The journey to Anvasa had gone by quickly so far. Ethan and his guild were four days in, and judging from what Alera had told them, were making good time. They hadn’t been attacked by any members of the House of Whispers, yet, a sign that David and Sam agreed meant they were probably safe.

“Are we there yet?” Miguel’s voice called from in front of Ethan. “I’m bored. I’m hungry.” Like a petulant child, he’d been asking the same question almost since they’d left Startesgarde. The first dozen times it had happened, the guild had humored him. But now it was just a joke that had gone on too long.

“Shut up!” Sam and David shouted in unison. Sam’s familiar hissed and flapped its wings, its master’s shout having woken it from sleep. Privately, Ethan agreed with them, but Miguel had continued his teasing over Alera pretty much any chance he got for the last four days. Alera took it in stride, and made more overt comments as fuel for Miguel.

Ethan wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, on the one hand every comment, every joke made his stomach flutter a little, but every time he couldn’t help but think it was also just more of her teasing. The same as she’d been doing since he first met her in Grassmere.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Ethan guided his horse closer to David.

“Yeah, what’s up?” David said, not taking his eyes off the road.

“That guy you mentioned, Roland, what happened to him?” The story had been bothering Ethan since he’d heard it. If David killed someone in PvP without the authorization of the PvP guild, there could be blowback. But he had never heard of anything happening.

“What do you mean?” David looked over at him. “He’s in the raid clan, last I heard.”

That didn’t satisfy Ethan’s worry.

“No, I mean,” he paused, trying to figure out exactly how to word what he wanted to say, “he didn’t file any sort of complaint with the Guild?”

“Oh. Nope.” David said with certainty. “Wouldn’t matter if he did though.”

“Why not?”

David looked around nervously, obviously he hadn’t meant to say that last part.

“Alera!” He shouted to the Rogue who was first in their line of horses. “Ride up half a mile and find us a place to eat!”

“Heard!” She called back to David and nudged her horse into a gallop as David guided his own horse closer to Ethan’s

“Calder, the leader of the PvP Guild, is one of the Silent Lords.” He whispered when Alera had grown smaller in the distance.

“What does that mean?” Ethan said, confused. “And why did you send her ahead?”

“She’s an Inquisitor. Even talking about the House can get her in trouble. If she heard us talking about the Silent Lords, she might feel bound to inform them.” David explained.

“So we shouldn’t trust her?” Ethan asked, now concerned about what they’d gotten themselves into with their new recruit.

“Not saying that at all,” David shook his head, “just that discussing something that deep into the House may make her feel forced to report it. Their indoctrination is fast and hard. Once we’re done here and found Tae-Won, this will be in the past and shouldn’t be an issue again.”

“Okay,” Ethan said, feeling a little better about Alera’s loyalties. “But who are the Silent Lords?"

“They’re a council of six people who lead the House.” David explained quietly. “Calder, or Hush as is his title, is one of them. He’s one of two players on the council. The rest are NPCs.”

“So if any word gets back to him about the death of a player because of the House of Whispers, he covers it up?” Ethan asked.

“Exactly.” David said with a grim shrug. “It seems on the outside like it’s bullshit, but most people will eventually play a Rogue so he protects them from punishment if the game forces them to do something.”

“So have you seen him since then, Roland, I mean?” Ethan asked again.

“Yeah, a few times.” David steered his mount a little ways away from Ethan again, the secrecy for their conversation no longer needed. “After I respawned as a Cleric, after we wiped on one of the first few scouting runs we did, I sought him out to apologize. He just laughed and said we were cool.”

Ethan rode in silence for a few minutes before Alera returned in a cloud of dust. Her rapid approach threw up warning signs to him, causing him to reach for his seaxes.

“Trouble!?” He asked quickly when she got closer.

“Nope,” she said with a laugh. “Just the first time getting to gallop so fast. Haven’t had a horse before.”

Ethan smiled along with the rest of his friends. They’d all done similar not long after acquiring their mounts.

“You find us a place to rest?” David asked her.

“Yep,” Alera nodded, “nice little spot. Open area by a creek. Should be good for a quick nap and a bite.”

“Awesome. My ass is getting sore.” Miguel said excitedly, before his horse broke into a gallop.

A few minutes later Ethan was sitting with his back to a decent sized tree, relaxing for the first time since they’d woken up that morning. The last two days they’d been sleeping on the ground, having not passed through any settlements with an inn. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Alera had sat down cross legged next to him, her knee brushing against his calf.

“You think we’ll actually get to sleep in a bed tonight?” Ethan said as he took an unhappy bite into a four day old sandwich. ”And eat real food?”

“We should.” Sam nodded. “This stretch always sucks, but there’s a little town right at the edge of the desert.”

“How long does it take to get to the city from there?” Leah asked.

“About a day.” Sam continued, tossing a bite of meat to his familiar. The imp grabbed it greedily, bit into it, and spat it. The demon frowned at Sam and crossed its tiny arms over its chest. “Fine, be that way,” he said his familiar, before turning back to the group, “But man, Anvasa is worth the trip.”

“Yeah, it’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to in game.” David nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Better than Sitifus?” Ethan glanced at Alera out of the corner of his eye as he spoke to David.

“Completely different, but yes.”

“How so?” A fly buzzed around in front of his face, distracting him from the conversation slightly.

“Anvasa is definitely inspired by ancient Egypt.” David explained. “Pyramids, bathhouses, temples, a giant open air bazaar. In some ways, it’s just stereotypes, but the architecture is absolutely gorgeous.”

“Just wait til you see it.” Alera said with a smile and snatching the fly out of Ethan’s face. Her hand was halfway up his thigh as she supported herself to catch the annoying insect. “It’s mind blowingly beautiful.”

Ethan tried to pretend he didn’t notice her hand on his leg, but he could feel his skin beginning to flush at her touch.

“Can I ask you something?” He said, shifting a little, but Alera didn’t move her hand.

“Of course.” She smiled at him. Ethan couldn’t help but notice how deep green her eyes were and how her cheeks rose when she smiled, creating little creases near her vibrant green eyes. He did fail to notice that everyone else present had suddenly become very interested in any other thing they could be doing, as if they were actively trying not to pay attention to their guild leader and their newest recruit.

“So ummm…” he stuttered out, still flustered by her touch. “So, how do you know my sister?”

“Your sister? Oh.” Alera sat up straighter, taking her hand off his leg and moving her knee away from his.

“Not that long, just a couple days before I joined.” Alera turned her head to look at Leah, who was unconvincingly fiddling with something on her saddle bags. “I met her at the same time as David and Miguel. We all ran the fourth floor together.”

“Huh?” Ethan was confused. After seeing her again in the Greenbriar Inn, he’d assumed that Alera had actually been the player who’d let Arianna know he was in Grassmere so many weeks ago. But now she was telling him that Arianna had run a pick up group with Miguel and David just a few days ago. “Arianna was in your group?”

“Who’s Arianna?” Alera frowned. “I’m talking about Leah, isn’t she your sister?”

Ethan let out an awkward laugh.

“No,” he smiled, “not blood at least. Wait, so you didn’t message Arianna and let her know I was back in Grassmere when we first met?”

“I don’t know anyone named ‘Arianna’” Alera shrugged and shook her head. “Why? Should I?”

“I guess you wouldn’t,” he answered. “She’s one of the leaders of the Raid Clan, Arianna, I mean. She actually leads them during progression.”

“Wait, she’s your sister?” Alera looked shocked.

“I thought you just said you didn’t know her?”

“I mean, I don’t,” she backtracked awkwardly, “but I’ve heard other players use her name. I didn’t know you were related to her.”

“Yeah, we don’t announce it to everyone,” he said meekly, “she’d get accused of favoritism when we eventually get into the raid clan. So we work harder and we have to make sure we’re above the minimum to get in.”

“You guys ready to go?” Leah said interrupting their conversation and walking over to them.

“I’m getting antsy to keep moving, the plant life is giving off weird vibes.” She continued by way of explanation.

“Yeah, I guess.” Ethan used the tree to push himself off the ground, his crossed legs having gone to sleep from sitting still for so long. When he was on his feet, he reached out a hand to Alera to help her up as well. She ignored his offer and rolled onto her back before launching herself into the air and back to her feet.

“I could never do that back home.” She said with a grin before walking back to her horse.

Ethan made to follow her, but Leah stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re dumber than a bag of rocks sometimes, you know that, right?” she said, smirking at him and following Alera.

After several more hours of riding, the lush forest gave way to sparse trees and sand. The sunlight, blocked by the canopy for so long, became oppressive and the heat increased.

“Ugh, I forgot how hot it is out here.” Sam complained, pulling on the collar of his black coat. Even his familiar seemed put off by the heat as it lazed on Sam’s feather epaulettes, it’s forked tongue hanging out of its mouth.

Everyone else had stripped off their armor and were riding in loose shirts, or in Miguel’s case, only pants. He had wrapped his sweat stained shirt around his head in a makeshift bandana.

“I mean, you could take off the heavy black coat?” Alera offered from in front of Ethan. Since the break by the stream, she’d been cool towards him. Good to know I already messed up, he mused to himself as he wiped sweat from his brow.

“That would ruin the aesthetic.” Sam muttered. “And I’d get sunburnt.”

“You sure it’s not that you’re afraid to show off your chicken arms?” Alera teased him. “Don’t want to compare with Ethan and David?”

“Not fair!” Sam called to her. “Melee fighters have a higher strength score, not my fault my stats don’t let me look like I’m a professional wrestler on steroids!”

“Isn’t that a little redundant?” Miguel asked, taking a swig from his water skin and dumping the rest of its contents on his shirt bandana. “Like, isn’t that in the job description?”

Several minutes of quiet grumbling later, Sam shouted.

“Alright, fine!” He began pulling at the sleeves of his coat.

“Yeah, take it off!” Miguel led the guild in cat calls as Sam finally removed the heavy garment.

“You’re an asshole.” Sam cursed at him as he stowed his coat in a saddle bag. His arms were indeed scrawnier than Ethan’s or David’s, but they were also marked with erratic violet burns. There weren't any patterns to them, just splotches of slightly glowing purple skin against dark. Shit, he must have had a really hard time in his class quest, Ethan sympathized. When he’d finished his own Warlock quest, he’d had similar scars, but not to the extent Sam did.

They had never healed for as long as he was a Warlock, only disappearing when he’d died and respawned as a Paladin. Initially, he’d been embarrassed by them, just like Sam currently was, but eventually, he got over it and used them as a demonstration of power. On one quest, the scars had helped him intimidate an NPC into giving him some information. He understood why Sam had been so reluctant to remove his coat.

Not long after Sam had undressed, a small village came into view. From what the three players who’d been Rogues before had said, this was the last place to rest before crossing the desert and reaching Anvasa

“Alright, get dressed and let’s find a place to crash.” Ethan yelled to his group. “The Guild will pay for rooms tonight, but let’s not overdo it. Bank is starting to get low.”

“Oooh!” Miguel perked up. “One big bed?” He said looking around.

“What’s one big bed?” Alera asked the cleric, riding forward until she was in pace with Ethan.

“It’s where everyone sleeps together in a pile, in one big bed! It’s great!” Miguel answered from ahead of both of them before breaking into a chant. “One big bed! One big bed! One big bed!”

“We’re not that broke!” Ethan shouted at his friend, “Six regular sized beds!”

“I don’t know, one big bed sounds fun.” She leaned closer to him. “Or maybe just five regular sized beds.” She said quietly and only to him before nudging her mount faster to catch up to Miguel, who was still chanting.

Ethan’s skin burned in embarrassment once again and he was thankful he was already tinged pink from sunburn. It covered his embarrassment.

They found the inn easily and David handled the reservations of rooms before returning to the table they’d picked with drinks.

“Got the rooms,” he said, taking a drink of his own after placing the rest on the table, “only two of them have baths though. So we’re going to have to share.”

Ethan watched Alera, fairly sure she was going to say something about the two of them bathing together or having already seen him after a bath. She surprised him by saying nothing, but asking Leah if she wanted to go first.

“I don’t fancy trying to take a bath after these dirty arses.” She explained.

The rest of the night went quickly, they ate real food and drank fresh water and beer before retiring. Ethan and David had drawn straws to see who would get the first bath and David had won, so Ethan had stayed in the empty common area nursing a cool bottle of local beer.

Tomorrow we’ll get to Anvasa, he thought to himself one foot on the chair one of his friends had vacated, and hopefully some answers about Tae-Won. I just worry that if we don’t hear anything good, Leah is going to take it badly.

He rarely got alone time since he lived with his friends, occasionally he’d skip out and find a bar other than Tara’s or go to the park near the guild hall, but more often than not he’d get interrupted by some ‘urgent’ business.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Alera’s voice came from behind him. Ethan turned to see her still rubbing her hair, wet from her bath, with a towel.

“Just thinking about tomorrow,” he answered, shaking his head as he took his foot from the chair. “Worried about Tae-Won and the H...the meeting.”

“I’m sure it’ll all be fine,” she sat down next to him and smiled at him catching himself before using the House of Whisper’s names. “That’s why I came to see you though.”

“What’s up?” He placed his half empty bottle on the table and looked at her.

“I’m going to have to go see them by myself tomorrow.” She explained. “And they may not give a straight answer. If he’s still working they may not tell me anything more than that.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, biting his lip. “I kind of figured that, but at least we’ll get an idea. And hopefully that will make Leah happy for a little while.”

“Yeah,” Alera said before rising, “I think I’m off to my own bed, shouldn’t take us more than a couple of hours in the morning, and I’m sure you’re wanting to start early.”

Ethan downed the rest of his drink quickly, suddenly needing some liquid courage.

“Alera wait.” He said, grabbing her hand.

“Hmm?” She looked at him, with a small smile.

“If I… I mean…Back in Grassmere” he stammered out, the beer not actually helping him get out what he wanted to say, “that last night, before I knew you were you, were you…”

Alera interrupted him, putting her other hand on his cheek and kissing him lightly on the lips.

“Goodnight Ethan.”