Roxanna stared at the warrior with the shoulder length green hair, kite shield and massive sword strapped to his back as he made a beeline toward Ramal. His scale mail armor, the leggings of which were shredded, was splattered with still damp blood. He’d clearly come directly from a fight.

The man had a predatory look about him and moved with a grace that seemed unlikely for someone only slightly smaller than Ramal. Taken with his long limbs, he reminded Roxy of a professional athlete.

Despite his changed appearance, she recognized him within seconds. The man’s face had been imprinted in her mind first by the week he’d spent unconscious in her ward, and then doubly so by the soulful moment they’d shared. The man had been running away, which seemed odd now in hindsight, but the urgency of that moment only lent greater vividness to her memory.

Even more interesting, her third eye was following him across the room.

Her attention was pulled away by a sensuous woman carrying a pristine white staff who rounded the table, eyes fixed on Roxy. She extended a hand, the arm behind which was covered by thoroughly sliced up leather. “I’m Valerie, but these two knuckleheads call me Val.” Her smile was warm and easy, Roxy liked her immediately.

She stood and shook it. “I’m Roxanna, but my knuckleheads call me Roxy.” She was struck by Val’s energy and stature. The woman had the look of a warrior princess more enamored with being a warrior than a princess.

Val's smile widened and Roxy immediately noticed the deep green glow in her eyes. On cue, Val leaned forward just a bit. “Wow, your eyes...” She blinked. “They look like obsidian rain on a field of snow, are those hereditary?”

“You might say that.” Roxanna replied evasively. “Are you hungry? We were hoping you guys would make it up here and there’s enough food for everyone to eat twice.”

“Oh, hell yeah. We’ve been eating dried beef for days. This looks incredible.”

They sat and Val began heaping food onto her plate.

“Ha! I knew it!” Ramal cried from the other side of the table as he wrapped the warrior in a hug that was enthusiastically returned. When Ramal spoke again, it was softly and meant only for the warrior, but her sensitive hearing picked up the words. “Good to see you little brother.”

She turned to Val. “You’re– players?”

Val was already chewing on a slab of meat, probably the reason she hadn’t heard Ramal, as she was obviously part elven. Her eyes went wide as her head turned slowly. “Oly sheet.” Her words were muddled by the food.

She chewed and swallowed quickly. “How do you know that? You’re not supposed to know that!”

“What!” The man clad in green, two seats down next to Dnoeth, exploded. “Err! Their fucking players!” His gaze landed on Ramal, he squinted, then pointed accusingly. “You!”

Val’s head spun from Roxy to Carson as her mind whirled.

“Wait,” Carson said, as his eyes widened and took in the enormous man called Ramal that Erramir had his arm looped around while he grinned like a fool.

Ramal’s big easy smile and square handsome features now stood out like a beacon to her.

“You’re...” Carson began.

Val finished his thought. “The gate guard.”

As she said it, the name Ramal took its place, adopting all the emotions and memories connected with ex-special operator. It was an odd sensation for sure, but it wasn’t the first time she’d experienced it. It had been the same with Erramir and Carson.

The shift didn’t take more than a breath. Then the slipping settled and Valerie smiled warmly. She was surprisingly glad to see Ramal here. There weren’t many men that she could stand being around. Women were rarely interested in the things she loved. Some of them were, but she usually found them threatening and she could never relax around them.

She was lucky to have her boys. She never had to pretend around them. Erramir’s kind, unassuming wisdom and shared love for speed and technology made their friendship easy. And Carson, despite being frequently infuriating, could also be deeply soulful and she never had to wonder where she stood with him.

Other than her boys and Bendik, who was hard to include because he was such an enigmatic presence, Ramal was the only other man that she felt comfortable around. It was odd really. She’d met Ramal only two years ago and had never really exchanged more than a handful of sentences with the man.

Val’s thoughts drifted back to her conversation with Roxanna and she tensed. She had to be a player, and Val had no idea who she was.

Her body reacted like it would to a popped balloon in the dark. She jerked away, energy rushed through her limbs, her skin tingled, and her mind snapped into focus.

How did Ramal know her? Who was the other guy? Where was Ramal’s body? Was he in the capsule room? Why were they here? Who were these other two people? Were they all in the capsule room?

Val looked at the woman with the snowfield eyes again. Knowing she was a player, shifted Val’s view and she seemed vaguely familiar. Familiar but not, as if she was someone met at a party.

Is this something that Err kept from us?

No. She concluded immediately. Erramir wasn’t capable of doing that. Through the swirling questions, Val’s mind pulled on more than twenty years of friendship and memories and she collapsed back in her seat as realization landed.

Carson got there at the same moment. “Bendik.”

Erramir lifted a hand in acknowledgement and nodded. “No doubt, Car.” Ramal confirmed with a silent nod of his own. Erramir’s grin transformed into a half smile then he looked down. His eyes and head shifted to view an imaginary point to the left, then right, then up a bit, back down right.

Val knew that exercise, he did it when he was connecting things. After a moment, Erramir released Ramal’s shoulder and the two men sat.

“I’m not all that surprised, I guess. After the new pods showed up in my lab, we knew he was working behind the scenes. I just didn’t consider the possibility that he would bring another team in to run the beta with us. But Bendik is always playing bigger games than any of us know.”

Erramir looked at Ramal. “First things first. I assume you’re in my pod room at the research building and as Carson just stated, Bendik plugged you in.”

Ramal nodded. “Yep.”

“John and my father, are they in Kuora?”

Ramal shook his head. “Nope. Least not that I know of.”

“Okay.” He nodded slowly, his eyes falling on Roxanna, and moving to Dnoeth. They narrowed, and turned back to Roxanna, then slowly went wide as his jaw slackened. “No...” The word was almost a whisper.

Roxanna nodded slowly.

“Ir–” Erramir cut off. Val smirked, knowing the feeling. The Kuoran name filter could be heavy handed.

“The floor nurse right?” He corrected. The woman nodded, mouth hinting at a smile. “How?”

“Bendick picked us up in the middle of the night,” She said with a shrug. “Just a few hours after you convinced me to let you leave the hospital.”

Val stared in shock. The nurse? What the fuck is she doing here?

Erramir’s heart pounded. Roxanna regarded him with eyes holding the same intensity, depth, and self-possession that he’d seen in their brief connection in the hospital as he had run down the hallway. Physically, they were completely different, crystalline speckled with obsidian, but their effect on him was exactly the same.

She leaned forward and indicated the young man on Val’s right. “Dnoeth is my son. Your father actually approached him first. Found him in-game while he was playing Novamen.”

“In-game?” Erramir repeated, reluctantly turning to Dnoeth.

“Oh yeah, that was unreal.” Dnoeth said, waving a thick slice of bread, slathered with butter.

Erramir felt his stomach rumble.

Dnoeth continued, “His character was this monk with golden script swirling all around it. And he hacked their system from his invisible flying car in front of our house!”

Erramir did not doubt that second part, there really weren’t any computer systems safe from a determined Bendik. Novamen wouldn’t be an issue, even from his car. It being invisible and able to fly were both new, but honestly not all that surprising. The monk character was more interesting though.

“A monk with robes that glow with golden rune script? That’s not a Novamen class, is it?” He directed the question at Dnoeth, but his gaze shifted over everyone. They all knew bits about Novamen. The responses, in grunts and head shakes, were all to the negative.

“No, he said it wasn’t. He said that it was his personal unique class. I actually think it’s probably from Kuora. I didn’t know it at the time, but the way he talked implied that it had to do with the reason he wanted to meet with us.” Dnoeth swung his chunk of bread about indicating the mess hall, then took a bite and spoke around it. “Dis place. Kora.”

He looked at the nurse, realizing he didn’t know her Kuoran name. “What’s your avatar name?”

“I’m Roxanna. Or Roxy.” She regarded him with a crooked smile that creased her cheeks a bit more on the left with a small head tilt to the right. The gesture struck a chord in Erramir and his world tumbled a little. The suddenness rocked him and for a long couple seconds things got very quiet.

“Damn...” Dnoeth drawled, breaking the silence and Erramir’s trance. Erramir blinked and took in the slender, black-haired young man.

Dnoeth leaned forward and looked from Roxanna back to Erramir. “Dude. That was intense.”

“HuhaHaa!” Carson exploded and rocked back in his chair as he slapped him on the back. “Dnoeth bud. I couldn’t have said it better myself."