"I'll go with you."

Teysa found herself blinking back tears. "How can you say that, Li? After everything? After all we've been through? I don't want to be a ****! But those people need me. They do."

Aliara's eyes flashed. "They don't need you. You need them to need you. You need everyone to need you. You need to save the world." She grabbed Teysa's wrist, her fingers digging in painfully. "What about me, Teysa? I need you. I love you. Do you need to save everyone? Or am I enough?"

Teysa felt her defenses crumbling. "I'm sorry, Li! You're right. Oh Agamor, you're right. I just... I don't..." her vision blurred. "I just feel so selfish! I want to be with you, I want to get out! The thought of all those women--"

Aliara hushed her with a kiss, feather-soft, just a brush of the lips. Teysa tasted salt.

"I know, Tey. I'm sorry. I wish it didn't have to be this way. But I finally--" Aliara's voice hitched. "Remember when we met? I couldn't believe I was signing on to your charter. You were so serious. I just needed the cash. That first job we did together, at the pub afterward, you ordered... what was it?"

Teysa snorted. "Sparkling water."

"Right. At the time I thought it was a fancy cocktail. Sparkling water! And you did this ridiculous toast. Something about justice, I don't know. I thought I'd piss my pants laughing." Aliara chuckled. "Well, I thought you a priggish twat in terminal need of a good lay. And I guess I was right. But you're my priggish twat now. And I can't... can't bear to lose you. So come on. I think I know a way out of here. I don't know exactly, but... there's some signs down here. Air, light. If you trust me."

Teysa smiled. "To the ends of the earth, Li. Lead on."

They veered off the path onto a side tunnel that sloped up gently. Aliara led them onward for hours, through a dizzying maze of passages and climbs. She seemed driven by an inner fire. Teysa could barely keep up. At the top of a ledge, panting, she called a halt.

"Li, please. Let me catch my breath. Feels like we've been walking for days." She flopped down on a boulder. "How sure are you we can get out?"

"Pretty sure. You having second thoughts?"

"No, I just... I don't know, Li. Are we thinking this through? What do we do on the surface? Try to find Mez and Rodrik? They're likely dead. We're hungry, exhausted, and we've got no gear. We'd basically be starting all over again."

"We've gone too far now. We can't turn back. The only way out is forward." Aliara set her hands on her hips. "Five minutes. Then we move on."

As they climbed, the path grew wider, more open. The rock walls assumed a more cut, worked look, and occasionally they spotted iron rivets in the walls where a sconce had once been, or scattered coins on the floor. Soon Teysa felt a cool breeze on her face.

"Li! Air! I feel air! We're close!"

"I feel it too! Come on!" They were jogging now. The cave walls seemed to press in on them. So close, we're so close...

With a shout, Teysa rounded a corner to see a shaft of light ahead. She barreled forward and burst out of the cave mouth to find herself on a lightly wooded hillside.

"We're out! Aliara, we're free, we're free!"

Both women hugged each other and danced ecstatically. Aliara planted a huge kiss right on her partner's lips. "We're free! Next stop, civilization! Come on, Tey!" They set off down the hill. In the distance, a wisp of smoke curled into the sky.

The smoke turned out to belong to an inn, which stood at a crossroads. The road signs were unfamiliar, as was the inn's name-- the Briney Dragon-- but the ale was cool, the mutton warm, and trading away some of Teysa's plate got them both as well as a room. After dinner, their bellies full, they curled up together in the straw bed.

"This feels weird, Tey," Aliara complained, shifting around to get comfortable. "Never thought I'd sleep in a bed again. Were they always this prickly? And it's so bright up here. Even at night, all these fires..."

They had doused the fire in their room. It seemed intrusive, like a third person hissing and spitting in their room.

"Try to get some sleep, Li. It'll be an adjustment, we both knew that."

But Teysa couldn't sleep either. She felt an empty space in her chest. She told herself it was just the breeze; being on the surface again meant adjusting to a thousand things. The passage of time, for one. The nights came quicker than she remembered, but too soon the sun would be up again.

It wasn't just adjustment. She couldn't help but feel that she had made a terrible mistake.

The next morning Teysa dragged herself out of bed. She had barely slept at all, and looking into Aliara's eyes she saw that the half-elf hadn't either. "Come on," Teysa groaned, "the innkeeper said we needed to be out of here by midmorning. Let's see if anyone's hiring."

Someone was, as it turned out. A caravan needed guards to the nearby city of Skolk. Not glamorous, but it paid.

Their first fight came after Aliara point-blank refused to deliver a package to a dwarven enclave. "What's the matter, Li?" Teysa protested. "It's a total milk run! We'll be there and back in less than a week."

"Yeah, with nothing to show for it! The pay barely covers expenses." Aliara crossed her arms. "And it's way out of our way. You just want to go back to the Underneath."

"That's... that's preposterous!" Teysa scoffed. "What's your problem, anyways? You're afraid to go back?"

"Aha!" Aliara leveled an accusatory finger. "'Go back!' You don't just mean the Underneath! You want to go back to the warren!"

"So what if I do?" Teysa threw back. She felt the words land, saw Aliara's face twist, but there was no turning back now. It was a relief to unburden herself. "I should never have listened to you! We abandoned those women, Li. How many of them? How many more since we left? We'll never know."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Aliara looked angrier than Teysa had ever seen her. "I was right about you! You want to be a ****! You want to play house with a bunch of monsters because it's easier than having to think for yourself!"

Teysa sputtered a denial, red-faced. She didn't feel that way. She didn't. Did she?

After that, Aliara grew distant. The two took to sleeping in separate bedrolls again. Some nights, Teysa thought she heard her friend crying, but she never worked up the courage to ask about it. Her own dreams were haunted by images of women trapped in lightless caves, crying out for a rescue that would never come. I abandoned you. I'm sorry. I gave up. After a few weeks of near-silence between them, she woke up one morning to find Aliara gone, leaving only a tear-stained note.

I'm sorry, Tey. I wish I was brave enough to say this in person.

Every time I look at you all I can think about is the Underneath. I know you regret leaving. I know what it's like to feel guilty for escaping when others didn't.
I know you're going to try to go back there. I can't do it. I can't follow you, and I won't watch you destroy yourself. This part of my life is over, anyways. I don't know how much time I have left, but I'm going to spend it free.

You deserved better than me anyways.

Love always,

A

Teysa crumpled the note and looked away. Worse than the abandonment was the sense of relief that sprang up unbidden. Every time she had looked at Aliara's face, she had been reminded of... of...

She took jobs that led to the Underneath, each time hoping to stumble again on the warren. She earned a reputation as a brave fighter, but that was a lie; she just didn't care what happened to her. As the months became years, she resigned herself to the fact that she had lost the warren. You can't go home again, they say. I wish I had thought of that.

She never forgave herself for leaving. But she never gave up looking either. It was out there, somewhere.

GAME OVER