The world seemed to be conspiring against Seph finding her balance again. She froze part of the way through leaping off her cot.

“Are dragons under the bed something you have to deal with a lot these days?”

Ian shook his head, eyes still fixed on something out of her sight.

“Generally, if someone is in a room their passive mana absorption prevents the formation of sprites.”

“Sprite-?“ Seph’s question was cut off by an annoyed huff, from a small voice that she didn’t recognize.

“I am not a sprite. I am a bound companion.”

Everyone in the room jumped a little, and Cassie finally managed to make it to her feet.

“Everyone else heard the gecko talk, right?” Cassie sounded incredulous.

The ‘gecko’ in question hopped up onto the foot of Seph’s cot, and she was momentarily taken aback by the beautiful purple of its scales. It was 18 inches from snout to spaded tail, and when it stretched its wings, she saw that the membranes of its wings were a pale gold.

“I am the bound companion of Persephone. Please stop pointing your weapon near her.”

Tiny scales bristling, the dragon kept her focus on the elf. He glanced at the succubus, gaze questioning.

“Do you know anything about this?”

Seph’s mind went blank. Everything kept happening so fast and so much and she just needed-

“Could everyone just stop for a minute?”

Still water.

She kept her breathing deep and slow, pushing the world out of her awareness for a moment. She tried to remember a dragon in the forest, in her hammock, in the room with Cassie, and came up with nothing. Then she remembered and felt like an idiot.

“Oh! Yes. But no, in the grey void I was told I could get a companion, but I picked fairy. You know, like Link.” Seph blushed, and she idly wondered what colour her cheeks turned now.

The creature met her gaze as sheepishly as a dragon could but glanced at the other two occupants of the room.

“I can answer that but should do so in private.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Cassie’s tone was firm, and Ian’s nod seemed to echo the sentiment, but he seemed unsure about something.

“What do you mean by ‘grey void’?”

“It would be best if you did not answer that, Persephone,” The dragon seemed just as firm, “There are many people who would take advantage of what you are.”

That gave Seph pause. She desperately wanted to trust Cassie and Ian, but what did she really know about them?

On the other hand, they had done nothing to make her doubt them, and had saved her. They patched her up after the greyhind had mauled her. And even after she had- given the troll pleasure, of course she wants to be around me. But is that all she wants?

Hang on, didn’t she say-

“The sun. Didn’t you say the sun hurts trolls?” Seph tensed, searching Cassie’s stone face for signs of deception. “I saw you when I was running from the greyhind”

Cassie looked a little hurt for a moment but straightened and ran a smooth marble finger up her other arm, tracing the line of glowing quartz from her wrist to her shoulder. Seph noted the beautiful line of her clavicle and remembered pressing her lips to the graceful curve of the other woman’s neck. The newly minted succubus looked away, blushing.

“This new world is so full of death and disaster…” Cassie’s voice was distant, thick with unspoken memories. “I think the only thing that makes it worth living in is the magic.”

The High Troll held out a hand, and a pulse of light ran from the quartz in her chest out to dance along her fingertips. It coalesced as a mote of gold-white that orbited her index finger. The light reflected off her sad smile.

“I know it’s silly, a twenty-four-year-old woman being afraid of the dark. But it doesn’t help to know that there are real monsters lurking in the shadows.” Another pulse of light flickered out to dance among her fingers, a bluish-white spark flickering and jittering in counterpoint to the steady gleam of gold.

“I was banished to those shadows, in a body I didn’t recognize. Campfires keep sprites from forming, but they attract monsters.”

Seph was curious about what she meant but didn’t want to interrupt the flow. She glanced at Ian, but he was staring moodily into his drink.

“Even trolls need sleep, but I found myself awake all day and…” She trailed off “Anyway. All trolls start with a casting trait unlocked. Stone Synergy Mage. The tooltip is garbage – they all are – but synergy mages are casters that have absorbed an element into themselves. They’ve made themselves an extension of that element, so they can control it. Here’s the trick, though.” She threw a cocky smirk at Seph, closing her hand around the little lights.

“Synergy mages can make themselves immune to damage from their element. It’s crazy to watch. I’ve seen an earth synergy mage get crushed by falling boulders and walk away like nothing happened. He even pulled from that rock to heal himself, putting his arm back together like that.” She snapped, the click of stone echoing sharply in the small room.

“The trick is unlocking the class. It’s… not a pleasant process, especially if the element you’re trying to attune to is dangerous to you already. For me, it was. Absolutely worth it.” Cassie touched the pulsing nexus of quartz in the centre of her chest. “I can walk under the sun again. I can feel her warmth on my face and I will never be lost in the dark again.”

Suddenly, Cassie blushed grey-green. She coughed, a little, embarrassed.

“Look at me, back to writing bad poetry”

Seph scrambled to find some way of reassuring the High Troll but was interrupted by her new companion.

“Persephone, we need to talk in private.”

Seph wavered, then made her decision.

“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them. I trust Cassie and Ian.”

Until they give me reasons not to.

“But first, do you have a name?”

“Of course, Persephone. My name is Tanya.”