Rissa felt better the moment they reached Aki’s territory. It was like someone flipped a switch; her headache was half as strong, the nausea and aching on her skin where it was exposed vanished, and it felt like a weight she’d been holding back with her mental shield was simply gone. She stopped suddenly.

She’d noticed that she felt better when Serenity was near but had assumed that was because she found him reassuring. What if it was something more than that? What if something was literally attacking her, the way something seemed to be controlling her mother?

“Rissa?” Serenity sounded puzzled.

“One moment, dear.” Rissa stepped back across the barrier and felt the pain appear just as quickly as it vanished. “Would you come here and hold me for a moment? I want to check something.”

Serenity walked over to her and folded his arms and wings around her. The darkness definitely helped, but even the areas he wasn’t shading felt better. It wasn’t nearly as helpful as stepping into Aki’s area, but now that she was watching for it, it was definitely there.

She didn’t say anything about it until they stepped back into Aki’s lands; if something could attack her out there, it was possible it could hear her, as well. She doubted it could through the barrier. Even so, she’d wait on the full explanation until they were within their home. “It’s not just Mother. I’ll explain when we’re home.”

Rissa tossed and turned that night. A vision of a woman she’d never seen before filled her mind’s eye. Andarit was young. Older than Echo; probably in her mid-twenties. She was important, or at least might be important, but Rissa didn’t know why.

Andarit stared at the entrance to the Mercenary Guild hall before she dared to enter. She only had three months on Tzintkra, and she needed to make the most of it. It was the longest solo break she’d managed to talk her father into, and the only reason she’d succeeded at that was that he’d done the same thing at her age before returning to the family. It was traditional. Unfortunately, failing to find a better Tier Four Path was also traditional.

She knew he’d be unhappy that she didn’t take a team with her, whether they were allies or retainers, but she knew that bringing people from her past would guarantee she ended up with a Path that matched her past. No, she needed a complete break from it.

Andarit held her head high as she walked into the Guild hall. It was grander than she’d expected; the Mercenary Guild on Zon didn’t bother building anything this nice. A wooden building that could be rebuilt when it was damaged was enough, while this was clearly built to impress, with stone walls and floor; banners softened the harshness, as did rugs with comfortable seating around them in several places in the large hall. At the far end of the hall was a counter with an older woman sitting in front of it.

Andarit knew better than to disrespect an old Mercenary.

She walked up to the woman, who didn’t seem to notice her as she approached. “Ma’am?”

It felt odd to speak Bridge, but it was all too unlikely that anyone would know Zarean. Yes, it was the main language of Zon, but it wasn’t spoken anywhere else.

“Welcome to the Shining Caverns Mercenary Guild.” The old woman set down her book and looked up at Andarit. “What do you need?”

“I’m looking for a group. I don’t - I - Tzintkra’s a training planet, supposed to be really good dungeons.” She flushed at how she tripped over her own words. She was a Lord’s daughter, she was supposed to be better with words than that!

The woman smiled. “Here alone? It’s good you’re looking for a reputable group. Even better this wasn’t a month ago, you might have been scooped up at the teleport point then. Gives us all a bad name when Companies do that. Do you have a Guild card?”

Andarit nodded and pushed the card across the counter to the woman.

She looked it over, then pushed the card back at Andarit. “What’s your role?”

She had to mean what Andarit did when she was in a party. “Support - I’m trying to reach a commander’s Path but so far it’s a mix. Perception and Presence, mostly; I can either mask my Presence or use it to help my teammates. Anything from distraction to minor enhancements. No true magic; I focused my magic on myself, so it only works on other people through my Presence.”

That mostly covered it, but perhaps she should mention the skill her father had always insisted she learn even though she’d never understood why? “I’m also good with my hands - traps, locks, puzzles, that kind of thing. I doubt I can do much about Tzintkra lore puzzles, though. I don’t know much about the planet.”

The woman nodded. “Trapfinder with minor enhancement and concealment? That’s a good starting role; normally I’d have half a dozen groups looking for someone like you, but right now I think there’s only one and they may have filled their opening. Unless you want to look at a larger Company? They’re often better if you’re looking for a long-term spot, especially one after you leave Tzintkra.”

Andarit shook her head. “I’m only here for three months. Then I have to go home.”

“Go ahead and sit in one of the chairs; it could be a good wait, but Ron usually stops by while he’s in the Caverns, and I’m pretty sure they’re back again.” The old woman gestured towards one of the groups of seating Andarit noticed on her way in.

People came and went. This Mercenary Guild Hall was far busier than the ones Andarit was familiar with; that was probably because this was a training world, wasn’t it?

She couldn’t help but listen in. It sounded like there was a mess going on - something about not enough Healers? There also seemed to be some discontent that extra Portals were open but the City Lord was restricting who could use them, but she’d need more time to find out what that was about. As far as she was concerned, it was only good news for her; extra Portals probably meant more dungeons were accessible.

A pair of people caught her attention as they walked up to the counter. There was something about them that set Andarit’s nerves humming. Neither was high Tier, but they were dangerous. It wasn’t the clothing; both were dressed in ordinary leather armor. They were nice leathers, but they weren’t anything special. It also wasn’t the weapons; the woman wore only a relatively short sword, while the man had a fairly traditional sword and shield.

No, it was the reaction of the rest of the room. Her first thought was that they must be important, but in that case everyone would be paying attention. It seemed to be one or two people per group; two of the groups had no one paying attention at all. No one seemed to know exactly what had caught their attention, either, just like Andarit. She could hear some of them talking about it before they mostly turned back to what they were doing.

Andarit didn’t have anything else to do, so she kept watching. They went to the counter and talked to the old woman for a moment, but Andarit couldn’t hear what was said over the noise in the rest of the room. The man laughed and shook his head, then said something else. After a moment, the pair headed over towards Andarit.

Was this the group she was supposed to be joining?

The first to introduce himself was the man. He was surprisingly short, several inches shorter than Andarit, but wide and well-muscled. “Hi. I’m Ron, this is Desinka. Are you Andarit?”

Andarit nodded as she stood up. “That’s me.”

Desinka was a skinny woman, about Andarit’s height, with dark hair and pale skin. She stuck out her hand and smiled slightly. “Nice to meet you. I hear you’re looking for a group?”

Andarit shook her hand as she nodded. “Only temporary, though. Three months.”

“Three months is fine. It’s better than just the three of us, after all. A fourth should help us take on some of the dungeons we’ve been avoiding lately. It’s too bad you aren’t a healer.” Ron looked a bit depressed as he said it.

“You don’t have a healer?” For some reason, Andarit had assumed that every dungeon group would have a healer. Was this what all that talking was about?

Desinka shook her head. “The Shining Caverns was attacked about a month ago, most of the healers were killed. Raven decided to stay in town for a while and do some healing, since I finally recovered enough to go back to delving with Ron and Ealyn. Fortunately, someone found a dungeon that seems to specialize in healing potions and stuff like that, so even with not enough healers they’re actually cheap enough to make delving possible. Thing is, you still don’t want to take on anything too challenging without a healer, so we need a fourth. Most of Tzintkra’s dungeons seem to be set up for three to five people, so four’s generally good for safety.”

As they walked into the dungeon, Ron was in the lead. Andarit expected a destroyed cityscape like the area they’d walked in from, but this dungeon looked more like a small clearing in the middle of a forest.

“Are you ready, Desinka?” Ron’s question pulled Andarit away from examining the trees for enemies and onto Desinka, who seemed to be pulling some stuff out of her pack. Was that a packet of plant clippings tied in a silk bow? It looked like they came from several different plants; Andarit could see two separate types of berry. And a healing potion?

“Not quite. I need a moment to pray.” Desinka set the items in front of one of the nearby trees, knelt, and prayed for a moment. The two men glanced at each other, then got down on their knees as well and muttered something inaudible while Desinka spoke a little louder.

Andarit waited impatiently. She’d never heard of anyone praying on entering a dungeon, but she knew it was impolite to interrupt prayer. Impolite to both the deity and the worshiper. Once Desinka stood up and opened her eyes, Andarit couldn’t suppress the questions any longer. “What’s that about? Why are you praying?”

Desinka smiled as the other two groaned. That wasn’t a good sign; it sounded like she’d invited a lecture they didn’t want to hear again. Strange to see when they’d both prayed with her. “I’m praying to the God of Dungeons. He saved my life, and I owe him a great deal. So I try to follow his precepts as best I can. Which means entering dungeons to challenge them and relieve their strains, as well as gathering what I need from them. An offering of items or time and effort left in a dungeon helps, too. You see-”

“Please stop. Tell her about it later, I’m tired of listening.” Ealyn shook his head without taking his eyes off Desinka. “You’re right about what to do and that it works, so I’ll respect the God of Dungeons, but I don’t need the lecture.”

Andarit definitely needed to ask more about this God of Dungeons. She could do that later, when she could get Desinka alone.

The details of the dream faded quickly after Rissa woke. All she was able to tell Serenity was that she dreamed about Andarit finding Ron, Desinka, and Ealyn, then that they went to a dungeon together.

Serenity was happy to hear that Desinka had found companions, but didn’t know why Rissa’s dream focused on Andarit.