Playing With Fire

Chapter 1: Wanted

It's been one week since Varagores invaded Sunyu Foorst and have since moved on to Greanleif, and next they'll be coming for Ceelyaer before finally taking the capital – Lithonilynn. Three days since Corb and Todo left for Sage.

And two and a half days since Reela last left her room of Desdemona's house.

Scratch that, she left the room once to stock up on food for her hibernation until Cree and Jules figure out what to do next. Until then, she's got nowhere else to be. She has food and a comfy bed. Her best friends went home so Todo could be healed by Nisha. She's perfectly fine staying here, as far away from the outside world as possible. And Toya is all healed up, so she's here to keep her company.

Reela just lays in bed, at this point uncertain of what time it is. It feels like it's daytime, but with the thick curtains covering every window, it's impossible to tell. The only light she has is the lamp beside the bed on the end table.

Where she has her rift shard just sitting there.

She considered breaking the damn thing, but unfortunately having it has proved incredibly helpful in the past. With it she and Jules are at least able to find each other in a hurry. It would suck to have to disable her fast travel. But on the other hand, it's also caused a lot of complications in her life. The majority of which she would rather not think about.

Reela jumps when there's a knock at the door and she instantly sits up in bed and whips her attention across the room towards the intrusive noise. The knock didn't sound metal, so it probably wasn't Cree. She guesses it could have been either Jules or Des, but she can't be too sure.

It could have been anyone.

It could have been—

No. No, it couldn't. She needs to block all thoughts of them from her mind.

It could have been anyone. Anyone.

Maybe it was the fucking frog.

How long has she been staring at the door since hearing the knock? Maybe a few minutes, it feels like. Or was it seconds? And now she's second guessing her concept of time again.

Reela snaps her focus back to the door when she hears the faint clicking that she recognizes as a lockpick and she instantly scrambles out of bed and reaches for her katana, but her hand starts shaking before she can touch it, so she stops. Her eyes flash with shadows, and her mind shows her the image of Avinalyn tossing the katana to her before the fight.

But the image fades, along with the Dark from her eyes.

What's wrong with her? This katana is the last thing Regan left for her before he disappeared, and now she can't even bring herself to use it? She's just tired. That must be it.

She retrieves her curved daggers instead, finding that she's able to grab those with ease.

Toya, from the bed, lifts her head to watch her through narrowed eyes. "Don't you think you might be just a little bit paranoid?" the fox asks with a big yawn as she lays her head back down.

Reela glances over at her. "What would I have to be 'paranoid' about?" she scoffs.

"Well, just a week ago you did find out that Av—"

Before Toya can finish talking, the door slams open and Jules stands in the doorway with her hand on the door and a glare on her face.

"Okay, that's it," she puts her lockpicks away before crossing her arms and motioning her head to the hallway. "Outside. Now. We're grabbing drinks and getting you some sunlight," she demands but Reela doesn't move from where she stands across the room with her blades in her hands. The most she does is sheathe her daggers, but she doesn't relax.