Friendly rivalry

After getting cleaned up, you head down to the dining room. Aisha smiles at you as you walk in, and raises her glass of orange juice in greeting. Helja and Hayley are also at the table, having a quiet conversation as they share some toast.

You sit down, and the dwarves look up and smile. Helja speaks first. “Morning, sleepyhead. Lylah wear you out last night?”

You chuckle. “We had fun. But I hear there’s news?”

Hayley laughs. “We could hear Naia running around upstairs, I assume she sent you down? It’s not that important, really. Just a letter from a…friend.”

You chuckle. “The way you say that makes it sound ominous.”

Helja rolls her eyes. “Hayley is being dramatic. Andrew is an old friend and former coworker. And yes, we tried dating for a bit. It wasn’t great, so we split.”

Hayley laughs. “I dated him too, same story. Andy was one of the first travelers to come here. It was…six, seven years ago?”

Helja nods. “Nice guy, good engineer, but we just weren’t compatible. So after we broke up, he went out and started a new workshop. Last I heard he had found a few girls as well.”

Hayley smiles. “It’s not long after he left that Marin and Sanni showed up. We kinda fell out of touch with him after that.”

Aisha chimes in. “Even though he’s running a rival workshop?”

Hayley laughs. “It’s fine, he focused more on civil engineering as opposed to the war engineering we usually do.”

Helja smiles. “Regardless, he sent a letter, saying he’d like to have a little friendly competition. Apparently word about you is going around, Greg. He wants to do a little engineering and building competition. What do you think?”

You nod. “It sounds like a good time, as long as it isn’t like meeting your jealous ex…”

Helja shakes her head. “Nothing like that. Apparently he’s in a few happy relationships now anyway.

Hayley winks at you. “Besides, you’re way cuter than him!”