Meet the ladies

Ami glanced at the blonde, then back at me.

She nodded, but only barely. Her violet eyes remained warily fixed on me. Looking at the sword in her hands, I had a feeling she was probably just as shaken by the fight as I was.

Maybe more.

The blade was still trembling.

She stood just under four feet tall, though there was nothing childlike about her. She had the compact, sturdy build I'd expect from a dwarf, with a narrow waist, broad hips, and a curvy figure that made her look so perfectly suited to the term shortstack that I assumed her picture was next to the word in the dictionary.

The leather armor she wore tried, and failed, to hide her curves.

Her auburn hair was thick and slightly unruly, pulled into a loose braid that hung over one shoulder. Her most striking feature, though, was her eyes. They were an unusual shade of violet, almost purple in the morning light.

Normally, I suspected she was very pretty.

Right now, though, she was covered in dirt, sweat, and enough blood that it was hard to tell where the grime ended and the freckles began.

She held her short sword in both hands, the blade still stained from the fight. Her grip was a little too tight, and the tip trembled almost imperceptibly.

She looked at me. Then at the dead Lutins. Then back at me. She didn't look convinced that I was safe.

I couldn't blame her. We'd never met, I'd appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a fight, and she'd just watched me kill several creatures with a sword and magic.

She shifted slightly closer to the blonde woman.

The blonde noticed and reached back, taking Ami's free hand.

I slowly got to my feet.

Ami instinctively took a step back.

“Are you two all right?” I asked.

The blonde nodded. “Yeah, thanks to you. I didn't think we were going to get out of that alive.”

“I'm S-” I stopped myself. “I mean, I'm Riven. I didn't get your name at the Adventurer's Guild.”

“Valentia,” she said, and suddenly blushed.

“Nice to meet you.” I wiped my hand on my pants, then reached out to shake hers.

She took it with surprising strength, despite the softness of her hand.

“It's nice to meet you, too, Ami,” I said, giving her a smile.

The dwarf took another step back.

Okay. Definitely not a fan of me yet.

Valentia was about average height for a woman, with a slender, toned build that suggested she was more active than delicate. Her blonde hair fell all the way to her shoulder blades, though it was currently tangled and streaked with dirt. A few strands were plastered to her face, clinging to her forehead and cheeks with sweat.

She had bright green eyes that stood out against the grime.

She was pretty. Very pretty, actually. The effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that she was covered in dirt and blood. Her blue dress had probably been fairly presentable when I'd first met her at the Guild. Now it was torn in a few places, stained with mud, and darkened by blood that I really hoped wasn't all hers.

She looked tired. Not just physically tired, either. There was a tension around her eyes that hadn't been there when she'd greeted me at the Guild, and her hands were still trembling slightly from the fight.

She didn't carry an obvious weapon. Given what I'd seen, I guessed her skills were mostly on the support side of magic. She'd used healing magic on me, though I assumed she was pretty low level since it had only healed three points.

She was young - maybe twenty - and looked more like an adventurer than I did. But she'd fought the Lutins. And she'd come running back to me instead of running away.

Whatever else Valentia was, she wasn't a coward.

I pulled my sword out of the Lutin, wiped it off, and slid it into my scabbard.

The arrow sticking out of its butt had snapped, so there was no salvaging it. Which left me with ten arrows.

I went over and picked up my bow.

“So where the hell did you go last night?” Valentia asked. Her voice was sharp. “You just disappeared. I waited for over an hour trying to find you!” The more she spoke, the angrier she became.

“Uh… sorry about that. I, uh… didn't think that would happen.”

“That's it?” she demanded. “Sorry? No actual explanation?”

She was so lifelike and responsive that I was having trouble not thinking of her as a real person rather than an AI-controlled NPC.

How the hell did the developers expect players to handle this? ‘Yeah, I logged out last night to take a shower.’

“Whatever.” She turned her back on me, anger practically radiating off her. “Come on, Ami. Let's go.”

The two turned to leave.

“Wait,” I called.

Valentia stopped but didn't turn around.

“I'm sorry. I'll let you know next time it happens. I… can't tell you what happened right now. I want to, but…” I paused. “It's complicated.”

I glanced toward the road. “But it could be good to travel together. You're headed to Valedorn, right? That's where I'm headed too. I'm not going back to Greyhaven, and I've got nowhere to go right now.”

Ami looked at Valentia but didn't say anything.

“I could really use the help. And if more Lutins show up, it sounds like you could use some help too. Safety in numbers, right?”

Valentia's shoulders sagged. “Fine. But if you disappear again, we're not waiting.”

I sighed in relief. “Thanks. I promise I'll let you know if it happens again. I won't leave you high and dry.”