Follow the crystal

The magic compass crystal leads you and Blythe even deeper into the slums of town. You pass by beggars and the sick and dying as you traverse the twisted back alleys on your way to find your culprit. While you walk, Blythe tells you about the spell you cast.

“It is a dowsing spell, and the crystal was used as the focus. It only works if you have a clear image of the person or thing you are looking for in your mind, and the target must also be fairly close by for it to work. I used the same spell to find my brother’s tavern yesterday.”

“Had you never been there before?” you ask.

“Oh no. Brother and I are not from here, originally. He moved away several years ago. I think it may have been to get away from me…”

“Hey, don’t think that way.” You stop to make sure she takes in what you say. “If he really left just to avoid you, then it’s his loss.”

Blush runs over her face. “Th-thank you,” she says. You both start walking again.

“You know,” you say, “you said this spell has a short range, but it feels like we’ve been walking for a while now.”

“I suspect the layout of the streets has been to our disadvantage,” she says. “Our goal could be one street over, yet reaching it may require many detours.”

As Blythe finishes saying that, you both round a corner into a dead end. At said end, there is a patchwork canvas tent pitched behind a small wall of rotting garbage. Blythe draws her sword and moves ahead of you to investigate. You watch from the mouth of the alley as your elf companion lithely hops over the trash wall, sword drawn and poised to strike at any threat. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was a duelist, you think. She definitely seems like she knows how to use that thing.

“I can sense your hostility,” Blythe says to the tent, just loud enough for you to hear as you walk up to the pile of garbage. “We will not hurt you. We would simply like to talk.”

A brief shuffling noise comes from the tent, before the catkin woman you met yesterday emerges. She’s still wearing the same muddy, beige gown as before, and she’s holding a rusty fighting knife in reverse grip as if ready to strike. When she eyes up Blythe and the practiced and ready stance of her sword, she tosses the knife to the side as if acknowledging defeat. You climb over the trash while Blythe refuses to let her guard down.

“Who’s the elf?” asks the catkin, looking to you.

“She’s a new friend of mine,” you say. “Blythe, meet miss…”

“Fuck off with that crap.”

“Blythe, meet miss Fuck Off With That Crap.”

You’re not sure what possessed you to make such a stupid joke in a situation like this, but here you are. Nobody laughs; in fact, Miss No Name seems a little hurt by it.

“…It’s Lia, okay?” she says. “You won’t ever shut up if I don’t tell you, so there, I said it. My name’s Lia. Happy now?” Her arms flail around a bit as she talks, which prompts Blythe to readjust the sword she’s thrusting in Lia’s face. “Could you stop waving that around? I give, alright? And you!” she says, pointing at you. “You owe me your name now, buster! And I thought you said you weren’t following me! What the fuck is all this?”

“My name is Evan Reynolds. I think you know what this is about this time,” you say. “You were seen leaving the Wayside Inn this morning. The only person seen leaving before us.”

Lia’s cat-like ears fold back momentarily as her face has her guilt written all over it, but that is quickly overwritten by the same ferocity in her eyes you’d seen in the alley yesterday. After you caught her the first time. “Why’d you only have weird shit on you!?” she yells. “I thought nobles always had lots of coin on them.”

“Yeah, about that,” you say. “I misled you. Despite my appearance, I’m pretty much broke.” Blythe sheathes her sword and moves to retrieve the discarded dagger. “I never actually claimed to be wealthy, though, you just assumed I was.” Lia’s brows knit together as she processes what you say. “So I took advantage of you to get a free tour of the town. I did feel bad about it, but I honestly think it was the best course of action for me to take.”

Lia’s shoulders drop after hearing what you have to say, and her cat-like ears fold back. If she’d given up before, now all of the steam she’d built up was gone. She steps to the side of the tent flap and gestures for you to enter. You move towards the tent and grab the flap, but just before you enter Lia grabs your arm.

“Wait! I just remembered something. You can’t go in!”

You shake off the resistance and enter the tent, followed closely by a panicking catkin and a wary elf. It’s a tight fit with the three of you inside, but it’s made even more cramped by the amount of stuff you see around you. In the center of the floor is a mattress made out of at least four blankets stacked on top of each other. Around the “mattress” lay several nice dresses and gowns, all folded neatly. In a corner, you spot a crate filled with bits and pieces of jewelry. Currently hanging on the back wall of the tent is the purple gown you bought for her, and underneath it you can see your belongings laid out: wallet, smartphone, coin pouch, keys, even the crystal you couldn’t shut off last night, it’s all there. Everything that was in your wallet is strewn about as if she was still examining it all when you came.

“Please don’t step on anything,” you hear Lia mutter behind you. “In fact, don’t even look at anything. Just take your shit and go. It’s weird anyway, none of the writing makes sense.” You gather your bank cards, rewards club cards, driver’s license, library card, and assorted bills back into your wallet before stuffing it, your keys, and your phone back in your pockets. You count all the coins in the pouch to verify that it’s all there, and then you stop to think for a moment. Can I really leave her in a shitty situation like this? Look at all these nice things she has laying around, but she’s living in a tent in an alley? Can she not pawn any of this? It’s all laid out so carefully, maybe she just doesn’t want to. As you dump all of the coins back into their pouch, you make sure to leave out three golds in a little stack on the floor. I can’t guarantee that she’ll use these to improve her situation, but it’s all I can do for her. I doubt she’d be willing to let me buy her company for the day or anything like that. Then, hiding the coin stack with your body, you grab the crystal and hold it out to Lia. “Why’d you even have this?” she asks. “Light crystals aren’t worth much, you know.”

“This is embarrassing to admit,” you say, “but I couldn’t shut it off.” Your eyes flick to Blythe, who no doubt remembers having to turn it on for you last night. Thankfully, the look she gives you doesn’t read as if she thinks you’re an idiot. The same can’t be said for Lia, who rolls her eyes at your admission. “If you go back to the inn, could you return it for me? No offense to you or the place, but I’m probably going to find somewhere else to sleep tonight.” Lia takes the crystal from you and promptly shoos you out of her little home. She doesn’t appear to notice the small donation you left for her.

“Okay,” she says once the three of you are out in the alley again. “You got what you came for. And, look… I’m sorry for stealing from you. I still don’t totally believe you’re as much of a nobody as you say you are, but I only took your stuff because I thought you wouldn’t miss it.”

“I guess we’ve both done things we’re not proud of,” you say. “That makes us even, then. I know you probably don’t feel the same, but hope I get the chance to run into you again. Take care of yourself, Lia.” You signal to Blythe that it’s time to go, and start climbing over the trash wall again. Blythe hands Lia the confiscated knife and follows shortly after you.