managed to respond at all.

“Yeah! Kuelli, that guy. Thanks, l’il G.” Ghoumi choked over the bizarre nickname. “Anyway, that moron was running some kind of sex slave thing here and sent guards to stalk and harass Mia and I. Best I can tell, this is the whole thing wrapped but for the boss-man himself. We rescued everyone and we were just in the middle of escaping but...” She trailed off, staring up at the statuesque deity.

“You don’t care about this, do you?”

“I really don’t.”

“You’re not supposed to admit it!”

“Whatever."

"Don't start that!"

"Okay. How about this, then? I might care if you weren’t so monumentally terrible at telling stories.”

“Gah! You! Why are you so insufferable?”

“Because you’re just so much better. Shortstack.” The two stared at each other for a long moment while no one else dared to breathe. Miss Mea eventually picked up where she’d left off before.

“Right. So. Here’s why you should care: the sirol are back, and so is their polity. Didn’t you tell me earlier that you received an envoy from this kingdom? Well, I don’t want to be involved in that, but it’s inevitable that you will be, so! Tell Kos about what happened here, because there’s nothing like a scandal to use as leverage in negotiations, mm?”

“That is acceptable.” Miss Mea glared up at the god before she sighed and shook her head.

“Man, you are trying way too hard right now, but whatever,” she shrugged, then paused. “Oh right, I’ve got a guard you can take along with you, too.” She vanished into the room she had said was off limits before reappearing a moment later with the still-unconscious man in tow. There was a smattering of quietly terrified voices from all the girls, who immediately fled to the far side of the small room. After recovering from her own complete meltdown over the living guard’s existence, she found it wasn’t so bad now. She could tolerate it, at least a little. So long as he stayed well away, and Miss Mea was nearby.

“Not to worry,” Mea said to the room at large, as though in response to Ghoumi’s thoughts. She pressed him against a wall and immediately thick bands of stone grew over his limbs, holding him in place.

Ghoumi hadn’t been an adventurer for very long, and she wasn’t a mage, but Saella had been so she knew more than most. Which is why she knew that there shouldn't be anyone who could use magic so easily right after learning it. Or without invoking the Spell verbally. On top of that was the fact that Miss Mea wore that sword. Ghoumi didn’t want to think about it, but she was certain that magic didn’t hack people up the way the guards had been, and that meant Miss Mea was a fighter as well.

That was as strange and impressive as everything else, as it was common wisdom not to take more than one class. Splitting focus that way just meant the person doing so couldn’t do any one thing well enough to survive. There were some examples of people who did, like that nasty corrupted captain, but Ghoumi felt certain that was a case of a noble’s leisure and whimsy. That the wretched woman had simply decided to pick up a second class after becoming strong with the first. But Miss Mea had stood talking casually with a god, so maybe she was just an amazing person all around and common wisdom didn’t apply. The moment she thought that, it became certainty. There was no way common wisdom could apply. Not to her. Not at all.

With the immediate shock of his reappearance over with, and a lack of anything else to distract her, Ghoumi took a good look at the guard and realized he wasn’t one of the ones that she knew. Then again, they’d been largely disinterested in her. It was the captain who’d taken a liking, and so long as she wasn’t around Ghoumi knew she’d be fine. In spite of everything, the man seemed to still be unconscious, which meant whatever Miss Mea had done to him was surprisingly effective. The woman beckoned her sister over for a whispered conference, which included lots of looks at the imprisoned man. Ghoumi thought it was likely they were talking about interrogating him, which she wanted nothing to do with, so she searched out another mug of something to keep her mind quiet and otherwise occupied.

Even after a refill, and in spite of her nerves, she couldn’t help but keep an eye on things. From a suitable distance, of course. She watched as the two managed to bring the man around, only for him to yelp and pass out again at the sight of them. Another quiet conversation passed before Mia started working on rousing him alone while Miss Mea turned towards the titanic being and fell quiet. The god and Miss Mea stared at one another while occasionally making hand gestures as though there were a conversation happening in some way Ghoumi couldn’t detect.

“Heeeeeeeeey!” The aurum girl said in a high pitched and insistently loud voice the moment she noticed what was going on, leaving the comatose man and marching between the two. “Hey, you promised! You promised to talk so Mia can hear!” She looked incredibly upset, on the verge of tears even. “You promised!”

“Oh. I did, didn’t I? Sorry we got carried away,” Miss Mea said, ruffling her twin’s hair, who calmed at the touch. The god reached down and did much the same, which Ghoumi watched with awe and more than a little envy. It also made her realize that, in spite of her bright gold hair, the god seemed as connected to the overly tall girl as Miss Mea clearly was. That set Ghoumi back, as it was well and widely known that it had been the golden headed demon, Aur, who had killed the last of the gods in the prior era. That catastrophe was why the aurum were so reviled as omens of bad luck and great evil. Yet if the god did not mind, perhaps a new era had come.

“Sorry about that!” She said, turning to address everyone. “Okay, seems like everything’s ready to go. This big lug will take you all to a safe place, far away from anyone who would abuse you. It’ll also be safe from anyone you would be ashamed to meet again. It would be nice if you all recover quickly, because no one should need to feel that way, but it’s fine if you take your time.” Ghoumi was again struck at the bizarre dissonance of such a compassionate sentiment coming from someone like Miss Mea. It felt, in a way, as though they were words Miss Mea believed she was supposed to say, rather than her real feelings. Ghoumi wasn’t sure why she thought that, but she didn’t think she was wrong either.

“Of course, you’re always free to refuse and make your own way. Ah... that’s not a threat. It’s just that you can choose what you want to do is all. Nobody’s going to be forced to do anything. There is one more option, which is that if there’s anyone who does want to stick around, they’d be welcome to journey with Mia and I!” So saying, Miss Mea stole a glance through her long hair straight at Ghoumi, who had a pang.

She didn’t like being put on the spot, but there was a definite appeal she couldn’t deny. On the one hand, she had never stopped wanting to become everything she and Saella had dreamed about before they set off from their village those years ago, and going with those two promised to be something special. But on the other, she still felt responsible for everyone, so she couldn’t leave them. Not yet.

Their eyes met and Ghoumi shook her head slightly. Miss Mea caught the gesture and didn’t press, choosing instead to hang back while her sister went around asking every single person, one by one, what they wanted. Some didn’t care anymore where they went, like the twins. Some had nowhere to go, like Edda Cline, since the orphanage had been shut down and she was too old anyway. Others, like Smurgha, couldn’t face their families and just wanted to run as far away as possible. In the end they all chose to go wherever it was that Patron was going to take them.

“Cool, cool, good deal. How great for all of you, huh? Wow, so glad that’s all over with. Now let’s move this thing along, shall we?” Miss Mea said, seeming wildly impatient of a sudden, and pointed at the colossal being.

“Oi.” She grabbed her sister in a half-hug and continued. “Get them going or we’ll be here forever! These detours have just been crazy. We haven’t even gone on that goblin subjugation yet!” She shook her head before turning back to the rest of them. Ghoumi wasn’t sure how to feel about being rescued as a detour, but decided Miss Mea was just like that, and that was fine.

“Well, this is goodbye! Might see some of you around whenever I drop by Sunelli’s Dungeon.” Miss Mea said with an irreverent salute.

“Bye-bye!” The aurum girl waved with way too much energy. Ghoumi started to give her own farewell, but realized something.

“Wait, Dungeon?” She said as everything flickered. There was a sensation of incredible speed, and that dim fetid room was left behind.