This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“I’m guessing geography isn’t a strong suit?” asked Alfric.

“No,” Isra replied, lips tight.

“I always took to it,” said Alfric. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Mmm,” Isra replied. She gave no signs that any brewing questions would be bubbling up to her lips.

Tarchwood Ectads was closed, a sign on the front informed them, and there was no additional information on when they would be open again.

“Well that’s unpleasant,” said Alfric.

“The stones,” said Isra.

“Huh?” asked Alfric. He looked where she was looking, to a stretch of shore without any houses or businesses on it. It was a rocky beach, one covered in smooth stones with barely any sand to speak of. The stones were black, gray, green, and blue, mostly subdued tones but with a few standouts. “The stones?” asked Alfric.

Isra went forward, hopping over a barrier, then stooped to look at the stones up close.

“I’ve never seen such stones,” said Isra. Her breath caught slightly as she picked up a particularly green one.

“Oh?” asked Alfric. He stood next to her, feeling awkward.

“Do you think I can take them?” asked Isra, looking up at him.

“The stones?” asked Alfric. “But… why?”

Isra didn’t reply and instead began putting the rocks into her pockets, moving quickly, as though someone was going to come along and stop her. Alfric, having nothing better to do, stood by. She seemed to be pulling up the ones with the brightest colors, but every so often something dark and shiny would catch her eye instead. He half wondered whether he should be helping her, but he still didn’t quite understand what she was doing or why. Eventually, she slowed down, then finally stopped. By Alfric’s estimation, she’d added almost thirty pounds of rocks to her pack.

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” asked Alfric. He glanced back toward Tarchwood Ectads, whose errant owner still hadn’t returned.

“Why dungeoneering?” asked Isra. “You said it was what you’ve wanted to do since you were a child.”

“Oh,” said Alfric. “Well… my mother and father were both dungeoneers, along with cousins, aunts, and uncles. It was a family thing.” This wasn’t the half of it. “But for me, it was the idea that there were these other worlds out there, that there were riches and power to be had through them, things that were impossible to get any other way. It fired up my imagination, I think, and it was the first thing I can remember wanting to know absolutely everything about. And then, with everything that I learned, I wanted to learn more. Learning led to training, and training led to planning, and I loved all of it.” He shrugged.

“Mmm,” said Isra.

“Why do you ask?” asked Alfric. “And what was with the rocks?”

“I thought it might be the same for us,” said Isra. “It’s not.”

“You… like rocks?” asked Alfric.

“No,” replied Isra. “I’m a collector.”

“Of what?” asked Alfric.

Isra shrugged. “Everything. Small treasures. Special stones, odd sticks, plants.” She frowned at him. “It’s not so strange.”

“No,” said Alfric. “No, of course not, I didn’t mean to judge, I just… I never really would have expected it of you.”

“You don’t know me,” said Isra.

“I’d like to,” said Alfric. “If we’re going to be a party, we’ll be spending time together, working together, and a solid relationship is the foundation of a strong team.”

Isra seemed as though she had some choice words to reply with, but she looked past him instead. “The ectad shop is open,” she said.

And whatever else they might have learned about each other, it would have to wait.

Verity got going, leaving Hannah and Mizuki alone. Mizuki did the dishes for a bit, finishing up fairly quickly, and dried her hands on a towel hanging on the stove handle.

“Odd girl,” said Mizuki, after checking to make sure that Verity was actually gone.

“How so?” asked Hannah, quirking an eyebrow.

“She’s upper crust, I’m pretty sure,” said Mizuki. “And upper crust in Dondrian is very upper crust, so that’s saying something. But her room was a total mess when Alfric and I went to go visit her, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what she’s doing in Pucklechurch. We talked about it some last night, but… I don’t know. You ever have that feeling like someone is saying a bunch of words that you’re sure make sense, but they just don’t go together right in your head?”

“Can’t say I have,” replied Hannah. “Sometimes there’ll be a thing that takes me some time to get, but it never lasts, ay? And there are deep unknowable mysteries, questions without any answers to them, but those’re different.”

“I don’t know,” said Mizuki. “She’s just a mystery to me, that’s all. I like her, I think, but don’t get her.”

“They’re all odd ones, if you ask me,” said Hannah. “Nothin’ wrong with that.”

“Even Alfric?” asked Mizuki. “I think he’s stupidly straightforward.”

“Oh, he’s got depths to him, and bends in the road,” sighed Hannah. “Loads of plans and he ends up out here?”

“Then how’d you end up out here?” asked Mizuki.