Setting Off


    <span style="font-weight:400">“All right, Ise, you promise not to leave this room until Ie get you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I promise.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Ise’s words were a vibrant, true color, but Rain still worried. Ise had a tendency to drift towards creepy and scary things, and Rain didn’t want her leaving the hoard room.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Okay, but if you break that promise, I''m not taking you with me again.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The look of panic on Ise’s face reassured Rain.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Kay, I’ll be back soon.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain used the door to the hoard room to open a gate back to the real world and stepped through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Right. Now, it was time to go see Runt and Swift-tail again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She cast a quick longing look towards Lucus’s rooms, but there was no way to bring him. Not now that he had that liar Svend around him all the time. That jerk kept cutting into her brother time. She would deal with him soon.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain warped to the coin she’d given Runt, and when the world unfolded, she found herself standing in a cramped closet full of paintings wrapped in cloth. Runt was sitting against a wall to one side with his head on his chest, sleeping peacefully. He wasn’t wearing the blue dress anymore; instead, he was wearing night clothes simr to what Lucus wore, though the color andcy sleeves gave them a more feminine look.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain wondered if he would get embarrassed if shemented on them. The immediate urge to try to make Runt blush swept through her. Rain had no idea what it was about this boy that brought that out of her.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Before Rain even had a chance to decide how to best tease him, Runt snapped awake and looked around frantically. When he saw Rain, he calmed down a bit.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How’d you get in here?” Runt asked while groggily getting to his feet.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It''s a secret.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You sound like Swift-tail.”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“Goddess! Goddess, can you save my family?”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain looked around. She had good night vision from growing up in near total darkness, but she didn’t see the uffter in this small closet.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Where are you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A bag sitting next to Runt started twitching as a bright blue pair of eyes peeked out of its top.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“I’m in here, Goddess. Do you have any food on you? I’m hungry, and the food you had the other day smelled really good.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately, Rain didn’t have any food on her. Otherwise, she would totally have tried using it as a distraction so she could pet the little critter.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“No, sorry. What help does your family need, though?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain cast a quick look at Runt. The boy wasn’t saying anything and was just looking at Rain in fascination. This made her ufortable enough that she wanted to embarrass him to make him stop.


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“I need you to convince them to stop. Mama wants to gather all the information in the city for you, and she won''t give up even though all my siblings who enter the city now are killed because of the bounty.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">That pulled Rain’s attention back to the little creature in the bag. Why would its mama…


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’re saying that your family is dying because they’re trying to help me?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The little blue eyes in the bag looked down. Rain couldn’t see much of the critter, but that movement reminded Rain so much of Ise when Rain caught her working too hard that Rain felt like she immediately understood the situation.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Where are they?”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“The Dead Ring, Goddess.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Do you want toe, Runt?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wha, er, yes. I’m Swift-tail’s partner. I want to help his family, too.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Is there anyone outside this door?”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“No Goddess.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Good.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain used her power to turn the door into a gate to her library and motioned for Runt to take Swift-tail through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Go inside. I’ll get you and Ise in a moment.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Who’s Ise?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You’ll meet her in a second; just go.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">After exchanging a brief look with Swift-tail, Runt entered the library.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain closed the door and warped to the coin she had stashed in the Mid Ring. The moment the world cleared around her, she used the door to the small apartment she was renting as a permanent coin-hiding ce to create a gate to her library and stepped through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Runt was standing in the middle of the entry room, looking around like every shadow was trying to attack him, Swift-tail peeking out of the bag at his waist.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wee to my library.”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“Is this the blessed chamber where you gave Mama thought?”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain supposed that this was where Rain had experimented on the uffters and created the mind uffters.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yep, now follow me, and I’ll introduce you to my partner.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain couldn’t keep the note of satisfaction out of her voice. Sure, she would keep Sunrise away from anything too dangerous, but she wasn’t alone in her scheming anymore. She had a partner.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The two of them walked through the library towards the hoard room, and once again, Rain had to fight the urge to tease Runt as he squirmed at the sight, smell, and sound of the books on the shelves.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Be careful; these books are drawn to pretty maidens.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m not a girl!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Aww, but you’re so pretty.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Just like that, Rain had Runt turning bright red. Heh, heh, this was so much fun, even if Rain did feel kinda mean.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s because you are mean.” Lon’s voice wafted out from the shadows somewhere. And Rain’s enjoyment dissolved.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Whatever.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ise, I want you to meet Runt and Swift-tail,” Rain said as she barged through the door into the hoard room.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Runt followed behind her, eyes going wide at the sight of all the gold. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to take him here. Oh well, he’d already seen Rain and her library. What more damage would seeing her hoard do?


    <span style="font-weight:400">Besides, it wasn’t like he would be leaving tonight without signing a contract.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Ise looked less than thrilled at the sight of Runt.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Who’s she?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain happily watched Runt’s ears, which had just gotten back to normal, go crimson once again.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m Runt, and I’m a man, not a girl.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yep, this is Runt. He’s working with someone I owe a favor to, so he’sing with us tonight. And in the bag is…”


    <i><span style="font-weight:400">“Please don’t tell her about me! She’s scary.”</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ah, er, never mind.” Rain finishedmely. She didn’t think Sunrise was scary, but she guessed that to a tiny critter like Swift-tail, she was pretty big.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“All right,” Rain said, spreading her feet apart and nting her hands on her hips. It was the pose Lucus’s sword trainer liked to do when yelling at the boys. “we need to get to the Dead Ring from the Mid Ring. Runt is going to guide us to our goal, and Ise is going to keep an eye out for danger. Understood?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain was the one who would actually be looking for danger, but it made Ise happy when she had a job.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Oka…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, Mistress!” Ise said, cutting Runt off.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Rain had a feeling that this little trip might be more interesting than she had originally nned.