After the initial panic, Kazue found herself uo maintaiate of fearfulness she’d expected and instead found herself irange position of helping Moriko to stay calm. She'd have thought that with Moriko’s direunication with the dungeon cores, she'd be that calm one. After all, she would be able to know the dungeon’s defenses in moment-to-momeail, as well as having the speed and training to, even from this distance, be able to arrive as backup if the worst were to happen.

  Kazue, oher hand, would disappear as though she had never existed, which should have her terrified, as well as lose all she loved so much. And she knew her own tendency to react strongly, so her retive ess seemed so out of pce to herself. However, this ess had been very handy in finding ways to occupy them both, especially Moriko.

  Moriko might be better at keeping trol of her anger and worry, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. So after they had dealt with bringing the guard captain up to speed, Kazue took the lead in finding aiating for Moriko some appropriate areas that needed demolition work; and then a few 'pymates' to spar with once she had achieved trol over that weird bck lightning.

  Once she had Moriko settled, Kazue decided to focus on some practice of her own: Having to depend on Moriko for direunication with the cores was limiting, so she decided to turn her focus elsewhere, and she liked Mordecai's idea with the earring for distanunication. For that, she needed crystals to experiment with and learn from. Thankfully a port city like this had need of jewelers as part of the ongoing trade, and Kazue was able to work out a deal with one of them. She got to experiment with less expensive crystalline gems, mostly quartz and a little tourmaline, and the results of her entments would be the property of the store to resell. Given that Kazue fully expected to break more than a few; though the jeweler assured her that they could re-cut the more iing of her experiments, this seemed a fair bargain to her. And it wasn't like the successful versions of these entments were the ones she was going to want, so it did not feel like a loss for her.

  So the days passed, each practig during the day to keep themselves occupied and then taking fort in each other at night. It erhaps not the ideal solution to stress over a long period, but it worked for them for the duration of the assault.

  It was during this time of waiting that Kazue’s refle on why she was so calm bore fruit: Her core self had only briefly panicked over the immi attack. Given what Moriko had been tellihat undoubtedly was because of Mordecai's fidend pn. While her wife might be the one able to unicate with the cores iail and feel all the fine points of their emotions, Kazue's e to her core was a e to her soul, and it was hard to panic over the dao her core when that very core was not panig.

  This was the first time she'd ever felt her emotions as an avatar be so clearly influenced by her core's emotions while not ihe dungeon's territory. And she wasn't sure it would apply to much of anything else. It was just that w about her core when her core wasn't so worried was too dissonant to hold up.

  Which was strange and more than a little surreal, a remihat she was aension of her 'true' self. But that unshakable e, however thin, was also a sort of fort. She knew where her home was and how her core was doing and feeling, even if that e provided nothing else directly. Which didn't mean that she wasn't stressed at all, but that feeling of stability helped a lot.

  Ohe assault was done, Mordecai bid them to stay in pce for a bit as he had some presents to send their lus the mysterious Elyon said that Lady Yuriko was sending someone else to apany them as per their request. So for a few days more they tiheir routine, which also let them wind down from the previous worry and they could feel would let them enjoy their travels more. It also gave Kazue more time to work on her entments and creatiworks of preetals, which she used her liminal spirit to move along with trace minerals, through the gems to create potent patterns, which she awakened with a brief charge, courtesy of the lighting spirit. She found herself enjoying the strange moods and powers of these two spirits, both being stronger in each other.

  On her way back to the inn one evening, after she had finished her daily routi the jewelry store, Kazue felt a fsh of irritation as she realized she'd made a mistake. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd ever have had to worry about in the , but this was a rger city and she'd been w regurly in the ba of a jeweler, which made her a bit more of a tempting target than a shrine maiden. She'd settled into a predictable routine while hiding two of her tails to keep from drawing attention. That st part she'd failed at anyway.

  The group of six people had chosen a good pce to set up a trap; the area wasn't so poor as to make Kazue avoid it entirely when just passing through, but it was always a little low on traffic this te in the day, and today it was unily quiet, causing most people with good seo vanish. Long shadows were cast by the buildings as well, making it easier to hide until the st moment.

  A tall, well-muscled woman with slightly bluish skin was clearly their leader, and she grinned unpleasantly at Kazue. "Make it easy and we won't rough ya up too much. Hand over yoods and s, and no funny business." Three small crossbows were leveled at her menagly.

  Kazue felt her good mood disappear like a breeze, and the st of her temper, delicate from stress, beginning to fray. "Oh woe, woe is me. Whatever is a poor helpless ss such as I to do when so beset upon?" The sarcasm ione was thid unmistakable. Most of the gang surrounding her had the good seo suddenly look nervous.

  The woman in front of her scowled instead and stepped forward with a growl, "Are you making fun of me you little-"

  And upon the edge of light and darkness did reality flicker and fade. Three crossbow bolts fired but found net.

  Kazue flowed along the liminal edge of sharp-cast shadows as dream images spawned around her.

  A lightning-charged crystal sword that might-have-been bloomed from the woman's lower back along with a shower of glittering flowers, Kazue's hand upon the hilt for the brief moment it almost existed.

  And then she assed the woman and the echo of thuhat never-was rolled off the buildings around them.

  Reality asserted itself once more and the tall woman staggered, clutg at her stomach despite the ck of visible wound. "I'll kill you for this," she said as she coughed, and then stared in disbelief at the blood she'd just expelled onto her hand.

  "No, you won't," Kazue said calmly before her tail shed out and smmed a bolt of foxfire into the thug's face.

  The rest of the would-be thieves vanished, showing the true nature of their loyalty to the woman id out oreet, and Kazue's anger only rose upon witnessing the cowardid betrayal. "You stupid idiot, you made me hurt you," Kazue s the prone, unscious form. "I could have hit your heart. You made me want to hit your heart. And I hate you for that."

  More thunder roared, but this time it had much more to do with reality, and soon warm arms ed themselves around Kazue. "Are you okay love?" Moriko whispered into her ear. The monk could travel silently or swiftly, but they were definitely opposed options.

  "Not really," Kazue muttered as she returhe hug and theured briefly at the woman on the ground, "but nothing physical. You should take care of her first before she bleeds out."

  "Please, allow me," came a soft, feminine voice. Two women were walking toward them; one of them was hidden under a hooded cloak, but the other was very familiar.

  "Lady Yuriko," Kazue greeted the seven-tailed kitsune, "and...?"

  The hooded woma o the thug as she replied "You just call me Ruby." There was distinct amusement in the familiar void she smelled faintly of fire without smelling of smoke. Wheouched a gloved hand to the thug's face, white fmes of healing flickered around the wounds.

  Oh.

  Wait, what?

  Kazue shook her head to clear her thoughts and then looked at Yuriko. "Wait, she's going to be our new escort? Are you serious? That seems like, ah, overkill? And wouldn't we be the ones who o guard her?"

  Moriko had taken only a moment loo follow the same of thoughts, but just as she was about to interjeother voice cut in.

  "Oh, it's you two again," said a rather disgruntled-looking guard captain. "Your dyships," he added rather betedly. Not that Kazue or Moriko cared about their titles outside of when they were particurly useful, but it did sound a little belittling.

  "Why don't I take care of this?" Yuriko asked with a smile. "When Ruby is done, you three head off to your inn room, she has some deliveries for you." The kitsune woman turoward the guard captain as she drew something from her robe to show him, though Kazue didn't get a look at the object. The captain looked surprised and then bowed slightly before letting himself be drawn several feet away. The guards that had been following him stood around uainly.

  'Ruby' rose as the thug stirred. "She'll live, though without a healer she'd have bled out internally within the hour." The hooded woman regarded Kazue somberly. "You perforated her guts and shocked her with lightning internally without leaving a mark on her skin. That is, hmm, impressive."

  Kazue's feelings about the pliment were mixed, but this did not seem to be the time to talk about it. Instead, she turo the guard. "This woman and five other people tried to rob me on my way from a jewelry store where I had been practig some entment. Presumably, they thought I was carrying goods of some sort on me. As you see, I was able to defend myself. The others fled, though I believe you will find three crossbow bolts somewhere nearby."

  The guard scrambled to take notes, and when she was finished giviatement Kazue added, "Your captain knows where to find us if he has more questions."

  They were still almost half an hour's walk from the inn, but the three of them were silent for the duration. Kazue's mood was sour and she used that time to lightly meditate ahe tension drain from her. She and Moriko did have a guest after all, and 'Ruby' deserved better from her.

  Ohey were safely ensced in their room, their visitht out a gem and pced it on a table where it started to glow before she tossed back her hood to reveal the fme-like red hair of Princess Bridgette. "Surprise!" she said and then giggled, "though it seems you two already figured it out. And our privacy is secured for the moment," she added, gesturing at the glowing gem.

  "Please tell me you have a better disguise for your hair," Kazue said with a sigh and dropped into a chair. "I don't think having a mysterious hooded woman following us around is going to make us less spicuous."

  "I assume we should avoid honorifics for the moment, 'Ruby'," Moriko added wryly as she took a seat o Kazue.

  Bridgette joihem at the small table that was the only pce to sit, besides the bed. The two of them hadly been pnning oertaining guests when they picked out a pce, though they'd been willing to put out the money for private aodations. "Yes, but I wao be able to show myself to you immediately if there was any need; and that's right, I'm just Ruby for now. Oh, and please ask your husband and other self to not tell my sister, I'd like to surprise her if she's still there when I arrive."

  Kazue stared for a moment before she could summon up a reply, "You are traveling with us until we get bae? Isn't that a long time for a, um, you to be away?"

  "Well," Bridgette replied as she drew down a lock of her hair to fidget with it, "officially, I am off at a religious retreat for an unspecified period." She shrugged unfortably. "It makes a good excuse. I want to leave the capital for a while anyway. Things haven't really worked out with the person I was ied in, and I'd rather not risk running into him for a while. Plus, with the number of shrines your home has been making along with its library, it really does make for a det pce to study aate. So it's not really a lie either. Also, I don't have any field experience, so we were thinking maybe having a go at delving would be a good idea for me."

  That sounded like a lot of excuses added on top of the real reason of just wanting to not be around the guy she didn't want to see for a while, but Kazue felt a pang of empathy for the situation. That seemed like it would be awkward and she certainly knew she wouldn't want to stick arouher.

  Moriko houghtfully before ging the subject, "Yuriko mentioned deliveries earlier. Mordecai says that might be what he sent us."

  "Oh, yes, I almost fot!" Bridgette said as she pushed her cloak aside t a satchel forward. "Here you go." From the satchel she brought out a ft box and a bundle for each of them. All the items were sealed with stamped wax carrying the seal they'd worked out for the dungeon, specifically the variant for Mordecai's seal.

  Iheir packages were materials nigh identical to the ones Mordecai had used to send his letter to Baron Demidov, with the only ge being the exact symbology on the seals. While all of their seals were an oval with a stylized mountain and doors to represent the dungeon and all three had a dragon, fox, and rabbit head ohe topmost and rgest head was different on eae to show whose seal it was. There were some other variations of detail as well to make them a little more personalized and make them even harder te. Included were instrus on how to use the seals, which varied a bit for each of them. Moriko's aura signature was a mix of chi and divine blessing while Kazue's was a mix of psychid spiritual resonance, and keying everything properly was a slightly different process for them both.

  "Well, I guess that takes care of everything keeping us waiting here," Kazue said, "so what exactly is the pn? I take it you aren't going to be just shadowing us."

  "Correct! Once Lady Yuriko returns, we go over all the details and tingencies, but the basic idea is that I will be y-along until we get to the Azeria Dungeon. I tact people instantly if you really , but for the most part, I'll just be a traveling panion a my own room a and stuff. Oh, and my disguise." She fetched a ring from her satchel and put it on while murmuring an activation phrase. Her hair calmed down into simple curls and became a more toned dowhy red color at the same time that her features shifted just enough to make her no longer reizable as a member of the royal family, though still pusibly a distant cousin thereof. "What do you think?"

  Zagaroth